Firstly best wishes to Alex McKinnon. Double spinal fracture as far as I am aware during the Knights / Storm game this morning. McKinnon was spear tackled and tucked his head under at the last second. Looked horrible and was clearly in trouble straight away.

Dobbo was also playing and did ok. Still a little lightweight in defence but two try assists and a decent kicking game and plenty of talking and organising. Played left to right which made me feel uncomfortable but he seemed to manage ok. Seems he's surprising one or two.

Alex is a tremendous young guy. At 22 he is into his 4th year of firstgrade.
He is from the country town of Scone in the upper Hunter Valley - the hometown of players like Darren Albert, Todd Lowrie, John Morris and Dane Tilse.
I've lived and worked in Scone many years ago and I imagine the whole town is in shock. It's the sort of little village where everyone knows everyone else, and Alex would be a town hero.
He has had his c4 disc removed and his remaining cervical discs fused. He has some movement in his right arm, but has now been put in an induced coma and they are saying his 'recovery' period will be up to 2 years and he has a 'variable prognosis'.
I'm in shock a bit. I've only talked to him once for a few seconds, but I've seen him around trial games etc and seeing him interact with his parents and girlfriend, you can tell what a nice young man he is. He is the only player I've ever seen to check whether his mum needed anything before he went to get ready for a game.