Kane Cornes has questioned the tactics of Adelaide in Wednesday night’s loss to Melbourne and the subsequent lack of consequence for them.
Crows players, in particular Taylor Walker and Ned McHenry, targeted Demons captain and ruckman Max Gawn who went into the Round 10 fixture with a shoulder issue.
Cornes has likened the attack on Gawn to what St Kilda defender Jake Carlisle was fined for when he struck out at the broken hand of Sydney’s Dane Rampe last weekend, suggesting that the Adelaide pair should have been sanctioned for their actions.
“Last Sunday, Jake Carlisle was charged with misconduct and fined $500 for trying to punch the surgically repaired hand of Sydney’s Dane Rampe,” he said on SEN’s The Captain’s Run.
“The fine wouldn’t have worried Carlisle but the backlash from the footy public was severe. I thought he got off lightly.
“I was at Adelaide Oval on Wednesday. You can witness what’s happening off the ball, not just what you see on TV. It was clear during that game hat the Crows were on a mission to further damage the injured shoulder that Demons captain Max Gawn carried into that game.
“On Monday, SEN’s Sam Edmund reported that Gawn had been sent for scans and was in doubt for that Wednesday night game. It was so obvious, even before the centre bounce, that Adelaide knew that ailment was a shoulder as they went after Gawn even before the ball was bounced.
“Adelaide’s Taylor Walker and Ned McHenry seemed more concerned with physically attacking Gawn than they were with winning the footy themselves. Walker had just five disposals and McHenry eight.
“At one point, a hundred metres away from an outer side boundary throw-in that Gawn was sprinting towards, McHenry dropped Gawn right in front of the central umpire.
“So why weren’t Walker or McHenry cited for obviously targeting an injured player like Carlisle was for his attack on Rampe? What they did was more severe, more repetitive and more aggressive than what Carlisle did to Rampe.
“In a season like this, it’s imperative that we look after the game’s best players, particularly when a lot of them are going to be struggling physically with short breaks.
“Who knows what further damage could have been done to his shoulder and what shape he would have been in for the rest of season. Walker was slapped with a $1000 fine for striking Gawn in the third term but that sanction isn’t enough and it’s not enough of a deterrent that was there for the predetermined tactics from Adelaide to hurt an already injured player.
“I’m staggered that McHenry got off scot-free. I hope Gawn and Melbourne have long memories.”
Gawn revealed after his side’s 51-point win over the Crows that he did play with a “tear” in the “shoulder region”.