'Harden up': Kane Cornes doubles down on criticism of former club

Former Port Adelaide premiership player Kane Cornes has urged his former club to 'harden up' after the Power hit back against criticism from himself and another former player.

Cornes and premiership teammate Warren Treadrea, who both began media careers after retiring, were scathing in their assessments of the Power's humiliating preliminary final drubbing by the Western Bulldogs.

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The frank assessments from two club champions hit close to home for Port Adelaide officials, with veteran AFL reporter Caroline Wilson saying on Footy Classified that there were some within the club hurt by Cornes' criticism.

Wilson said certain Port Adelaide officials felt Cornes and Treadrea should have been more understanding of how difficult it is to win a premiership, given the Power were memorably labelled 'chokers' prior to their breakthrough 2004 flag.

However Cornes was having none of it, suggesting the club had bigger problems to deal with in the wake of the drubbing than what he and Treadrea say on air.

After the 71-point loss at Adelaide Oval, Cornes said the side had been 'buried', while Treadrea called head coach Ken Hinkley's preparation into question.

"Me showing some clips of some Port Adelaide players shirking contests in the first quarter of a final that was set up to win should not affect Ken Hinkley," Cornes said.

"Now if it does, Ken, I'm not sure is sensitive to these comments, I think he's got to harden up a little bit.

"No one has said more nice things about Ken Hinkley in the last nine years than myself.

"I've been incredibly supportive, as he was to me, I'll never forget how they treated me on the way out."

Cornes also pointed out that he was a relatively young player at 21 when the Power won their first flag, whereas Hinkley and the core of this Power side has been contending for one of thereabouts for nine years.

He added that the club should be more concerned about the opinions of paying supporters than of himself and Treadrea.

"I feel for the supporters who booked their tickets and spent thousands of dollars to come over, everything set up for them.

"Now, if the club is sensitive about some commentary from two former players who have a job to do, I thought it was quite balanced, then I think they need to harden up a little bit."

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Treadrea was obviously watching Cornes' comments on Monday night's Footy Classified and tweeted his support for his former teammate's argument.

"Hear Hear. (Port Adelaide) need to harden up, own your poor performance, learn from it and move on," he posted on Twitter.

It wasn't just the two former Power stars who suggested the club wasn't doing itself any favours by going after the media pair.

Former Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd said it was clear the Power needed to do something differently in the wake of such a devastating loss.

"Kane is spot on. They need to harden up. They are far too sensitive. They were an embarrassment," he said.

"They lost by 71 points and played shell-shocked footy, give us the answers of what went wrong. I want to hear that rather than anything Kane's had to say.

"Tell us actually what happened. What went wrong in your preparation? Why couldn't your players handle the heat of a prelim when they had everything going for them?

"That's where they should be putting all their focus."

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