Kane Cornes and David King have gone back to basics to try and figure out who the best player is heading into the 2023 AFL Grand Final between Collingwood and Brisbane.
While both teams are littered with stars, Cornes and King were made to pick one gun each above all others in a ‘schoolyard draft’ scenario.
Cornes asked King who he would take first - if he had all of the 46 competing players lined up in front of him - to join his hypothetical schoolyard team.
While he had Brownlow Medallist Lachie Neale and superstar Magpie Nick Daicos to pick from, King couldn’t look past Jordan De Goey as the number one player he’d like to have on his side.
Cornes: “Who’s the best player on the ground tomorrow?
“Say you are in a schoolyard draft and you're standing at the front and you're the captain and you've got the other captain and you get first pick.
“Who is the first player on the field that you would pick for your schoolyard team tomorrow?”
King: “I like the lads. I like the guys who can stray a little bit.”
Cornes: “But who is the best player?”
King: “Jordan De Goey.”
Cornes: “It’s Jordan De Goey, you’d pick him first?”
King: “All the people that wanted to get rid of him 18 months ago.”
Cornes: “That was me.”
King: “How important is he tomorrow?”
Cornes: “He is important.”
King: “They win you Prelims and Grand Finals these guys.”
Cornes: “Credit to Collingwood for standing by him because I think there would have been a bit of pressure to act on what had gone on.”
King: “Not for the strong clubs.
They just say, ‘Look, you have your opinion, but you’ll be tomorrow's fish and chip paper pretty quickly’.”
Cornes: “So you would pick him.”
With De Goey already off the board and in King’s hypothetical side, Cornes picked from the remaining 45 players and he feels Nick Daicos is the other standout player.
Cornes: “Then it’s my turn.
“You picked De Goey, so I would pick (Nick) Daicos.”
King: “I wanted to ask you about Daicos.
“Second week up from an injury like this is harder than the first week and it will be hot tomorrow as well.”
Cornes: “I've always wondered, why can players return and have a big impact in game one?
“But the second week is a little bit harder and he may face that tomorrow.”
King: “He was good, wasn’t he last week?
Cornes: “He was great. He got better as the game went on.
“Then where does it go from there, is it (Darcy) Moore, is it (Lachie) Neale?”
King: “(Joe) Daniher could be the one.”
The bounce for the 2023 AFL Grand Final is set for 2:30 pm (AEST) on Saturday at the MCG.