After John Schumann agreed to help me launch ‘My Back Pages’ in Adelaide, I asked if he could recommend any friendly media types for me to contact.

‘I can try Graham Cornes for you,’ he said. ‘He does a thing called Conversations. He’s excellent.’

I knew Cornes as a footballer with Glenelg and a former coach of the Adelaide Crows. Probably the only time I had seen him in the flesh was at Adelaide Oval on 29 September 1973. In the last SANFL Grand Final at Adelaide Oval before finals relocated to Football Park, Cornes famously marked deep into time-on in the fourth quarter of a high scoring and engrossing match and kicked a goal that put Glenelg one point in front of my team, North Adelaide. Glenelg kicked another goal after the siren to win by seven points, but it is Cornes’ spectacular pack mark that everyone, including me, remembers.

Schumann called ahead and sent me a contact for Cornes’ producer Blake. I called Blake and we arranged to pre-record a Zoom interview in the week before I was due to go to Adelaide.

I scrolled back through some earlier episodes and found a very entertaining conversation with my old Roadrunner partner Stuart Coupe, as well as chats with GANGgajang’s Buzz Bidstrup and Dave Faulkner from the Hoodoo Gurus. Cornes was obviously a bit of a music fan.

I didn’t know Cornes had been an apprentice at BHP in Whyalla when my family arrived there in 1966, so at the start we spoke at some length about those days in the steel city. The rest of the conversation ranged over music, football, Roadrunner, Scottish and Australian identity, Scottish socialist John Maclean, favourite bands, and more.

Afterwards, I went looking for a bit more information about Cornes, and stumbled upon this nugget from former Glenelg player and administrator Harry Kernahan, in a piece by Michael Sexton about the 20th anniversary celebration of Glenelg’s 1985 SANFL premiership.

Harry Kernahan: ‘In 1966 I went to play in Whyalla and I started coaching South Whyalla. First game there was this kid who was killing us in the ruck. I said at quarter time “I played state footy, I’ll go on the ball and take care of him.” He jumps all over me and at the end of the game I rang Ray Curnow (Glenelg secretary) and said, “Get up here and sign him.” So he drives up in his old Morris Minor and we go around to Barrie Robran’s place and he says, “Sorry, I already told North Adelaide I’ll play there.”

‘Second week same thing. This young kid is killing us and I go onto the ball. He is jumping all over me, putting his boot in my neck and at the end of the game I ring Ray.

‘There’s another one.’

‘Oh no. not again Harry.’

‘Anyway up he drives in the Morris and we go around to the BHP single men’s quarters. As we go in there is this kid lying on the bed with long hair, a big cowboy hat on, strumming his guitar. Ray stopped and looked and turned slowly to me and growled: “You have got to be bloody joking.”

‘But he signed him, and Graham Cornes has been a great player and coach of this club.’

Cornes’ interview with me went to air on Monday 26 October, and a recording is on the 5AA website here.