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FWC: MEX v RSA live on SN Extra“Pathetic response”: Cornes questions Dogs after Crows mauling
SEN • June 12th, 2026 11:33 am
The Western Bulldogs were battered by Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs showed plenty of grit when they were in the faces of key Hawthorn players in their come-from-behind victory in Round 13.
But where was it last night?
Kane Cornes labelled the listless performance of the Doggies as “pathetic”, blasted off the park by the powerful Crows to the tune of 57 points.
“Where was the aggression from the Dogs?” Cornes asked on SEN’s Fireball.
“Where was the niggle? Where was the angst? Where was the toughness? Where was the targeting of the opposition’s best players like we saw last week?
“So you do it for one week and everyone says, ‘How good’s this, how good was the half-time turnaround, in the face of Sicily, in the face of Watson’.
“What a pathetic response that was. Where was that?”
Cornes wondered where the physicality towards Jordan Dawson was, as was spoken about pre-game.
The Crows captain brushed Matt Kennedy aside to kick three first-quarter goals on his way to 32 disposals, 17 contested possessions, 12 score involvements, seven clearances and three goal assists.
“‘We’re going to go after Dawson’ they tell me pre-game,” Cornes added.
“Luke Beveridge has got a plan for Dawson. Brendon Lade, midfield coach, we’ve got a plan for Dawson.
“You’ve got a plan for Dawson do you? Didn’t look like there was a plan. What was he (Kennedy) doing? He didn’t want to go anywhere near him.”
David King agrees that the Dogs were not up to it with their aggression and hardness.
“I heard the presser and he (Beveridge) said ‘last week we had a team responsibility for Newcombe and at half-time went away from that and went with Kennedy’,” he said.
“They said that worked in the second half so they went with Kennedy again thinking maybe that’s the way to go, and it didn’t work.
“It’s ok to have a plan, you’ve still got to be able to perform it. They failed that.”
King also wanted to highlight the defensive frailties of the Dogs which reared their head once again in conceding 19 goals.
King: “Are you with me on the Dogs’ back six and their talls? Are you with me now?”
Cornes: “You’ve just got to adjust. Their talls are no worse than some of the other talls, like Adelaide’s.”
King: “Riley Thilthorpe looked like the second coming of John Coleman.”
Cornes: “And Thilthorpe would look like that if he played against Adelaide.
“Adelaide’s back six, by name, are no stronger than the Western Bulldogs’ back six.”
King: “I don’t know how many times we can disagree on this.
“What will need to happen to the Dogs’ back six to make you think they’ve got a problem?”
Cornes: “I’m not sure many defences could have defended the ridiculous turnovers when trying to ping through the middle of the ground and the lack of any sort of pressure from that midfield last night with that ball movement.
“Good luck.”
