Port Adelaide champion Kane Cornes has hit out and any AFL fans suggesting Collingwood superstar Nick Daicos isn’t tough.
For all the admirers Daicos rightly has as one of the very best players in the game, the 22-year-old has a small section of detractors who argue that his inside contested game is a weakness.
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After defying a relentless tag from St Kilda’s Marcus Windhager to have 30 disposals and a goal on Saturday night, Cornes put that suggestion to bed once and for all.
“No one with any credibility ever questions his toughness, but I just hear some murmurings from the opposition supporters, so I just want to put that to bed with these clips,” Cornes said on Kane’s Call, as vision of the game played.
“This is a tough footballer. You don’t do that unless you’re seriously tough.
“That was a crunch tackle against a bigger opponent at crunch time. And then he goes forward with the tagger hanging off him — he was hanging off him all night, he was niggling.
“I know what it’s like to be on the other side of that, just niggling, pesting your way through the whole of the four quarters. Windhager didn’t let up.
“And then this gut-run; this is the best gut-run I’ve seen this year. This is late, this is late in the fourth quarter, and no one can go with this guy.
“This is after he’s been tagged for 120 minutes, and he does that gut-busting run and then unselfishly dishes it off.
“Any of the clowns out there that want to question his toughness on social media, go back and watch the game.
“Not many players are tagged today, and he still has 30, kicks a goal, and does that brutal stuff in crunch times.
“So, I just want to put an end to those little murmurs about his toughness — I don’t like it.”
Windhager’s running battle with Daicos has earned the St Kilda tagger an fine for striking.
Windhager can accept a $1000 penalty for the first-quarter incident in Saturday night’s match against Collingwood at Marvel Stadium.
His tag on the Magpies star lived up to the pre-game hype, with plenty of incidents and Daicos eventually kicking a crucial goal in the last term as Collingwood won by 34 points.
It also continues to generate headlines, with St Kilda coach Ross Lyon saying the club will ask the AFL about free kicks paid against them for off-the-ball incidents.
Also on Sunday, Carlton midfielder George Hewett was hit with a massive $10,000 fine for striking North Melbourne ruckman Tristan Xerri in Saturday’s loss to the Kangaroos.
It is Hewett’s third striking charge, hence the hefty penalty. He can accept a $6250 fine with an early plea.
The third-quarter incident at the MCG was assessed as intentional conduct, low impact and body contact.
- With AAP
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