Melbourne superstar Kysaiah Pickett is risking a serious injury unless he changes his 'awful' tackling technique, according to Channel 7 expert Kane Cornes.
Pickett has elevated his game to another level this year to assert himself as one of the AFL's very best. As well as averaging a career-high 24 disposals, Pickett is also showcasing his defensive side with over five tackles a game — ranked third at the club and 17th in the AFL.
But his tackling technique could land himself in big injury trouble. Cornes highlighted a series of incidents from the loss to Sydney on Sunday when Pickett lowered his head and shoulders before attempting a tackle. While in all cases he came away unharmed, there was a close call when his head cannoned into Chad Warner's hip. Pickett was knocked to the ground in the incident, but quickly got his feet.
'Hard to be critical of Kozzy this year, but he's going to knock himself out,' Cornes said on The Agenda Setters. 'If he continues to tackle like this with this weird head-first motion, he is going to absolutely kill himself. Kozzy, we have to sort this out. We cannot have Kozzy Pickett getting seriously injured with that awful tackling technique.'
A gallant Melbourne outfit fell just short of the rampaging Swans in a shootout at the SCG. The new-look Demons have topped 100 points in all but two games this season to be one of the most exciting teams in the competition under rookie coach Steven King. They host West Coast this week before a testing fortnight against Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.
'If you're a Melbourne supporter coming to watch the way we play, you'd be pretty proud of the way the boys are trying to take the game on and be aggressive,' King said. 'Mistakes are going to happen, and I'm willing to accept mistakes. Even though today, we're not going home with four points, I think we go home with a bit of belief. We walk away with more belief that what we're doing is on the right path. And if they're (Sydney) the best in the competition, then we should see ourselves up there with that group as well.'
Melbourne will be without forward Brody Mihocek for at least the next three weeks after the former Magpie suffered a hamstring injury against the Swans.
