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Full Noise by SN
FIFA World Cup 2026 posterCornes: When did our game become so soft?
SEN • May 25th, 2026 10:18 am
Kane Cornes has launched a tirade relating to “soft” free kicks that lead to goals.
He picked out several incidents that occurred across the weekend which stood out to him.
Collingwood star Nick Daicos was felled by West Coast’s Reuben Ginbey, after initially giving away a free kick to Liam Baker, and it resulted in a goal.
Brisbane’s Cam Rayner went down easily and was rewarded a free kick against GWS, while Riley Thilthorpe copped a one-week ban for a seemingly soft tummy tap on Hawthorn’s Lloyd Meek.
And Cornes is furious.
“I just want to go on a little rant this morning,” Cornes said on SEN’s Fireball.
“I’m concerned with where the game is headed with some of the ridiculous free kicks that were paid, game-changing free kicks, on the weekend.
“The AFL will sit here and go, ‘all these free kicks were justified, the umpires were reviewed on Monday, and they'll go, yep, there was an arm there, or there was an off-the-ball there, and that was the right free kick to pay’.
“But when did our game become so soft? I'm seeing more diving…
“I don't think with Daicos, the overturned one on Ginbey, is a free kick. If we sat down and designed our game and said what should be a free kick and what shouldn't be, that's not a free kick.
“Just to brush past him and Daicos flop and hit the ground and that to be an overturned free kick, goal against at a pivotal moment. That's not the way that we designed the game to be drawn up.
“Cam Rayner got a free kick in the ruck on the weekend that he kicked a goal from early in the game where it was just a man-on-man contest, eyes on the ball, too strong, Rayner hits the deck and flops, free kick, goal against.
“I saw an arm chop on Aaron Naughton yesterday that wasn't an arm chop. Free kick, shot at goal against.
“Koltyn Tholstrup got a 50-metre penalty against Rhylee West, which was just incidental contact. He hits the ground, milks it. 50 metres, goal against.
“I think if you want to draw up the game, these are not the free kicks that should be paid. I'm really concerned about it.
“Riley Thilthorpe getting a week for that little tummy tap is not the way that the game should be adjudicated at the moment and we are going down a very, very interesting path where floppers and divers and exaggerators are rewarded with game-changing free kicks.
“I’ve just about had enough and I hope the AFL are watching and going, ‘hmmm, this is an interesting path that we're going down’.”
Fireball co-host David King agrees.
And he has a solution to rid the game of conmen.
“The Rayner one was a disaster and he laughed. I hate when the players get up and laugh, he knew that he conned them," said King.
“I said this last year to you - if a player gets a free kick for a goal and you say to the player, ‘Do you I feel like I've been conned here as the umpire? Do you want to take this free kick because if you take this free kick and it turns out you flopped or staged or dived, it’s a $10,000 fine. Do you want it or not?’
“And then the player would say, ‘oh, you know, better ball this one up, I reckon’. That annoys me.
“Josh Rachele did the same thing. He got a fine. So why are we fining some and not others?
“If it's a goal, it should be five times what the flopping fine is.”
Cornes continued: “I’m happy with that. And why are umpires rewarding this behaviour?
“Why, all of a sudden, if you get rid of the ball, say you kick it and you just get touched, the player is there running full speed trying to pressure the player with the ball and at the last minute they just touch someone - every time now it's a downfield free kick, why is that?
“Why are we so petrified of any contact in the game? Like these are big, high-stakes moments, these are goals against, free kicks down the field, 50s, goals in the goal square.”
Listen to Kane's rant below:
