There is a problem when you are a public figure and you put your hand out for big bucks ... and that problem is called scrutiny.

Rightly or wrongly, it comes with the territory, particularly when you’re pocketing $500,000 or a million-plus a year.

There is a problem when you are a public figure and you put your hand out for big bucks ... and that problem is called scrutiny.

Rightly or wrongly, it comes with the territory, particularly when you’re pocketing $500,000 or a million-plus a year.

If you’re making that much coin and you’re in the private sector, yes, you’re under scrutiny ... and obviously it’s no different for professional sports people and AFL players.

So why do some bristle when an expert commentator such as Kane Cornes takes aim at a player? It’s a good question.

Cornes is paid for his opinions and, as he recently said on Channel 7’s The Agenda Setters, “We do not have a job if we can’t critique players.”

Cornes, himself a former AFL star who won four best and fairest at Port Adelaide, said: “That’s what happens when you play any sport, you open yourself up to (criticism).”

But still, Cornes cops more than his fair share of grief from (some) ex-players and fans ... and even some media types.

The reality is, however, AFL players have become a protected species, and the industry needs Cornes.

Clubs move heaven and earth to get media content taken down or changed when they don’t like certain stories about players. They ask for headlines to be softened, or even photos changed if they feel they are compromising in some way.

The AFL decided players’ weights were an off-limits topic, and banned that information from being published on club sites and the AFL Season Guide (yep, they don’s like it when a commentator looks at a player — you know, the one who’s paid $800k a year to keep himself in shape — and suggests he’s not in peak condition).

Past players also get their knickers in a twist when they feel criticism of a current player is too harsh ... and then they go public and shoot the messenger (easy to do these days with social media, and everyone having a public voice, and every second person having a podcast or a blog or something).

And if it’s not clubs moaning, or ex-players, or fans, there is always the AFL Players’ Association, who also don’t like their clients being critiqued.

Of course, the AFLPA want to have their cake and eat it too ... they want the players to be professional, they want the players to be extremely well paid, they keep asking for pay rises, yet, they also bristle when the spotlight burns.

The cold hard reality is that some AFL players are very professional, and some, to be blunt, are not.

And there are plenty of professional Australian athletes from other sports who, quite simply, quietly roll their eyes at the amount of money AFL players make.

I wonder what they think when, in the middle of a season, they see a high-profile player take off to Bali to party while the club has a weekend off.

I wonder what they think when they hear the stories of AFL players going on benders in the summer, or getting caught with drugs, or blacking out in nightclubs, or getting into fights after a day of drinking.

I wonder what Australia’s top runners think when they hear an AFL club applauding a player for returning from his end-of-year break in “good shape” ... or lauding him for turning up to training a week early ... I mean, please.

Some of these blokes make double the amount of Australia’s prime minister (Anthony Albanese has a base salary of roughly $607,500).

Cornes was also queried by Agenda host Sam Armytage about his strong opinions of emerging star Harley Reid recently.

Hawthorn champion Luke Hodge believed Cornes needed to give Reid more of a chance and highlighted the promising talent’s age.

Reid was the No.1 draft pick in 2023 and was dubbed at the time as a generational player, and compared to legends such as Dustin Martin.

He is in his second season now and still 19.

“He’s working on his game, and even though it’s not going to happen straight away, I can tell you, he’s trying to put things in place so that he is the player that you expect him to be,” Hodge said.

“It might be in year three, it might be in year four. I don’t think I got over 22 touches until year four in my career, and he’s got to that stage.

“He’s not sitting back, sitting on his hands. He’s trying the best he possibly can and that’s the things that you don’t see straight away.”

Cornes asks, “where is the line” when it comes to criticism?

Collingwood’s