Kane Cornes says sons heart condition prolonged his AFL career
PORT Adelaide's veteran Kane Cornes says the trauma of his first son's heart problems has prolonged his AFL career.
Cornes says his early obsession with football would have wiped him out, if not for the 2006 arrival of Eddy, born with heart defects.
"I couldn't continue doing what I was doing," Cornes said as he prepared for his 250th AFL game this weekend.
"It was a bit over the top and too much 'footy, footy, footy'.
"Me having a family really relaxed me on that side of things and the little one (Eddy) going through what he went through opened me up to what is really important."
Eddy's problems surfaced at a routine 20-week scan on his pregnant wife, Lucy - their son's heart was on the wrong side of his body.
Eddy had corrective operations and his footballing father spent many nights of the 2007 season sleeping on a hospital floor next to the crib of his now-healthy son.
As the Power prepares to tackle one of this year's premiership fancies, West Coast, at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night, Cornes said the club, which seemed on its knees a year ago, was in as good a shape as any time in his stellar 13-year career.
"It's probably as an exciting group as we've ever had,'' said Cornes, who on Saturday will become just the second man to play 250 games for the Power.
"It's hard to know how far we can go this year but if we can continue to develop and everyone strives to do that then who knows how far we can go?
"It's pretty hard to get there (to a grand final), we all know that, but we'll just try to do our best and see where that takes us.
"We're certainly in good shape at the moment.''
Cornes - who is six games shy of breaking Warren Tredrea's all-time Power games record of 255 - said the club was benefitting from some "really good off-field decisions", particularly with its recruiting.
"Our draft picks over the past two or three years have been spot on and their excitement and ability to win contested ball and tackle has been great,'' the 30-year-old said.
"The club's never been in a better spot and right now we've probably got six, seven or eight guys playing well in the SANFL, which hasn't happened for a while at this club.
"Certainly our injury list is as good as it's ever been, so the boys know they've got to perform or they won't play.
"That's all leading to good results on the field.''
Forward Paul Stewart, who missed Port's 38-point win against Gold Coast with a knee injury, is pushing for selection against the Eagles.
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