“No way”: Concerned Cornes’ “monstrous” call on Darcy Moore

There are concerns for Darcy Moore after his latest injury.

The Collingwood captain suffered a moderate grade hamstring injury in the first half of his side’s 10-point win over West Coast in Scott Pendlebury’s record breaking game at the MCG on Saturday.

It was yet another setback for Moore who has now played just four matches so far in 2026, failing to finish three of them.

SEN’s Tom Morris assessed the Moore situation, wondering if there should be concern around his body.

“The recent injury history of Darcy Moore has probably gone under the radar a little bit,” Morris said on SEN’s Fireball.

“So in the previous four years he played 24 games, 24 games, 23 games and 22 games. So of a possible 99 matches he played 93.

“This year he's played four, he's missed six. He had a calf strain in January, a hamstring strain and an inflamed bursa behind the knee in March, more calf and hamstring issues in April and May, a concussion in May, plus this latest hamstring strain as well that will keep him on the sidelines for at least two, three, four weeks.

“They allowed him to play on versus GWS when he was clearly not right at Marvel Stadium earlier in the year. In the game against West Coast, he played a bit more in the ruck.

“Now, they have defended both of these decisions, but are we concerned about the way that Collingwood is managing Darcy Moore?

"And as an extension to that, are we concerned about Darcy Moore himself and whether he has the durability to be a consistent AFL performer again, given this recent injury history?”

The questions Morris raised garnered a strong reaction from Kane Cornes.

He is worried about Moore’s form at the age of 30 after multiple soft tissue injuries over the course of his career.

“Yeah, more of the latter for me. I think if you saw how he did the hammy, it was from a throw in. That could have been done lunging for a spoil,” Cornes said.

“I wouldn't be putting him in the centre bounce, he didn't look like he wanted to be in there. He didn't even jump when he went in there, so that was strange. But in terms of the throw in he could have done that in any mechanism.

“He's contracted until the end of 2028 so more the latter. I’m worried about his future in the game and whether his body and his form will hold up to be fair.”

It led to a massive call from Cornes: “Does he justify his selection? Would he be playing at Geelong? He wouldn't get a game there.

“So that's where my concern lies.”

Morris asked: “Darcy Moore wouldn't get a game at Geelong?”

Cornes replied: “No way.”

Morris: “That's a monstrous call.”

Cornes: “No it's not. Who would he knock out of that defensive system? Would he knock out Sam De Koning? Would he knock out Connor O'Sullivan?”

Morris: “Surely they’d find a way to get the best players in.”

Cornes: “That's where he's perceived to be, but that's not what his performance dictates for a long time now.”

David King entered the chat: “You can have a run of bad luck, but why can't this just be an unlucky run? There's no history there really.”

Morris: “There's just lots of soft issues. In the space of six months at this age.”

King: “No, I understand all that. That's the risk you take with signing these players to long-term deals.

“I don't think this is really a massive issue for Collingwood at all. Do you think it's an issue?”

Cornes: “I do. They can't get him going. They cannot get him going.”

King: “It's just bad luck though, isn't it? That injury on the weekend, they've prepared him enough to be ready to return to play.

“He lunges and falls and strains it in a very abnormal action. It wasn't like he was just defending a straight-line lead and it gave way. It was an abnormal moment.”

Cornes: “Repeated soft issue, and they don't usually get better with age.”

Morris: “So you would select Jack Henry ahead of Darcy Moore?”

Cornes: “Yeah, 115% would.”