Graham Studley Cornes OAM (born 31 March 1948 in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er and coach, as well as a media personality. From 1995 until early 2013, Cornes co-hosted a weekday drivetime sports program that he hosts on Adelaide radio station

5AA FIVEaa (pronounced ''Five Double A'') is Adelaide's only commercial talkback radio station. The station has a range of programs including news, sports, current affairs, social issues, football calls, gardening, lifestyle, cars, travel and healt ...

, first with

Ken "KG" Cunningham Kenneth George (KG) Cunningham (born 26 July 1939 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian radio personality, and a former cricketer and football umpire. Sporting career Cunningham had a first-class cricket career from the 1960/61 to 19 ...

and, following Cunningham's retirement in 2008, with Stephen Rowe. In 2012 he was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

. Cornes is also a

Vietnam veteran A Vietnam veteran is a person who served in the armed forces of participating countries during the Vietnam War. The term has been used to describe veterans who served in the armed forces of South Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and oth ...

, having served as an infantry soldier with the 7th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment in 1968.

Playing career

Cornes was a champion with the Glenelg Football Club in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

, between 1967 and 1982. He played mostly at

Ruck Rover Ruck may refer to: * Ruck (rugby union), a contesting for the ball in Rugby Union from a grounded player * Ruck (Australian rules football), an aerial contest in Australian rules football between rival ruckmen * Ruck (rugby league), the area surr ...

in the

and centre half-forward. In his 317 club games for Glenelg he kicked 339 goals and won the club best and fairest award three times. He captained Glenelg in 1978 and was a member of the premiership team in 1973, taking a spectacular mark in the last minutes of the game and calmly kicking the goal to regain the lead. In 1977 Cornes took a memorable spectacular mark against Norwood which is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting ''the Game That Made Australia'', commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport. Cornes signed with the

VFL The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

early in his career, but stayed in South Australia. He made his VFL debut at the age of 31 in 1979 and played five games with

Ron Barassi Ronald Dale Barassi Jr. (born 27 February 1936) is a former Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player to be inaugurated into ...

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

before returning to South Australia after he was dropped from the team. Most South Australians thought that he was played out of position in the VFL having made his name in South Australia as a Ruck Rover. As playing coach with

South Adelaide The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

in 1979 and 1980, winning the

Tassie Medal The Tassie Medal was awarded to the outstanding player at each Australian rules football Interstate matches in Australian rules football, Interstate Carnival or Interstate matches in Australian rules football, Australian interstate championship se ...

in 1980 and the

Simpson Medal The Simpson Medal is an individual prize awarded for Australian rules football in Western Australia. The medal has been donated by Dr Fred Simpson and family since 1945. Simpson Medals are currently awarded to the following players: *The best pla ...

in 1979. playing as a Ruck Rover.

Coaching career

Cornes was the playing coach of

South Adelaide The South Adelaide Football Club is an Australian rules football club that competes in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). Known as the ''Panthers'', their home ground is Flinders University Stadium State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

matches, boasting nine wins from eleven matches including six wins from eight matches coaching the South Australia team against Victoria. He was the

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

coach in 1987 and 1988. In 1991, Cornes was appointed the inaugural senior coach of the

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Crows (officially the Adelaide Football Club) are a professional Australian rules football team based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1990. The Crows has fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since ...

in their first year in the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

. The Crows in its inaugural year under Cornes finished ninth at the end of 1991 season and ninth again at the end of the 1992 season. Cornes guided the Crows to their first finals appearance in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, where they finished third at the end of the 1993 season. They made it to the preliminary final against and led at half-time by 42 points. But inspired by the brilliance of Michael Long, the Bombers mounted an amazing comeback to win the game by 11 points. However, the Crows finished eleventh in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and at the end of the season, Cornes was replaced by Robert Shaw because the club wanted a new coach.

Head coaching record

Post-football

Cornes is now a football media personality, having appeared on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

's football coverage during the 1990s, and co hosting the FIVEaa Sports Show with, first

K. G. Cunningham Kenneth George (KG) Cunningham (born 26 July 1939 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian radio personality, and a former cricketer and football umpire. Sporting career Cunningham had a first-class cricket career from the 1960/61 to 19 ...

from 1995 to 2008, and then former Adelaide Crow Stephen Rowe, 2009 to April 2013. Since retirement he has hosted a conversations program, "Conversations with Cornesy", and is also back with K. G Cunningham on FIVE aa's Saturday Morning Sports Show. He has been a long-time

News Limited News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of the American News Corp. One of Australia's largest media conglomerates, News Corp Australia employs more than 8,000 staff nationwide and approximately 3,0 ...

columnist. He has also coached the All Stars in

EJ Whitten Legends Game The E. J. Whitten Legends Game was an annual Australian sports entertainment Australian rules football match. It is played for charity played as an all-star game. Retired star players are reunited, along with selected non-footballing celebrities ...

. Cornes was also the centrepiece of ''Cornesy's Allstar Rock Band'' (formerly known as the 5AA Rock-n-Roll Allstars), in which he plays guitar and does some vocals. Other members of this Adelaide-based band are Greg Mallen, Simon Wilson, David Heath, Dean Fioretti, Travis and Rob Dragani, and "Polly" Politis. In 2007, Cornes argued for the return of State of Origin in Australian football. He cited the success of the annual New South Wales-Queensland series in the National Rugby League (NRL) and blamed the narrow-mindedness of clubs and coaches for undermining the concept in Australian football.

Personal life

Cornes' sons

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

and Kane became players for the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed ...

in the AFL. He has been married three times, currently married to

Nicole Cornes Nicole Joanne Cornes (born 7 January 1970) is a union legal officer, a former newspaper columnist and a former Australian Labor political candidate. She was the unsuccessful 2007 Australian Labor Party candidate for the division of Boothby, a ma ...

whom he met when she was a secretary at radio station 5AA. Cornes and his wife have three daughters, Amy (1994), Charlize (2004) and Gia (2009). In 1968, he was drafted under the National Service Act and served in Vietnam as an infantry soldier with the 7th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment. He remains active with several veterans groups.

References

External links

*
Graham Cornes' Army Service Record
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornes, Graham Glenelg Football Club players South Adelaide Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players 1948 births Living people Australian rules football commentators Adelaide Football Club coaches Glenelg Football Club coaches South Adelaide Football Club coaches All-Australians (1953–1988) All-Australian coaches South Australian State of Origin players Australian military personnel of the Vietnam War Australian rules footballers from Adelaide

Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan G ...

Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Reynella Football Club players