Kane Cornes has taken aim at Matthew Nicks and an AFL stat quirk in a “double-barrelled” 'Volkaneo' on Tuesday morning.
Nicks joined SEN Breakfast last week and spoke about young forward in Darcy Fogarty, who hasn’t played at AFL level since Round 3.
The 22-year-old has spent time in the SANFL as he works on his craft with Nicks suggesting the youngster’s level is simply not up to scratch.
“Darcy has been challenged well and truly, he’s five years in, if I do a comparison to Riley Thilthorpe who’s in his second year, I think at five years… there’s a higher expectation on where your game needs to be at, so we’ve got that of Darcy,” Nicks said.
“We expect him to be performing at a level that’s well and truly above where he’s at, at the moment.
“He’s gone back to the SANFL and he’s working on a particular area of his game that we want to see and that’s his ability to go at the footy, challenge his opponents in the air.
“It gets to a point where bringing the ball to ground as a forward is not enough, we expect more than that.”
In response, Cornes believes the Adelaide coach has been too slow to the punch with Fogarty.
The pick 12 from the 2017 draft has kicked 52 goals from 43 games but has consistently failed to capitalise on his opportunities in recent years, Cornes suggesting Nicks shouldn’t have taken so long to make a statement with his young forward.
“I’m going to Volkaneo Matthew Nicks, I don’t do this often because there’s not a lot to Volkaneo Matthew Nicks about, but I heard him on SEN Breakfast last week,” he said on SEN SA Breakfast.
“I went along to the Adelaide media briefing before the start of the year and Matthew Nicks was chatting about Darcy Fogarty.
“Someone asked him about Darcy Fogarty and he said, ‘we’re really happy with Darcy because he’s providing a good contest and he’s bringing the ball to ground’.
“I actually put my hand up and said, ‘Nicksy, surely at some point bringing the ball to ground is not enough, as a forward five years in, you have to be getting more than seven disposals and a goal a game’.
“In a way, I’m Volkaneoing him for taking so long for getting to the point where Darcy Fogarty actually has to impact games rather than just being satisfied with bringing the footy to ground.”
The Power great went on to add that no AFL coach should accept key forwards simply bringing the ball to ground, describing that as “rubbish”.
“Is that fair? I think that’s the biggest myth in football, when you hear a coach say, ‘nah, we’re really happy with that key forward because he’s providing a great contest and he’s bringing the ball to ground for (small forwards)’,” he continued.
“Rubbish, you are not there to bring the ball to ground, you are there to mark the ball, impact the game and go back and kick goals.
“Finally, they’ve got to a point with Darcy Fogarty where touching the ball six times a game isn’t enough.
“I’m glad they got there, but the Volkaneo is for Matthew Nicks taking too long to arrive at that conclusion.”
Cornes also addressed the “stupid situation” that credits defenders for a stat whenever they run out of the goal square with a kick in.
Following Tom Stewart racking up 40 touches against Fremantle on Saturday, he believes that rule “distorts the history of the game”.
“If I was going to do double-barrel Volkaneos this morning, it would be the stupid situation where defenders take the kick in and get a stat for it,” he added.
“How dumb is that, it’s distorting all stats. The history of the game has been distorted because every time the (player taking the kick in) takes a kick, they got a free kick, a cheap one.
“I cannot believe we are rewarding these players with a possession, it is distorting the history of the game and all stats, absolutely ridiculous.”
Players no longer have to kick the footy to themselves before leaving the goal square on a kickout, with the AFL encouraging defenders to take more ground to easier clear the ball from the defensive 50.