Adelaide was fined a whopping $50,000 by the AFL on Saturday for breaching COVID-19 protocols.
Five Crows players and three staff members were found to have not worn masks correctly on a commercial flight from Sydney to Adelaide last week.
The AFL was alerted to the breach by a member of the general public who was on the flight.
Kane Cornes has called out the league’s double standards when it comes to punishing players who fail to wear masks correctly at airports, citing examples to back up his claim.
“Dustin Martin leaves for New Zealand. He’s walking through the airport with his mask underneath his nose, this is on the primetime news services all over the country,” Cornes told SEN SA Breakfast.
“Do you think anyone said anything? Do you think one person from the AFL was watching that footage of Dustin Martin going, ‘He didn’t have his mask on correctly, let’s send a memo out to the players that whenever they’re travelling, they have to wear their mask correctly’.
“I’ve seen four or five teams walking through the airport not wearing their masks correctly. Walking through drinking coffees without their masks on.
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“Taylor Walker takes his mask down to have a chat to the coach and someone takes a picture, rings a breakfast radio show on Triple M, and dobs on the players and then sends a complaint to the club.
“But $50,000 … and Tex isn’t going to lose his job, it’s going to be a staff member, it’s going to be a physio, it’s going to be an IT person that loses their job over this when all year we have let players off for doing similar indiscretions.
“Just because one lady rings up a radio station, they fine them $50,000. It’s starting to get a little bit ridiculous.”
The AFL's general counsel Andrew Dillon confirmed the fine will be included in Adelaide’s football department soft cap this year.