Inaugural coach Graham Cornes OAM was one of two recipients of Life Membership at the Adelaide Football Club Season Launch held at the Westpac Centre on Tuesday night.
A decorated player and coach at SANFL level, Cornes was one of the Club’s first key appointments in October, 1990. The Glenelg champion coached Adelaide in 89 games between 1991 and 1994, guiding the Club to its first-ever finals series in 1993. Cornes was an inaugural inductee of the South Australian Hall of Fame (2002) and was last year inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame.
A three-time best and fairest winner at Glenelg, Cornes played 319 games for the Bays and was a member of the 1973 premiership team. He represented South Australia on 21 occasions and also played five games for North Melbourne under Ron Barassi, making his VFL debut in 1979 aged 31.
He made his foray into coaching as a playing coach with South Adelaide in 1983-84. Cornes coached SA’s State of Origin team for eight years, recording nine wins from 11 matches.
Adelaide Chairman and acting Chief Executive Rob Chapman said Cornes was ahead of his time in his approach to coaching.
“Cornesy was the ultimate professional. He had an incredible amount of energy and an extremely high work rate. The workload, conditions, support staff and resources were far inferior to what has been developed over the last 22 years,” Chapman said.
“Cornesy earned the respect of the AFL and his peers – a respect that is still held today with him being recently inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame.
“A 10-year Club Ambassador and passionate Crows supporter, despite the fact that his sons both have played for ‘the dark side’, this recognition is well deserved.”
Long-serving trainer Vinnie Del Bono was also presented with Life Membership on Tuesday night. Del Bono has been a member of the football department since 1993.
He started as a part-time trainer, whilst also pursuing a teaching career, and was promoted to Head Trainer in 2007. Chapman said Del Bono had dedicated countless hours to the Club.
“As most will appreciate, the trainers are here long before (and long after) the rest of us, often ‘overnighting’ with injured players, be it at home or away,” he said.
“The hours spent and the commitments and sacrifices are much appreciated, and it’s fitting Vinnie is now a Life Member of our Club.”
The full list of Adelaide Football Club members is:
1995: McDermott, C.S
1996: Jarman, A.N
1996: McGuinness, A.B
1999: Bickley, M.A
1999: Smart, N.J
1999: Liptak, M.G
1999: Jameson, R.P
1999: Pittman, D.M
1999: Tregenza, S.L
2000: Hart, B.M
2000: Rehn, S.J
2000: Hammond AM, R.A
2000: Campbell OAM, R.E
2000: Sanders, W.B
2001: Ricciuto, M.A
2003: Basheer AM, M.R
2003: McLeod, A.L
2004: Edwards, T.R
2005: Goodwin, S.M
2006: Bean, D.F
2006: Leahy, R
2007: Goudge, G
2007: Sheppard, A
2008: Robran, M.C
2008: Jarman, D.R
2008: Bassett, N.W
2008: Perrie, I.M
2008: Sando OAM, Dr. B.G
2008: Modra, A.D
2009: Burton, B.T
2009: Downs, B.J
2009: Jaques, T.D
2010: Reid, J.A
2010: Doughty, M.J
2010: Shirley, R.J
2010: McGregor, K.D
2011: Johncock, G.R
2011: Gerard, R AO
2011: Hurley, P.J
2011: Sutton, J.S
2011: Payze, A.J
2011: Ballestrin, M
2011: Pilkington, A.E
2011: Rutherford, G.P
2012: Rutten, B
2012: Reilly, B.C
2012: Trigg, S.G
2012: Whitford, K
2012: McAvaney, S
2012: Carter, D
2013: Cornes, G OAM
2013: Del Bono, V
