Which must explain why Ken Hinkley, who has delivered on his pledge to the notoriously anxious Cornes that he planned to extend his career and not end it, has moved to accommodate the 32-year-old with two final games. Hinkley has never seemed like a tribute-game or milestone type. He fears the focus on Ollie Wines this year, just as he worked to combat the attention lavished upon Chad Wingard in 2014. But it is clear that he has worked with Cornes in recent days to afford him the individual honour of becoming the AFL Port Adelaide club's first 300-gamer. Which is why the Port Adelaide camp would be so disappointed at one significant section of negative and puzzling home-town reaction to Cornes' decision to quit during the season to join the fire brigade. The view of Adelaide Crows powerbroker Mark Ricciuto is that only two opposing conclusions could be drawn from the mid-season retirement. Wearing one of his media hats, the Australian football Hall of Famer wrote that Cornes was either forced out by his club or was being selfish in deserting his team playing for a top-four position. The Ricciuto view was provocative and will only serve to deepen the divisions between the two clubs. Neither of which is a bad thing, except that Ricciuto is a Crows director and therefore significantly conflicted.

It remains inexplicable why AFL broadcasters continue to place club board members and assistant coaches in calling and commentating roles at games involving their own clubs. Ricciuto is just one of several examples of this unprofessional and often distracting practice, which club presidents Eddie McGuire and James Brayshaw have had the good sense to abandon. Ricciuto tends to manage his conflict reasonably well on most occasions, which is a significant achievement given he co-hosts a daily radio show in Adelaide, commentates for Fox Footy and writes a weekly newspaper column. "He's either being selfish or he is being pushed," wrote Ricciuto this week. "... if he chooses to abandon his teammates and his club midway through the season for an opportunity to join the fire brigade or the media it undoes everything that he's stood for, or what he should stand for, it would smack of putting the individual before the team ..." The Ricciuto view has been supported by several commentators but is clearly belied by Hinkley and Co., who have made it clear they have accepted the player's decision, agree that while he remains at present a crucial player, that requirement is waning and three or four youngsters will receive development opportunities as a result. One of those, Karl Amon, is expected to play on Sunday against the Brisbane Lions. Ricciuto's club is unlikely to thank him in the case of his strong position on Kane Cornes. Just as the Port Adelaide hierarchy was as disappointed as Richmond last year when Power chairman David Koch used his media role to criticise Jake King for his underworld connections. Port Adelaide is unlikely to take on Ricciuto publicly, although the club is expected to explain the unusual move by its ageing star in a letter to members next week.

The truth, as Cornes explained it, is that he had begun to have some doubts about his form and was becoming concerned that by September he might not be in the club's best 22. Clearly this was to be his last season and clearly, Port has come around to that view. The fire brigade story is as close to romantic as life after football can get and Cornes should prove a poster boy for the AFL Players Association's Max 360 program now being employed by the majority of clubs to encourage players to improve both their football lives and life beyond the game. Ditto the AFL's SportsReady initiative. For Cornes, the fire brigade application came with his club's knowledge and blessing some months ago and saw him emerge successful after a rigorous selection process. Win win. It is true Cornes, one of the mentally strongest players Port has seen and who has been compared by Hinkley to Cameron Ling, signed a one-year contract extension last year. The club will pay him out his base wage and he will respond with some promotional, corporate and coaching duties. And he will be given a farewell at the Adelaide Oval befitting a four-time club champion, two-time All-Australian who finished top three in the John Cahill 10 times under three coaches.

And who thought his career was finished close to three years ago and instead contested two further finals series. Cornes said this week he would miss the camaraderie of post-game victories and his emotional announcement to his teammates came equipped with a giant towel to wipe his tears. Those who care about him and who have watched him deliver on every part of his natural ability and so much more are also glad for Cornes that he can shed the worrying side of football that added to his complex make-up. And that a new career so often eluding retiring players has presented itself.