Is it time to say goodbye to the knee-high 'speccy'?

[mouncey2franklin]

Kane Cornes says 'yes'.

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.

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.

 

[GROTTO]

Kane Cornes says 'yes'.

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.

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 knee high 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 speccy will go the way of the dodo, and tbh, even though I won't 'like' it, I will understand and support it.

It will end IMO as soon as a player be it in this Finals series or in 2024 gets concussed from it.

Its not a matter of will the knee high speccy being banned, its just a matter of when it happens.

AFL needs to be seen to be proactive in future legal cases.

 

[Osho]

Is that knee high to a grasshopper speccy? No, little folk should still be allowed to take marks.

If you mean raised knee speccies, you may be on to something. But if you've played footy, it is often a "footy act", and even a phsyiological necessity in many methods of launching to have a raised the knee. That's what knees often do. Go up!