Cornes 'concern' for Reid after last-minute cramp

Kane Cornes has revealed his one concern surrounding young West Coast gun Harley Reid’s fitness.

The Port Adelaide great has compared Reid to young Collingwood star Nick Daicos, in hopes the 19-year-old can mirror the Magpies premiership player’s late game efforts.

Cornes is now calling on Reid, who left the field in the dying minutes of their six-point loss to Essendon on Saturday night with a cramp, to improve on his training to ensure he can run out a game and help win it if need be.

The call comes after Daicos kicked the winning goal to help his Magpies beat Carlton by six points on Friday night.

Collingwood coach Craig McRae praised the 21-year-old’s elite training standards after the game.

“What you (saw) last night is no fluke. He’s clearly high talent, but his work rate at training is second-to-none,” McRae said of Daicos

Now, Cornes is calling on seven-gamer Reid, who has already been dubbed Western Australian football’s saviour, to reach Daicos’ level.

Footy Classified is now available as a podcast! Subscribe/follow via Apple, Spotify or Google Podcasts

“This is the level Harley Reid has to get to, Nick Daicos level,” Cornes said on Nine’s Footy Classified on Monday night.

“I understand there’s a couple of years extra on there, but Nick was doing this from day one.

“If he wants to be the best, if he wants to be Nick Daicos, he’s got to have his training standards to (that) level.”

Cornes questioned whether Reid, who was rested for their round seven clash against Gold Coast, actually trains at a high standard.

“I’m saying that was a concern for me, to see how out on his feet he was in a game that was nowhere near as high pressure, after a week off, with five minutes to go that he had to come off the ground,” Cornes said.

Are Reid’s training standards up to par?

Reid came off the ground with a minor limp with minutes remaining in their clash against Essendon, but returned to see the game out.

Cornes believes that shows he doesn’t have the engine to impact and win a game if required.

“He’s not injured, he’s cramping. A cramp is a sign of conditioning after a week off,” Cornes said.

“I’ve praised Harley Reid. I think he’s been enormous for West Coast. I think he’s made them relevant again. I love the act of how competitive he is and how much of a winner he is.

“But that doesn’t mean you get away with poor efforts and poor training standards.”

The Eagles are 2-6 after eight rounds.