Port Adelaide champion and All-Australian selector Kane Cornes has defended the panel's decision to omit Richmond's Tim Taranto amongst others from the initial squad.
It comes after Cornes was vocal earlier in the season that Taranto "wouldn't be in the top 150 players in the game right now", suggesting the Richmond recruit "didn't influence games".
Despite Taranto's season being touted as one of the strongest, with an elite average of 28 disposals in 2023, Cornes stood firm on the panel's major decision that has left the AFL community scratching their heads.
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"There's always good players who miss out. We thought there were midfielders in front of him, that's the reality of it," Cornes said on SEN.
"You can look at his numbers as a lot of people have done, or you can look at his numbers a little bit closer, as we tended to do in the meeting this week.
"He had a very strong season… there's always good players who miss out and he was one of them according to the panel."
Cornes was the centre of criticism regarding Taranto's omission, with Richmond legend Matthew Richardson labelling as "ridiculous" the comments Cornes made earlier in the year.
https://twitter.com/mattricho0/status/1696070663390503108?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwCornes was further grilled on the omission of Geelong wingman Gryan Miers, who broke Jason Akermanis' most goal assists stat, reaching a record 41 for the season.
"I think we've done a pretty good job of recognising the forwards in this year's team, there's a number of them… Miers kicked seven goals (in 2023)," Cornes said on SEN Sportsday.
"He had a very good season, but he's playing a small forward role and kicked seven goals.
"I've got no issue with him being left out of the side."
Cornes was also quick to defend the selection of Carlton captain Patrick Cripps, confident that the big-bodied midfielder was the standout in the Blues turnaround to make finals.
"If you look at Carlton's turnaround and what coincided with that, I think Cripps voted in seven out of nine games from the coaches in that patch," Cornes said.
"In my personal view, I thought his influence over Carlton's turnaround was really strong."
The panel of 10 selectors included Cornes, Gill McLachlan, Eddie Betts, Jude Bolton, Nathan Buckley, incoming CEO Andrew Dillon, Glen Jakovich, Laura Kane, Cameron Ling and Matthew Pavlich.
Port Adelaide champion and All-Australian selector Kane Cornes has defended the panel's decision to omit Richmond's Tim Taranto amongst others from the initial squad.
It comes after Cornes was vocal earlier in the season that Taranto "wouldn't be in the top 150 players in the game right now", suggesting the Richmond recruit "didn't influence games".
Despite Taranto's season being touted as one of the strongest, with an elite average of 28 disposals in 2023, Cornes stood firm on the panel's major decision that has left the AFL community scratching their heads.
READ MORE: World Cup kiss scandal explodes
READ MORE: Legend's grim Latrell warning amid text scandal
READ MORE: Ange disaster as Spurs knocked out in 18-year first
"There's always good players who miss out. We thought there were midfielders in front of him, that's the reality of it," Cornes said on SEN.
"You can look at his numbers as a lot of people have done, or you can look at his numbers a little bit closer, as we tended to do in the meeting this week.
"He had a very strong season… there's always good players who miss out and he was one of them according to the panel."
Cornes was the centre of criticism regarding Taranto's omission, with Richmond legend Matthew Richardson labelling as "ridiculous" the comments Cornes made earlier in the year.
https://twitter.com/mattricho0/status/1696070663390503108?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwCornes was further grilled on the omission of Geelong wingman Gryan Miers, who broke Jason Akermanis' most goal assists stat, reaching a record 41 for the season.
"I think we've done a pretty good job of recognising the forwards in this year's team, there's a number of them… Miers kicked seven goals (in 2023)," Cornes said on SEN Sportsday.
"He had a very good season, but he's playing a small forward role and kicked seven goals.
"I've got no issue with him being left out of the side."
Cornes was also quick to defend the selection of Carlton captain Patrick Cripps, confident that the big-bodied midfielder was the standout in the Blues turnaround to make finals.
"If you look at Carlton's turnaround and what coincided with that, I think Cripps voted in seven out of nine games from the coaches in that patch," Cornes said.
"In my personal view, I thought his influence over Carlton's turnaround was really strong."
The panel of 10 selectors included Cornes, Gill McLachlan, Eddie Betts, Jude Bolton, Nathan Buckley, incoming CEO Andrew Dillon, Glen Jakovich, Laura Kane, Cameron Ling and Matthew Pavlich.
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