FOUR-TIME club best and fairest Kane Cornes has been inducted into the Port Adelaide Football Club Hall of Fame, during a gala ceremony at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

Cornes played 300 games for the Power during his 15-year AFL career, earning life membership of the club in 2010.

Taken with pick 20 in the 2000 AFL National Draft, Cornes debuted in 2001, going on to earn All-Australian honours twice, in 2006 and 2007.

A member of Port Adelaide’s victorious pre-season premiership teams in 2001 and 2002, Cornes’ highest honour was perhaps being part of the club’s historic inaugural AFL premiership side in 2004.

A prolific ball winner, Cornes was the club’s leading disposal getter for nine consecutive seasons between 2005 and 2013.

Cornes is 42^nd inductee into the Hall of Fame, and he told the 800-strong crowd at the club’s Hall of Fame and Season Launch event that the recognition was an incredible honour for a boy who grew up with a hatred and envy of Port Adelaide.

He recalled being a seven-year-old Glenelg supporter leaving the 1990 SANFL Grand Final in tears after Port Adelaide’s win.

“My hate for Pot Adelaide that day turned into absolute envy – how can they be so good?” he recalled.

“And if someone had whispered in my ear that night that I would end up in the Hall of Fame at the most successful club in Australia, I would have actually laughed.

“It is amazing for me to sit alongside some of the names that were up here before and I think Stephen Williams resonated with me most – Bucky Cunningham of course and Russell Ebert – but Stephen, I look up to Stephen and he said ‘I don’t really feel worthy’ and that’s how I feel right now.”

The former tagger thanked his coaches, teammates, family and even the supporters – who he admitted knowing often had a love-hate relationship with him, for getting him to where he is today.

Cornes’s induction was announced in a video tribute by his AFL premiership coach Mark Williams, who described the midfielder as someone who surprised everyone

Williams recalled needing to be convinced about his qualities when Cornes was drafted in 2000.

“We had pick 20, which was pretty important for us and looking at his stats and the tapes from the combine, he was a 3.8 20 metre runner, which said you’re slow and I’m not all that sure about picking slow players,” Williams said.

“He was a bit skinny so I’m thinking ‘I’m not sure where this guy is ever going to play’… he also brought with him the Cornes tag with Graham and the interaction between Port Adelaide and Glenelg and Port Adelaide and the Crows, and all those things.

“It was going to be an interesting selection so he came with a bit of pressure behind him, but he came as a humble person that just wanted to try hard and see how far he could go.”

Williams said Cornes became a player he could rely on to shut out the opposition’s key ball winner because of his drive to succeed and superior fitness, which he described as Cornes’ point of difference.

“I did describe him as the closest thing to Nathan Buckley at one point and got lambasted for it but it wasn’t about his kicking skills or his marking, it was all about his drive,” the premiership coach said of Cornes.

“He really wanted to get there and his work ethic and his commitment to the task that he set himself was first class, the number one of anyone that I have ever coached.

“Kane’s relentless pursuit of excellence was the number one thing that stands out for me – he actually wants to be the best.

“Whatever he sets his mind to, he will deliver – that’s what he’s about.”

Kane Cornes:

Games: 300

Goals: 93

AFL Premiership player (2004)

AFL pre-season Premiership player (2001, 2002)

Port Adelaide Best and Fairest (2007, 2008, 2010, 2012)

Port Adelaide life member (2010)

All-Australian (2006, 2007)

Best First Year Player (2001)
Most Improved Player (2004)
Leading Disposals (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013)