- Jun 16, 2018
- 8,809
- 15,797
- AFL Club
- North Melbourne
Kane Cornes says 'yes'.
www.theage.com.au
If you asked me five years ago I would have thought you were being silly.
However the world has changed and in professional sports there is a much larger emphasis on avoiding head injuries.
The cynic might say this is merely to avoid future litigation, and perhaps the cynic might be correct.
The idealist might say there is a genuine push to protect players at all levels, now that more is known about long-term brain health.
Whatever the case, I have to say, even though it will be sad to see the knee-on-shoulder speccy disappear, I accept it is time.
How would you feel if one of your team's players were seriously injured by a knee to the head from an attempted speccy?
The back of the head is so fragile that even boxers and MMA fighters are prohibited from targeting it.
Even if only by accident, an attempted raised knee speccy could not only KO a guy on the receiving end but potentially end his career (or life).
Why allow it to remain? Nostalgia? Resistance to change?
These are not good reasons imho.
The shirtfront is gone. Soon it will be made clear that the smother-to-knock-out-opponent-with-frontal-contact is gone.
Eventually the raised-knee speccy will go the way of the dodo, and tbh, even though I won't 'like' it, I will understand and support it.
The knee is a weapon: Why the death of the high mark is coming
Like so many young fans, I fell in love with the speccy. But concussion has cast a shadow on the game – and the sad reality is the high mark soon will be lost to the past.
If you asked me five years ago I would have thought you were being silly.
However the world has changed and in professional sports there is a much larger emphasis on avoiding head injuries.
The cynic might say this is merely to avoid future litigation, and perhaps the cynic might be correct.
The idealist might say there is a genuine push to protect players at all levels, now that more is known about long-term brain health.
Whatever the case, I have to say, even though it will be sad to see the knee-on-shoulder speccy disappear, I accept it is time.
How would you feel if one of your team's players were seriously injured by a knee to the head from an attempted speccy?
The back of the head is so fragile that even boxers and MMA fighters are prohibited from targeting it.
Even if only by accident, an attempted raised knee speccy could not only KO a guy on the receiving end but potentially end his career (or life).
Why allow it to remain? Nostalgia? Resistance to change?
These are not good reasons imho.
The shirtfront is gone. Soon it will be made clear that the smother-to-knock-out-opponent-with-frontal-contact is gone.
Eventually the raised-knee speccy will go the way of the dodo, and tbh, even though I won't 'like' it, I will understand and support it.
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