“Another botched pick”: Cornes questions Crows' draft misses

Adelaide’s recent top-end drafting has been called into question by Kane Cornes.

His criticism comes after it was confirmed by the Crows that Luke Pedlar has requested a trade to crosstown rivals Port Adelaide.

Pedlar, 24, was Pick 11 in the 2020 draft and has played just 49 games across six injury-interrupted seasons.

Throw in the likes of the now-departed Jordan Gallucci (Pick 15 in 2016), Chayce Jones (Pick 9 in 2018) and Fischer McAsey (Pick 6 in 2019), and there leaves a lot to be desired about Adelaide’s drafting at the pointy end.

“He (Pedlar) becomes the eighth player to cross from Adelaide to Port Adelaide after requesting a trade,” Cornes said on AFL Trade Radio’s Early Trade.

“It’s another botched draft pick at the Crows. Their drafting really needs to now be put under the spotlight.

“Going right back to Jordan Gallucci, Fischer McAsey, I’m not certain about Sid Draper, I’m more confident in Dan Curtin but I’m not 100 per cent sold he’s going to be a star yet.

“Luke Pedlar was Pick 11, Chayce Jones was a first-round pick who should be in the prime of his career, but he’s gone.

“Adelaide’s drafting has been poor, absolutely poor. This is another piece of evidence as to that.

“Pedlar may become a good player, and I don’t think it’s all Adelaide’s fault. He has not been able to get himself fit enough, there have been injury concerns.

“It was a stretch when they drafted him out of Glenelg. He certainly wasn’t projected to go as high as what he did in that draft. They took a risk on him. I don’t know why they picked him so early, but they did.

“It hasn’t worked. He’s had some good AFL moments, but he’s a nine-possession small forward who has really struggled to consistently be good enough to perform at the level.”

The Crows have hit on Riley Thilthorpe (Pick 2 in 2020) and Josh Rachele (Pick 6 in 2021) but short of that it hasn’t been great in Cornes’ eyes.

“You’d want to hit on Pick 2. They bid on Jamarra Ugle-Hagan before they got the ‘Thilseeker’ Riley Thilthorpe,” he added.

“Josh Rachele is a good player and you’d want to make sure you got that right at Pick 6.

“Sid Draper is a watch. Small midfielder who has some injury concerns.

“We’ll see, but I just think they haven’t been good enough at the draft and they are under pressure to get this right.”

Captain Jordan Dawson, recruited from Sydney, and Izak Rankine, recruited from Gold Coast, are considered Adelaide’s best players.

In the 2025 best and fairest, only two players drafted by the Crows - Riley Thilthorpe and Josh Worrell (Pick 28 in 2019) - finished in the top seven with a total of three from the national draft making up the top 10 (including Jake Soligo).