Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes lashes Collingwood Magpies’ Jordan De Goey for worst-ever AFL game

Collingwood bad boy Jordan De Goey made his long-awaited return to the field following his infamous Bali incident – but former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes said it wasn’t worth the wait, labelling it ‘one of the worst games of his career’. 

Cornes, who was renowned for his fastidious physical preparation during his decorated 300-game career, has been a vocal critic of De Goey for some time, and he didn’t hold back during his latest rant.

De Goey looked well off the pace in Collingwood’s heart-stopping five-point win over the Suns at Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast on Saturday night.

It was the forward’s first game since the Magpies incredible win over Melbourne on  June 13 – after which he travelled to Bali and become embroiled in controversy due a video on social media that showed him making crude, sexual gestures and trying to take a female friend’s top off. 

Jordan De Goey returned for Collingwood in their five-point win over the Suns on Saturday

The enigmatic forward-cum-midfielder didn’t trouble the scorers and could only manage 11 relatively ineffective touches, and Cornes was scathing in his criticism.

‘It was one of the worst games of his career and I think he’ll be quickly finding out that there are no shortcuts in this game,’ he said on Channel 9’s Sunday Footy Show this morning. 

‘You just cannot shortcut yourself through a pre-season, you can’t go overseas, you can’t miss a week of training.’ 

Kane Cornes has been scathing in his criticism of Jordan De Goey’s effort on Saturday

When he returned to Australia, De Goey then took a break from attending club training, and Cornes said that was not something the 26-year-old could afford to do – as he pointed out from Saturday night.

‘There are no shortcuts and hopefully he’s starting to wake up to that fact,’ he said.

‘Last night he almost cost them the win and he’s lucky that he’s waking up on the winning side. If they had lost that, a fair portion of blame would be laid on Jordan De Goey.’

Jordan De Goey struggled in his return to the park for Collingwood’s win over Gold Coast

De Goey is drawing attention not just for the Bali incident, but the fact he is off-contract at the end of the season.

Collingwood announced last month they had pulled their rich two-year offer off the table for now, and parked talks until the year’s end. Many reports indicate he could command $800,000 a year across a long-term deal – though Cornes said he wasn’t worth that.

‘His performance doesn’t warrant being paid in the top five at Collingwood, he’s finished in the top five of the B&F once,’ he said. 

Kane Cornes doesn’t believe Jordan De Goey is worth the rich numbers being bandied around

Fortunately for Collingwood, the rest of the side was on fire; with young firebrands Josh Daicos and Jack Ginnivan starring, kicking three goals each in the last-gasp win. 

It was a see-sawing encounter throughout the game, with the Magpies trailing by 14 points in the final quarter before banging home the last three goals of the game.

It left a spirited Gold Coast side devastated, but it took Collingwood to sixth on the ladder, in what is one of the closest season in recent memory.

They’ll get their chance to rack up another win when they host North Melbourne at the MCG next Saturday, who will be licking their wounds after a horror 112-point loss to Geelong yesterday.