ONE THING has underpinned each of Kane Cornes' 299 games for Port Adelaide: his insatiable work ethic.

It's helped him lift for the highs and get through the lows. 

Cornes admits he has never been the fastest, strongest or most skillful footballer – but his thirst for the game has been unquenchable. 

He will end his AFL career this weekend as a premiership player, dual All Australian and equal-club-high four-time best and fairest winner. 

Cornes will be remembered for squeezing every drop of talent out of himself and for performing at a consistently high level. He’s always been as well prepared as anyone. 

"I loved going out there and standing next to a bloke, knowing I'd done more than him, so he was going to have to do pretty well on the day to outwork me and beat be," Cornes said in a feature story published in this round’s AFL Record. 

"Guys I've come up against have had a lot more natural ability and talent than what I've got, but I always had the work and preparation I had done in my back pocket. 

"It was more driven out of fear that if I didn't do the work in the pre-season it might come back to get me. 

"Once I got that formula in my fourth or fifth year that worked for me, I tended to be pretty consistent with my routine."

From 2008-12, the Power's best finish was 10^th and their average home crowd dipped to below 20,000 – resulting in the club embarrassingly having to use tarps at AAMI Stadium to cover thousands of empty seats. 

Key appointments at both administration and football level – including that of coach Ken Hinkley – helped turned the club around. 

Cornes said he appreciated the last few years because he didn't expect to be a part of a revival. 

"I never thought I'd play in another finals campaign (after the club reached a low point in 2012) and I've played in two more,” he said.

"I've taken a lot of satisfaction being part of the turnaround because we were pretty low there."

Read the full story in the round eight edition of the AFL Record, available at all grounds.