Melbourne coach Steven King believes star Kysaiah Pickett has no case to answer for his head-high hit on Eagles forward Jake Waterman, saying he made a "pretty legitimate play on the ball".
Pickett, only a minute into the match, stormed towards a loose ball through the stoppage and clipped Waterman high. His immediate response was one of worry, but Waterman resumed play to take his kick, and played put the match, which will no doubt play in the Demons' favour.
"I thought he made a pretty legitimate play on the ball, and then watching it back again, I made sure I got to 'Kozzy' on the phone and let him know. I thought 'he's playing the ball there', and it's great to see Waterman get up and have 13 score involvements and have a big impact on the game," King said post-match.
"I was just reassuring (Pickett) to make sure he felt confident enough… When we saw the replay, I got the message (out) pretty quickly to 'Koz' that 'mate, you were making a play on the ball and you'll be fine'."
From start to finish, Pickett was being closely followed by the ever-improving Brady Hough, who was committed to the task.
The Demons attempted to pull different levers to get 'Kozzy' into the game, but was ultimately limited to a season low 14 disposals and five score involvements.
'HE IS SWEATING ON THIS' 😓
Kozzy Pickett was penalised for high contact after this collision with Jake Waterman.
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"I feel he's untaggable when he's in the zone, playing his way and the game's set up, and part of today was looking after 'Koz', putting him deep forward… we could have just stuck 'Koz' around it and let him fight through it a bit more, which he'd do, but we also want to know what we can do and what levers we can pull within a game to give the opposition different looks or destabilise them," King explained.
West Coast coach Andrew McQualter lauded the efforts of Hough.
"I thought Brady Hough's job on Kozzy Pickett was unbelievable. I probably rate Kozzy as one of, if not the best player in the comp this year, and I thought 'Hoffy' and Willem Duursma, who also went to him for periods as well, I just thought their attention to detail on the task was elite," he said.
King also revealed that captain Max Gawn put his hand up to play in defence in a bid to help out the team.
Key defender Dan Turner was pulled from the game due to illness, and Gawn, who has also mentioned he'd play inside 50 to prolong his career, noted his experience down back.
"When he heard (Turner) was sick, he came up to me saying 'I can play key back, I did at Sandy Dragons'," King said.
"I think he sees the opportunity and what it can do for him throughout this season and the future as well."
The Demons climbed to seventh on the ladder after securing their sixth victory of the year.
A mouth-watering match against Hawthorn in Tasmania awaits in Round 10.
