Kane Cornes has recalled an unusual punishment for Port Adelaide players who turned up to the club in poor shape during his playing days.
After conceding the highest Grand Final margin of all time to Geelong in 2007, the Power players were sent to the Christmas break with a threat.
“We were given strict instructions, ‘if you are over your skinfold target when you come back, you will be severely financially sanctioned and you will be put in the fat club’,” Cornes recounted on SEN SA Breakfast.
Reserved for players with skinfold measurements of over 60, the players had to take on extra running sessions, and often weren’t selected until they made it out of the club.
“Everyone had to take their shirts off, (and) one by one they did your skinfolds at every site,” Cornes continued.
“Those results were called out in front of your teammates, and put up on a big whiteboard projector, and you could see exactly where you sat.
“That would never happen today.”
The Port Adelaide champion refuted the notion that he might be ‘fat shaming’ players.
“They are professional athletes, they have to present themselves in a way that is respectable,” he asserted.
“If they don’t, they’re letting their teammates, their club and their supporters down, because their body is their tool.”
Cornes pinpointed four players he believes benefited most from improving their fitness over summer.
“Josh Bruce kicked 10, and the coach (Luke Beveridge) spoke after the game about how he came back to training leaner,” he detailed.
“(West Coast midfielder) Tim Kelly was the same, and he’s sitting top 10 in the coaches’ votes at the moment.
“Adam Simpson told us on the Sunday Footy Show he’s a kilo and a half lighter than what he was last year.
“(Essendon forward) Jake Stringer kicked four, and said after the game he lost seven kilos year on year.
“And I reckon there’s a bit of (Adelaide spearhead) Taylor Walker about that, the way he is cutting a newly defined figure.
“All four of them performed exceptionally well, and all are having great years.
“There is a reason for that. It’s because they’re fitter, and they’ve taken it absolutely seriously."