A Forgotten Superstar

Corey McKernan's career ended a fortnight ago, and while he has reached the ultimate in football twice, it seems he is remembered for all the wrong reasons. Nick Mockford is out to prove this shouldn't be the case.

He was both ahead of his time and ahead of the rules.

That’s probably the best way to describe Corey McKernan, the forgotten superstar of the nineties. Upon his recent retirement, he could be leaving the game as one of the most decorated players of the modern era. Instead he departs copping more than a player of his quality should ever have to.

He should have a Brownlow Medal, only missing out due to a report that would have been thrown out before it even reached the tribunal today. He should have won a Rising Star award – an honour that has seen many great footballers recognised – but was felled by a suspension for tripping by hand, something that today warrants a mere free kick. There’s unlucky, there’s unfortunate, and then there’s this fella.

It’s a shame people don’t remember the real Corey McKernan.

They don’t remember the ruckman who tore opposition sides apart while posing as another running midfielder, defying his height. They don’t remember the big game player who turned in some of his finest performances when September rolled around, including two Grand Finals: in the middle of the park against Sydney in 1996, and with two game-changing goals against Carlton in 1999.

Instead people think of McKernan after injuries wrecked his body and confidence. They remember the 2005 model running around every week for Port Melbourne in the VFL, unable to crack a game in the seniors. They remember a bloke who coincided with the start of one of Carlton’s leanest periods in their celebrated history, and only managed a handful of appearances in the two years since being traded back to the Kangaroos.

McKernan is a proud man, and the way he is seen by the majority would hurt him, even if he is the last person who would admit it.

His recent appearance on The Footy Show rammed this point home. Host Eddie McGuire produced a mock trophy display, where the ‘could have’ medals – that Brownlow, that Rising Star and the 1996 Norm Smith – could have been displayed. Friend and mentor Sam Newman repeatedly talked about McKernan’s decline as a footballer and how he felt about all his so-called ‘wasted potential’. McKernan, to his credit, handled everything lobbed at him with grace and humility, but it illustrated the sad way he is seen in the public light.

Of course, not everyone sees him in such a negative frame of mind.

North Melbourne diehards will readily acknowledge his contributions to what was a powerhouse era. While Wayne Carey got most of the plaudits, and the theory ‘No Carey, No North’, often it was McKernan’s absence that had a knack of proving more costly. It was McKernan’s dislocated shoulder early in the 1997 preliminary final that resulted in St Kilda’s midfield getting on top, as temperamental full-forward Jason Heatley was given silver service the rest of the night.

They’ll remember that when ‘Big Corza’ was at his vintage best, the Kangaroos were unbeatable. He would be impossible to beat in the ruck, he would mark anything and everything around the ground and he would kick booming goals from well outside fifty. More importantly, they’ll remember the man who always lifted for the biggest games, probably even more so than his famous partner in crime wearing number eighteen.

There was the 1999 preliminary final against Brisbane, where inspirational vice-captain Anthony Stevens went down with a severe ankle injury, and defender Jason McCartney was reported – and subsequently suspended – for whacking Lions ruckman Clark Keating. Enter McKernan, whose 24 possessions, 12 marks and three goals were at the forefront of a big win.

However, as the years went on since McKernan’s superhuman season in 1996, the injuries piled up, and the big games – save for the odd gem such as eight goals against Geelong at the Telstra Dome in 2000 – became rare. He developed into an easy target for both the media and opposition supporters, and the sad reality is that his zero possession game against Richmond in 2001 probably garnered more attention than any of his dominating games in the ruck.

There was the two season stint at Carlton, where, despite winning a best and fairest in a lowly side, he did nothing to really stop the criticism. In a cruel twist of fate, he was traded back to Arden Street for utility pair David Teague and Digby Morrell, and watched as Teague took out the John Nicholls Medal as the Blues finished a competitive 10th. The Kangaroos were criticised for giving away a promising defender for an aging ruckman who couldn’t even keep his place in the senior side. The romance was there, but the logic seemingly not.

It’s always the negatives that form the juiciest stories in the media, probably to make us feel better about ourselves.

Predictably, no one has bothered to keep an eye on Teague and Morrell, who both spent time in the reserves as Carlton endured an embarrassing season. No one has bothered to check the reasons behind McKernan’s exile from Dean Laidley’s starting twenty-two, that being the development of David Hale and a settled side in finals contention, despite solid form in the VFL with Port Melbourne.

Unfortunately, that’s the way Corey McKernan will be remembered. He has endured a career of defining highs and shattering lows, and it’s the latter that will be bandied about. Forget the two premierships, the All-Australian honours and the numerous influential games, it is his fall from those heights and the sad end to his career that have and will be documented the most.

Maybe next time McGuire presents him with such a gag, someone should remind him of his own skipper, Nathan Buckley. The Collingwood great has won a Brownlow Medal, the Rising Star and a Norm Smith, the three awards that would have filled that empty case given to McKernan on stage, but he doesn’t have a premiership.

McKernan retires with two that he played a pivotal role in, and you can bet your life both McGuire and Buckley would give up all the individual accolades in the footballing world to experience just one.

Maybe people should write about that instead.

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