PORT Adelaide champion Chad Cornes will play his last game of AFL football this Saturday night against Collingwood, ending a decorated career spanning 13 seasons with the Power.
Cornes, who turns 32 in November, says he sat down with the football department mid way through the year and agreed that this would be his last season in the AFL.
“Matty (Senior coach Matthew Primus) and myself, along with Garry Hocking and Peter Rohde, sat down during the mid year break and we mutually agreed that this would be my last season,” Cornes said.
Cornes was recruited from Glenelg as a first round selection (No. 9 overall) at the 1997 AFL National Draft and made his debut in Showdown V against the Crows in Round 6, 1999.
He enjoyed a stellar season in 2004, playing a pivotal role in the club’s inaugural AFL premiership as well as gaining All-Australian selection and finishing third in the Brownlow medal.
Cornes, who will play his 239th game on Saturday night (the third most games for Port Adelaide in the AFL), says he is privileged to have had such a wonderful career at a great club.
“I’ve absolutely loved my time here at Port Adelaide,” Cornes said.
“At the start, I never thought I’d make it at AFL level, so to have achieved the things I have is something I’m very proud of.
“I’ve had a great journey in that I’ve played for a long time, met so many great people and won a premiership. To achieve this all at the one club is very satisfying. Not many players get to stay at just the one club and to do it here at a great club like Port Adelaide, who would have thought that fifteen years ago,” Cornes said.
Cornes, who was runner up in the club best and fairest award in 2007, says he looks back on his and the team’s development in the early 2000s with fond memories.
“I look back on the period in the early 2000s, the mateship, the young list building towards a premiership and then the culmination of winning the flag in 2004, they’re the memories I’ll cherish the most,” Cornes said.
Cornes says he owes a lot to former coach Mark Williams and former assistant coach Phil Walsh for his early development and thanks all his team mates, family, friends and Port Adelaide supporters for their wonderful support over his career.
“I thank Choco (Mark Williams) and Phil Walsh for both believing in me and taking me from a skinny kid who didn’t work too hard to someone who prided himself on playing with great effort and passion.
“And I really owe a lot to my family and friends, all my team mates and of course our supporters. The supporters have been great right through my career and they’ve especially given me terrific support this year. I really want them all to come along Saturday night and be a part of my final game,” Cornes said.
Port Adelaide senior coach Matthew Primus paid tribute to Cornes saying he’ll be remembered as one of the all time greats of the Port Adelaide Football Club.
“Chad is an outstanding person with great character and he leaves behind a legacy and a benchmark of how to best prepare for a game, through his attitude to training and overall desire to be the best he can,” Primus said.
“His competitive spirit and passion for our club week in, week out, has him held in such high regard by our fans, his team mates, and his coaches and is the reason why I rate him as one of the greatest players to play for this club in the AFL.”
Primus has urged as many Port Adelaide supporters to get to AAMI Stadium for Saturday’s 7.10pm clash with Collingwood to farewell Chad.
“I know our supporters love Chad,” said Primus.
“They love what he brings to the contest and the passion he has for the jumper and I, along with the entire club, would love our supporters to come along on Saturday night to show Chad what he means to them and thank him for the joy and great memories he’s provided us all over so many years.”
