“Shocked at how wrong I got it”: The player who Kane Cornes thinks he missed on most

Kane Cornes regrets buying hypothetical stocks in Hawthorn tall Denver Grainger-Barras.

After watching the defender play in his debut season of 2021 when he played five games, Cornes proclaimed that Grainger-Barras would end up being the best player from the 2020 Draft which included the likes of Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, Errol Gulden and Max Holme, among others.

Since that debut season, Grainger-Barras has played just 23 games, with none of them coming in 2024 as he played 13 games in the VFL averaging 10.2 disposals and 4.9 marks a game in the state league.

Cornes can’t figure out what has gone wrong for the former Pick 6 during his time at Waverley Park as he feels he has all of the attributes to make a quality AFL player.

“I've never lost more money on one player in my life than him, I was invested so heavily,” Cornes said on AFL Trade Radio's The Early Trade.

“I'm just shocked at how wrong I got it because with the initial stages when I saw him play, he had everything.

“He was explosive, he was dynamic, he was aggressive, he could take a really nice mark.

“I don't know (what went wrong), and this is a role that is so vital, that interceptor.

“He has good size, great athleticism and good speed. I just haven't seen enough of him clearly in recent times to be able to make a judgment call on it, but that's one they completely botched and got wrong.

“Those top 10 draft picks that you get wrong, they really, really hurt.”

Grainger-Barras is currently without a contract for the 2025 season.