Kane Cornes in TV takedown of Wayne Carey over 'ridiculous' claim

AFL pundit Kane Cornes has taken a swipe at Wayne Carey after being criticised for comments he made about the condition of Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield.

Kangaroos legend Carey took umbrage with comments Cornes made on the Sunday Footy Show about Dangerfield looking "heavy" and possibly in need of a "trim down" in order to increase his longevity in the game.

'WICKED LIE': Eddie McGuire's heated grand final debate with Caroline Wilson

BOMBSHELL: Retired AFL player Sam Fisher charged in drug trafficking sting

Carey took aim the Port Adelaide great on Twitter and Triple M radio, saying: “Kane came out with the most ridiculous thing I have heard for a while.

“Patrick Dangerfield is a bull, not a sheep dog. He’s a tank, that’s the way he plays, it’s a combative sport and he’s a combative man and right now he’s not fit because he’s injured.”

On Monday, Geelong announced that Dangerfield would be taking a break from the game to complete a "mid-season conditioning block", as the club takes a conservative approach to his recovery from another calf injury setback.

Speaking on Footy Classified on Monday night, Cornes turned the spotlight back on Carey and suggested the move from the Cats backed up his thoughts on Dangerfield.

“Don’t see that very often do you, a star player taken out of the game to complete a mid-season conditioning block. I think that would be on the radar to streamline his body and get a bit match hard,” Cornes added.

“There will be a fitness component to that, no doubt about that, because he hasn’t had his body right.

“But it’s happened in world sport for ages and we’ve seen it with NBA players. Kobe Bryant set this trend when he lost 16 pounds (7kg) for the Olympics and then all these players copied him.

“This isn’t an unusual aspect of a player who is ageing. Less is more after the age of 30.

“LeBron James lost weight inspired by Kobe Bryant, we’ve seen Max Gawn the way he returned a couple of years ago, we’ve seen Christian Petracca talk about it.

“I’ve seen players that I played with (like) Warren Tredrea do it.

“It wasn’t a criticism of Patrick Dangerfield. I just think it will be beneficial for his footy as he ages and injuries become a problem.”

Kane Cornes tells Wayne Carey to form his own ideas

Cornes said rather than Carey criticising the opinions of his peers, the 244-game great should come up with his own original ideas.

“It just fascinates me that they come up with their own opinions off other people’s opinion,” Cornes said.

“Have your own opinion. If you want to come out and say Patrick Dangerfield’s a bull, great.

“I find it amusing that a lot of people have opinions off other people’s opinions. Create your own.”

Dangerfield was substituted out of the Cats' win over Port Adelaide on Saturday because of tightness in the same calf he injured earlier in the season.

The previous injury - a strain in the same spot he had earlier corked - put him out of action for two weeks.

Dangerfield's mid-season training block - which will likely rule him out of Geelong's matches against Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs - is aimed at preparing him for the second half of the year.

Despite Dangerfield's absence, Geelong will start hot favourites against his old club Adelaide on Saturday.

The Cats (6-4) are looking to firm up their spot in the top-eight, sitting one win clear of the ninth-placed Bulldogs.

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.