Former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes has opened up about an incident in 2002 that led to him receiving a death threat from a Collingwood supporter.
Speaking on AFL media's 'What Really Happened' series, Cornes opened up about his infamous middle finger incident that was directed at Collingwood player Brodie Holland after Holland had been sledging Cornes during the entirety of the game in their clash at Football Park in 2002.
Cornes admitted that it's something he should never have done and at the time he was “far too confident for someone who’d done nothing in the game". Cornes had played 11 games and the Power had just won a thriller against the Pies when the incident took place.
“My first reaction was not to celebrate with my teammates but it was to run straight over to Brodie Holland, jump in his face, give him the bird, give him a mouthful and then run off like nothing happened to join in with my teammates for the celebration,” Cornes said.
After a scuffle and the singing of the song in the Power change rooms, it was made known to Cornes that his incident with Holland had been caught on camera and replayed a number of times on the broadcast.
Days after the incident, Cornes was instructed by then coach Mark Williams to openly apologise to his teammates for his actions post-game that could have led to further team sanctions.
Unfortunately, things escalated for Cornes, who received a personally-addressed letter by a Collingwood fan that spoke of his displeasure with how Cornes treated the Collingwood Football Club during the game.
“It was a genuine death threat coming my way for the way that I had treated the Collingwood Football Club during that game,” he said.
“I thought ‘oh this is all getting the better of me here’. So I walked upstairs to my footy manager’s office, Rob Snowden, showed him the letter, he took it very seriously and reported it to the police. I had an interview at the police station and they got involved. For a week or a couple of months or so, they kept a really close eye on me and made sure nothing untoward happened.
“But it really didn’t rattle me and it threw me. I was so regretful and embarrassed by my actions and I was absolutely mortified by it all.”
Cornes later admitted that through all the trouble, his teammates saw the funny side of the story and remembered a night when Brent Guerra and Josh Carr turned up to his apartment “with ski masks on and a fake knife” at around 9pm one night that freaked him out and made him regret his actions even more.
“They knocked on my door, pretending to be the Collingwood fan who had sent me the death threat,” Cornes said.
“I’ve gone out to the door absolutely freaked out when I’ve seen these two, who I thought were, robbers with knives. I ran back before they quickly removed their ski masks and had a great laugh.
“They thought it was hilarious, I didn’t and I regretted my actions.”
Since the incident, Cornes admitted that he hasn't given anyone else the middle finger salute and wanted to again apologise for his actions.
“Finally, I want to apologise to Brodie Holland, I want to apologise to the whole of the Collingwood Football Club and their cheersquad – who for about 10 years from that moment, whenever I went near the Collingwood cheersquad, reminded me that they were going to snap off my middle finger and stick it you-know-where – I apologise.
“It was the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done and I truly regret it.”
