Kane Cornes tees off on Essendon players amid reports they want Ross Lyon as coach

Kane Cornes has unloaded on Essendon's playing group amid reports that the players have asked for Ross Lyon to be hired as the club's next senior coach.

Lyon is one of a number of names Essendon will consider in what is poised to be an exhaustive and thorough process, and according to SEN's Sam Edmund, the players wanted the 55-year-old to "take control" of the club.

However, the request didn't sit well with Cornes, who was critical of the players' decision to head overseas earlier this week.

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"Who would listen to them?" Cornes said on SEN.

"Who would take a group of Essendon players seriously on the back of one of the most disastrous years from any club ever? (They are) a group of players who just didn't want to do anything when they didn't have the footy in their hands.

"Arguably one of the most selfish groups would be a fair (assessment). I'm not saying they're selfish people, but (they are) football-selfish players who only really work when they know they can get a touch. They don't work to get the footy back off the opposition. Worst defensive team in the whole of the competition.

"They get their coach sacked, act like they're really sad about it, and then duck off on a footy trip."

Cornes doubled down on his criticism of Essendon's footy trip, questioning how the players could make a call on their next coach while overseas.

"It's a four-day trip, there isn't a wedding as some people have said, and they've gone off as a group on the back of the season that they have produced," he said.

"They've then had the nerve to suggest who the club's next coach should be. Have they made that call from a nightclub on Skype in Ibiza?

"Is that where they've sent the message through to the club that they want Ross Lyon coaching?

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"Just do not listen to a thing that those Essendon players have said, particularly if it's been on a Skype call from a nightclub on the other side of the world where they're lapping it up doing god knows what, when their team is absolutely on its knees."

Essendon is expected to have its next senior coach installed by the end of September.

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