Port Adelaide 300-game champion Kane Cornes has shared the story of how close he was to becoming an Adelaide Crows player, and the role his then-critically ill son played in it.

Secret meetings and contract discussions are back in the spotlight following West Coast captain Oscar Allen’s talks with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell just hours after the Eagles’ derby loss to Fremantle on Sunday.

Speaking on The Agenda Setters on Tuesday night, Collingwood and Carlton great Dale Thomas revealed he was approached by GWS before their inception to sign a multi-million dollar deal that would also see him become their inaugural captain.

The same question was then posed to Cornes: whether or not a club had tried to “woo” him during his 15-year career.

“No, but I tried to woo myself away from Port Adelaide,” he said on The Agenda Setters, before going on to explain the family reason he needed to stay in South Australia, were he to leave the Power.

“At the end of 2011, Matthew Primus said that my services were no longer required, and I had two years to go on a contract.

“I didn’t want to go interstate to another club because my son was critically ill with some health issues and we had his medical base set up (in Adelaide).”

As it would happen, Cornes was neighbours with former Adelaide chairman Rob Chapman.

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“I just asked him (Chapman) whether there was any interest in (me) going to play for the Crows,” Cornes said.

“I had a relationship with Brenton Sanderson as well, because he was the new Crows coach.

“I rang Brenton and I rang Rob Chapman, and I had them all to my house, (former Crows footy boss) Phil Harper was there.

“And they were genuinely interested, because they were going to get me for nothing.

“I pitched to them, they were going to get me cheap because Port Adelaide were going to (sack me).

“But David Noble was their list manager, he said, ‘Nup, we’re not having him’.

“There’s a story for you. If the walls could talk.”

Thomas joked that he expects a “knee-jerk reaction from the AFL” on in-season negotiations — but in fact he knows how players deal with such an experience.

The Victorian was drafted by Collingwood and was a crucial cog in their run to the 2010 flag.

That continued in 2011 when the Magpies were even stronger — despite falling short to Geelong in the grand final — and so the Giants came calling ahead of their inaugural season in 2012.

“I met with the GWS Giants when they were coming into the competition,” Thomas said on the The Agenda Setters.

“It was somewhere in Carlton. I was pitched about what was to come, what the offer was and everything to go along with that.”

Thomas said a $6 million deal over six years was on the table — an extraordinary proposal, long before Lance Franklin was offered double that from GWS and eventually inked a $10 million, nine-year contract with Sydney.