NRL great Mark Geyer rips Kane Cornes over Heeney criticism

Former NRL legend Mark Geyer has ripped ex-Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes for his criticism of Swan Isaac Heeney.

Cornes condemned Heeney over an Instagram video showing the star Swan wakeboarding while quarantined on a family farm in the Hunter Valley.

Speaking on his Triple M radio show on Tuesday night, Geyer labelled Cornes "irrelevant".

“Has Kane Cornes been under a mushroom for the last month? Does he know there’s no games this weekend?” Geyer said.

“Does he know there’s a pandemic going on?

“It’s a dark day in the world when we bag a bloke for having a bit of fun as a pandemic takes over the world. But that’s what Kane Cornes has done.

“I don’t get it, I don’t get this at all. Why the hell would you begrudge a young bloke on his family farm having a bit of fun, not causing any trouble whatsoever, not doing anything that’s going to disrespect the Swans jersey.

“Is that what you want to be doing Kane? Do you want to be up there with him? Is that the problem?

“You’re stuck in Adelaide. Come on man, leave the kid alone.

“I can tell you now Kane Cornes it won’t bring me any closer to you son, because you are irrelevant, and you are stupid for even daring to say Isaac Heeney was stupid.

“When I heard it I actually said is he taking the piss? Is he taking the piss with this young bloke or does he know him?”

Cornes responded on his SEN SA breakfast radio show on Wednesday morning, mocking Geyer by claiming he'd never heard of him.

“Who is he? I had to Google him, I’ve never ever heard of him before,” Cornes said on SEN SA.

“Only 180 (games)? That’s it? I’ve got 120 games on him.”

Cornes doubled down on his comments about Heeney's behaviour no matter the circumstances.

“I understand the backlash to my comments and I understand that most people are going to be on the players’ side,” he said.

“You’ve also got to understand that these players sign a contract to not to do anything like that. I’ve got nothing against Isaac Heeney. I said he’s an outstanding footballer and I’ve got a lot of time for him.

“I just think if something goes wrong, it doesn’t look good. Look at Charlie Curnow, look at Ollie Wines. I don’t want to harp on it, I just don’t think you should be doing that and putting yourself at risk of hurting yourself. I said it was stupid and I stand by the fact it was stupid.”