Port Adelaide assistant coach Chad Cornes addressed the media on Tuesday, following the club’s fifth consecutive victory over the weekend. 

Amidst the highs of winning, Cornes voiced his support for small forward Junior Rioli who was racially vilified online ahead of his tribunal hearing this Wednesday night. 

Cornes reiterated the club’s ongoing support for Rioli, expressed his thoughts on the on-field incident and highlighted some outstanding recent performances from key players. 

Cornes on the racist social media comment targeting Junior Rioli 
“It's not good enough. We'll support him, the AFL world will support him, I think everyone's doing a better job of calling it out. I don't understand why people (racially vilify players) but (they can) look forward to their life ban when they get found out. I’m no IT expert, I don’t know how they track these people but hopefully they do and they'll never go to the footy again, which is what they deserve. (Rioli) just walked in before, I gave him a quick hug. He seems like he was going okay.” 

Cornes on Junior Rioli facing the tribunal 
“I'm not sure about the ins and outs of the tribunal, obviously I can't speak too much on it but what I've seen is he's a very fair player and in terms of his role in the forward line. He executes that block really well most of the time, obviously can't say too much but from my point of view he is an exceptionally fair player. 

“I very much doubt it was intentional. I haven't actually seen him yet since the game, but we all know him as a very fair player that attacks the ball and the body hard but doesn’t go out of his way to do anything against the rules.” 

Cornes on who may take Rioli’s place, if suspension occurs 
“If that's the outcome then we saw Frankie Evans start as a sub on the weekend and we've all been impressed with what he's brought to our footy club so far. He's very tough, he's very clean with the footy and generally has impacted quite well when he's played the couple of games he has so whether he comes in and plays a full game and then there's obviously some other options we can discuss in terms of throwing a few guys around the ground in different positions, but I think Frankie would be the logical one to come in.” 

Cornes on his forward line’s performance this year 
“(I’m) pretty happy. There are a lot of things we could do better but what I’m loving is the contest in the air, the ability for the boys to bring the ball to ground and not get beaten in aerial contest and then the pressure we're applying when the ball does hit the deck is at a really high level. That was a focus for me when I first took this job. The boys have embraced it and it's really helping the way we're playing our team footy as well.” 

Cornes on Darcy Byrne-Jones’s move forward 
“To be as good as he has been in the way he's embraced it and the work rate required in that area, unless you watch the game properly and you see the GPS results, (you see) it's not an easy position to play so I’m loving his work combined with (the rest of the forward line). They're great to coach, I’m really enjoying it. 

“We had to (let him go back) on the weekend when TJ (Tom Jonas) went off. Whatever's needed for the team we'll do obviously but if I had my choice, he'd be a small forward for the rest of the year.” 

Cornes on Jason Horne-Francis taking on his old team this weekend 
“There will probably be a bit of media behind it, my brother will have a bit to do with it, I'm sure. It is down in Tassie, so I’m not sure if that changes things but as we have the whole year, we will support him…he keeps building week on week. It wasn’t a high possession game (on Sunday for Horne-Francis) but every possession he has is really effective. He’s great in the air, some of his defensive acts were outstanding. I've just loved the way he's approached his footy since he's been here. Great to coach, great teammate, love the style of footy he plays and he'll continue that again this week. 

“Jase himself is quite tough-minded and has a really strong mindset so I don’t think it will bother him (if North Melbourne fans boo). Ideally, they don’t boo but we can’t control what people do and there's going to be some of that, I think. Opposition teams only boo good players so we can take a bit of comfort from that.” 

Cornes on Charlie Dixon playing through injury 
“He's been outstanding. It's not an easy injury to, firstly be out there on the ground, but to perform the way he has the last couple of weeks. He's obviously a really tough guy that can deal with injury well but he's one that really leads the way with aerial contest. If he doesn’t mark it, it always comes to ground and then the smalls are really joining in. I'm loving the pressure they're putting on once the ball does hit the ground and it's forcing a lot of pressured exits from opposition backlines which obviously is really helping our front and centre game which is in a really good spot as well.” 

Cornes on Zak Butters’ corky on Sunday 
“That was just one of those knee-on-knee (knocks) that really hurt at the time but after five or 10 minutes, it can recover. His game was brilliant, it was one of the better games I’ve seen him play in terms of the way he was pressuring the oppo and how effective he was with the ball in hand. Those three in the midfield, those three young guys (Butters, Horne-Francis and Connor Rozee) are all in really strong form.”