'That's the reality': Kane Cornes defends shock omission of Tiger Tim Taranto from All-Australian squadAnna Pavlou
Nine
30 August 2023Port Adelaide champion and All-Australian selector Kane Cornes has defended the panel's decision to omit Richmond's Tim Taranto amongst others from the initial squad.
It comes after Cornes was vocal earlier in the season that Taranto "wouldn't be in the top 150 players in the game right now", suggesting the Richmond recruit "didn't influence games".
Despite Taranto's season being touted as one of the strongest, with an elite average of 28 disposals in 2023, Cornes stood firm on the panel's major decision that has left the AFL community scratching their heads.
"There's always good players who miss out. We thought there were midfielders in front of him, that's the reality of it," Cornes said on SEN.
"You can look at his numbers as a lot of people have done, or you can look at his numbers a little bit closer, as we tended to do in the meeting this week.
"He had a very strong season… there's always good players who miss out and he was one of them according to the panel."
Cornes was the centre of criticism regarding Taranto's omission, with Richmond legend Matthew Richardson labelling as "ridiculous" the comments Cornes made earlier in the year.
The panel of 10 selectors included Cornes, Gill McLachlan, Eddie Betts, Jude Bolton, Nathan Buckley, incoming CEO Andrew Dillon, Glen Jakovich, Laura Kane, Cameron Ling and Matthew Pavlich.
https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/news-2023-kane-cornes-defends-all-australian-tim-taranto-gryan-miers-omission/32e21931-d20b-4f95-83f6-59b6ab8f679c
