 In 1977 Cornes took a memorable spectacular mark against Norwood which is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting "the Game That Made Australia", commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.Cornes signed with the VFL's South Melbourne in Victoria early in his career, but stayed in South Australia.He made his VFL debut at the age of 31 in 1979 and played five games with Ron Barassi's North Melbourne before returning to South Australia after he was dropped from the team.