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Sport Nation
Once offended, now a fan: Why Cornes supports last touch out of bounds
SEN • June 19th, 2025 9:01 am
Kane Cornes is a supporter of Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks’ push for the AFL to introduce the ‘last touch out of bounds’ rule.
The rule, which has been used in the SANFL since 2016, sees a free kick awarded against a player who kicks or handballs the footy over the boundary line without it being touched by another player.
Nicks told Nine’s Footy Classified on Tuesday night that he believes the rule change would help make the game easier to umpire, and Cornes supports that viewpoint.
While Cornes was initially against the SANFL adopting the rule, he’s been won over by watching how it impacts the game, bringing fatigue into the contest.
“I must admit, when I first heard the SANFL were doing this, I was like, ‘They're kidding, aren't they? What are they doing?’,” Cornes told SEN Sportsday
“I was offended. I thought, ‘What is this going to do to the game? This is rubbish’.
“But then having seen it in action, it actually works really well. It really does.
“(It brings fatigue) because you just get it and put it straight back in. If you’re switched on, you can use it to your advantage.
“That depends whether the ball's gone over the fence and you’ve got to wait for the crowd to give it back to you. It's not like behind the goals where you just get chucked a new one.
“But if it's right there, you pick it up and go bang, get the ball in motion.”
With umpires seemingly paying more free kicks for ‘insufficient intent’ than ever before, Cornes thinks that the rule change would barely affect the game apart from making it easier for players, umpires and fans alike.
“The way that we are adjudicating it now is pretty much exactly that,” Cornes said.
“If you kick it out of bounds between the arcs, largely you're gonna be penalised. Probably 19 times out of 20 it's going to be insufficient intent. So, it’s very much the same as what we're doing now.
“I think it just clears up any sort of confusion and makes the job of the umpire easier and everyone watching on the same page.
“And well, we don't have to sook about it anymore. We all know the rule, it's uniform, and it takes the decision away from the umpires.”
AFL icon Malcolm Blight is also a supporter of last touch out of bounds.
