Why Cornes thinks Carlton’s top five is as good as any elite group in the AFL

Kane Cornes is constantly taken aback by the elite-level talent on Carlton’s list.

The Blues have some genuine guns in their team and Cornes called their best five players – which consists of Jacob Weitering, Patrick Cripps, Sam Walsh, Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay – as good as any in the AFL right now.

All of those players performed well in Thursday’s 77-76 win over Melbourne and Cornes thinks they’ll continue picking up wins whenever that quintet performs well, such is their overwhelming talent.

Cornes particularly loved seeing Curnow given a license to play more up the ground like Geelong’s Jeremy Cameron to bring his opponent Steven May away from dangerous spots inside 50.

“The Blues, when their best five come to play, they're as good a top five players that any team has,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.

“When you get that from Weitering (17 disposals), Cripps (one goal, 35 disposals) and Walsh (one goal, 34 disposals), I think they're having enormous seasons.

“Then McKay (one goal, five marks) and Curnow (two goals, eight marks) both played their roles. I thought Curnow was much better against May.

“I thought he came up the ground early on, he got involved up the ground, I think he's a weapon with his ball use outside of 50 - we saw a couple of those goal assists last night.

“I loved to see him play with a bit more freedom and have a bit more of a Jeremy Cameron license, which I thought he got last night.

“He bobbed up behind the ball and just got involved. He was more proactive than he just wanted to stand and wrestle like he did in the finals against May last year.”

While May still performed well, Cornes thinks that his Demons simply couldn’t get themselves into the game when it was there to be won throughout the first three quarters as the Blues continued answering back whenever they found some momentum – particularly from centre bounces.

“It’s not to say May wasn't good,” Cornes said.

“But every time they were challenged, and Melbourne thought they were coming back into it prior to the last quarter, the Blues responded from centre bounce.

“They're a devastating stoppage team when they're going.”

Carlton will hope to go 7-3 when they face Sydney in a huge clash at the SCG next Friday night.