Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes says he was not impressed by Essendon’s improved aggression against Richmond following a week of intense media scrutiny.
The Bombers were heavily criticised by club legend Matthew Lloyd after midfielder Dylan Shiel was mocked by Swans star Luke Parker, with Lloyd unimpressed by Parker’s taunts not being met with any retaliation from Shiel’s teammates.
Essendon went down by 32 points to Richmond in a fiery Dreamtime at the ‘G clash, with a number of spotfires erupting throughout the course of the match.
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The loss to Richmond left Essendon in 16th on the AFL ladder with a paltry 2-8 record through 10 rounds, and Cornes wondered why it took a blast from Lloyd to inspire some more fight from the Bombers.
“Dyson Heppell can say that they’re not going to respond, well they did,” he told Nine’s AFL Sunday Footy Show.
“Don’t ever let players tell you that they don’t listen to the media because this is purely on the back of media conjecture that they produced this.
“Let’s see if they do this next Sunday against Port Adelaide in the graveyard shift in Adelaide.
“I think it’s a little embarrassing to just come out and respond to the pure media (pressure).
“It’s round 10, why’s it taken someone in the media to highlight an issue for them to respond?”
Despite Cornes’ criticism, Lloyd himself was left impressed by his team’s response to his brutal assessment.
“I liked it better than what I saw last week,” he told the AFL Sunday Footy Show.
“They were a much better team yesterday than they were last week, and I’d rather see that than what I saw the week before.
“I just spoke passionately about not being intimidated and walked over like Dylan Shiel was, that they can’t have that anymore.
“I think that was a starting point. You’re right, Kane, let’s see what happens next week, not just with remonstrating, but how they attack the ball.
“I thought their pressure was much better. You’ve got to start somewhere and there was a little tick on last night.”
However, Cornes’ criticism was not well-met by Sunday Footy Show host Tony Jones, who suggested the Bombers were in a lose-lose situation.
“They can’t win, Kane!” Jones said.
“So if they hadn’t done it you would’ve lampooned them. Now they have done it and you say it’s embarrassing.
“Come on fellas, just back off a little bit because they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.”