Kane Cornes has called out North Melbourne’s “demeaning” treatment of out-of-favour recruit Jared Polec.
Polec, who joined the Kangaroos on a lucrative five-year contract at the end of 2018, has been dropped twice this season and played in a scratch match for Collingwood last week.
The 27-year-old wingman booted three goals while wearing a Magpies jumper in Friday’s hit out.
“That's demeaning for any player,” Cornes told Channel Nine’s Footy Classified.
“To have three years to go on big money, it was a questionable acquisition at the time. Now clearly the current regime – Brady Rawlings (GM of Football) and Rhyce Shaw (Coach) – didn’t have a big say in recruiting Jared Polec.
“It almost seems as though they’re making a statement saying, ‘This wasn’t our call, we didn’t pull the trigger on this’. He’s paying the price for that.”
Cornes says North Melbourne should recall Polec in order to boost his value if they are looking to trade him at the end of the season.
“Is he really performing that badly?” the Port Adelaide champion added.
“Clearly they are worried about his defensive actions but he finished seventh in their best and fairest last year, that’s not a disaster.
“He’s averaging 20 disposals, three tackles and three clearances this year, his form isn’t that bad as opposed to some of the other players running around in a North Melbourne jumper.
“It is ridiculous the way they’re treating Jared Polec because if you want to trade him, what value is he running around for Collingwood in a scratch match?
“Put him in the side, get his value up and then at least deal with it in a mature way at the end of the season.”
Polec has three years to run on his Kangaroos contract but should his former club Port Adelaide look at bringing him back to Alberton?
“They (Port Adelaide) wanted to keep him. I think there was a three-year offer on the table," Cornes told SEN SA Breakfast.
“If you could get him at a budget rate and North Melbourne are paying two-thirds of that deal and you’ve got to give up a third-round draft pick, I would look at it.
“They know what they’re going to get, he knows the surroundings.
“Yes, he would be a bit sheepish coming back and maybe wouldn’t be accepted by the fans but he’s a good player."
"That's demeaning for any player."@kanecornes and the Footy Classified team react to vision of Jared Polec playing for Collingwood in a scratch match, and what North Melbourne should do with the high-profile recruit this off-season.#9FootyClassified | Watch @channel9 pic.twitter.com/IRXhzoJ4Gg
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) August 31, 2020