Australian Football

Chad Cornes has been one of the foremost Port Adelaide players of the past decade. Hailing from Glenelg, the club his father Graham Cornes served so illustriously, he made his debut with the Power in 1999, and by the following year was widely acknowledged as one of the best marking forwards in the league. In 2004, however, he was reinvented as a centre half back, and his energetic, purposeful rebound from this position was a key factor in Port's eventual march to the flag. Racking up disposal stats that most on-ballers would die for, Cornes was a shoe-in for the centre half back position in the 2004 AFL All Australian team, and also ran third in the Brownlow. In the Grand Final defeat of Brisbane he was somewhat quieter than usual but still effective, garnering 13 possessions and seven marks as well as keeping tight wraps on a highly rated opponent in Jonathan Brown. 

Since 2004 Cornes showed considerable versatility by performing well in a variety of roles, and when named an AFL All Australian for the second time in 2007 it was as a wingman. By the end of the 2011 season he had played 239 games for the Power and kicked 175 goals. In 2012 he joined the fledgling Greater Western Sydney Giants, where he played a further 16 games before retiring at the end of that season.

Author - John Devaney