AFL great Kane Cornes has laughed off Essendon’s attempt to respond physically against Richmond after having their aggression questioned during the week.
Club great Matthew Lloyd hit out at Essendon last week for allowing Sydney’s Luke Parker to walk away unscathed after taunting midfielder Dylan Shiel, and the Bombers seemingly responded to that by showing aggression in igniting multiple scuffles against the Tigers in Saturday’s Dreamtime loss.
Despite showing some fight and standing up to their opponents, Cornes found the response “embarrassing” as the side clearly reacted to media commentary after saying they wouldn’t let it affect them.
“They did, they flew the flag and I find it a bit amusing, I find it a little embarrassing to be fair,” Cornes said on AFL.com.au’s The Round So Far.
“They said they wouldn’t respond to media commentary, but they absolutely did.
“One of their former greats in Matthew Lloyd questioned their physicality and that’s a talking point … then you get issues like (Mason) Redman getting reported (for a high elbow), he’ll have a case to answer for that hit on Dion Prestia.
“You’re seeing this (physicality), we haven’t seen it all year, so on the back of one criticism from a former player, you get this in your face, over the top, dramatic stuff.”
Cornes added that Richmond wouldn’t have been phased by the Bombers’ aggression as it seemingly wasn’t there when the ball was free to be won.
“The opposition would be looking back and laughing at it,” Cornes said.
“When the ball is there to be won, when they try and get the ball back off the opposition, there’s no effort.
“So, that was token tonight (Saturday) I thought, I found it somewhat embarrassing.
“It had no influence whatsoever on the game.”
Essendon will be desperate to respond again and pick up their third win of the season when they face Port Adelaide next Sunday at the Adelaide Oval.