Power to rally for Jase
Cornes braced for boos
Port Adelaide assistant coach Chad Cornes says he expects Power players to “fly the flag” for Jason Horne-Francis when he takes on his former club North Melbourne for the first time this weekend.
The Power assistant is also bracing for the crowd to boo the 19-year-old but said ideally North Melbourne fans wouldn’t.
The former No. 1 draft pick will take on his former side for the first time, in Hobart on Saturday, following his highly publicised move from the Kangaroos after just one season at Arden Street.
Horne-Francis has copped it from opposition fans this season but could be in store for rough treatment from his former teammates after some bad blood over his move.
North hardman Cam Zurhaar has been vocal on social media on Horne-Francis’ move back to South Australia.
After watching Collingwood players go into bat for their teammate Nick Daicos after he was on the end of rough treatment from Sydney, which resulted in nine players getting fines, Cornes said he expected no different from the Power players.
“I really loved the way they (Collingwood) stood up for him, it was great vision and no doubt that would be vision that they review as a team this week,” he said. “And we are the same, if any opposition player gets into any of our players whether it is Jase or Tom Jonas we are going to stick up for them and fly the flag.”
The treatment of HorneFrancis by opposing crowds has been a bone of contention for the Power, with senior coach Ken Hinkley hitting out at it and at people in the media who he felt had not given the young gun the proper “respect”.
Cornes said he expected a fair bit of discussion around it, while he backed Horne-Francis to deal with it.
“It is down in Tassie, I don’t know if it will change things but as we have all year we will support him. “I’m sure he will embrace it, he keeps building week on week. Last week he didn’t have a high possession game but the impact with the possessions he had he was really effective, he was great in the air and his defensive acts were outstanding.
“I can’t put myself into the minds of supporters, I’m sure there will be a bit of booing.
“Josh Carr (Port’s midfield coach) has a really good relationship with him, Josh is a really tough minded guy who has been in those situations before when he was a player so I’m sure he will sit down with him about what might happen and the best way to deal with it if it does happen. Jase himself is tough minded… I don’t think it will bother him, there may come a time where he embraces it if it is there.”