[1][2] Cordner played for Melbourne University prior to joining the VFL, studying medicine when not on the football field.

[4] Although Melbourne had been awarding the club Best & Fairest since 1935, it had remained unnamed until coach "Checker" Hughes dedicated the award to Truscott's memory after the Melbourne star and Air Force pilot perished in a training exercise earlier that year.

Cordner was also the first Melbourne Cricket Club member to receive the Brownlow Medal.

Cordner continued to be heavily involved with football while running his medical practice at Diamond Creek.

He was a member of the VFL Tribunal in 1962 and 1963 and sat on the board of the Melbourne Football Club for two stints—from 1957–58 and 1964–71.