THE misery of Port Adelaide’s narrow loss to North Melbourne has been further compounded with news that Steven Salopek and Kane Cornes will be sidelined with shoulder injuries.
Salopek left the field at Docklands late in the third quarter with what appeared to be a severe shoulder dislocation after trying to tackle North Melbourne’s Aaron Edwards.
He was in extreme distress and, after loitering on the boundary line in the hands of trainers for a few minutes, went down the player race for treatment.
Cornes left the field in the fourth term after a solid bump from North veteran Adam Simpson. After slowly getting to his feet, he screamed at the trainers for treatment, before also going straight to the rooms.
Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams said it looked as if the two would spend some time on the sidelines.
“The injuries are Salopek and Kane Cornes are very significant for us. They will be very difficult to replace,” Williams said.
Cornes’ run of 134 consecutive matches looks to have come to an end, but Williams would not speculate on how many weeks either player might miss.
“He (Cornes) has done an AC (joint). I don’t know (how long he will be out), I’m not a doctor. I would say some weeks.”
The pair join a lengthening injury list at the Power which already includes Shaun Burgoyne, Hamish Hartlett, Toby Thurstans and Justin Westhoff.
