Kane Cornes has slammed West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern for his performance playing on Taylor Walker in Saturday night’s 45-point loss to Adelaide at Optus Stadium.
With both teams finishing their season, Adelaide were trying to get the ball into Walker’s hands to give him a shot at winning the Coleman Medal and the big forward delivered with nine goals and 11 marks.
Walker finishes 2023 with 76 goals to his name, one ahead of Carlton’s Charlie Curnow who will win the Coleman if he boots two or more goals against GWS on Sunday.
Given how obvious it was that Adelaide were trying to feed their key man, Cornes thought that the effort of his direct opponent was woeful as he allowed him too much space throughout the night.
Cornes described McGovern’s outing as one of the poorest he’d ever seen from a key defender.
“Jeremy McGovern, this has been my criticism over West Coast, their standards for three years haven’t been good enough,” Cornes said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“I want you to watch possibly one of the poorest individual games from a key defender that I've ever seen.
“The ball was only going to Walker, they were trying to get him the Coleman Medal.
“The room that McGovern gave Walker yesterday had to be seen to be believed.
“Look at the lack of intensity.
Cornes was disappointed to see one of the club’s leaders fail to deliver in a game where the Eagles said goodbye to multiple fan favourites.
He believes McGovern’s performance was also indicative of how far standards have slipped at West Coast since 2020.
“This was a game where Nic Naitanui they were saying goodbye to,” Cornes said.
“You’re saying goodbye to your inspirational captain (Shannon) Hurn. You’re saying goodbye to Luke Shuey and this is what McGovern delivers for them.
“This is the standard that West Coast has accepted for far too long from senior players.
“If you’re going to perform like that, don’t pick those players.
“That was pretty ordinary… the sad state that West Coast is that it is just accepted.”
The loss ensured West Coast finished 18th with just three wins to their name in 2023.
Adelaide ended their campaign with 11 wins and 12 losses and would be disappointed to miss out on finals.
"I want you to watch possibly one of the poorest individual games from a key defender that I've ever seen."@kanecornes says the room Jeremy McGovern gave Tex Walker on his way to nine goals 'has to be seen to be believed'. #9AFLSFS | Channel 9 📺 pic.twitter.com/q4XyBFrBNv
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) August 27, 2023