Over here in Inverness our ground crew help return the hammers to the Heavies.

 Last year at the Masters we had one guy switch off mentally (as he said himself immediately afterwards and I admire him for being big enough to hold his hands up and accept the blame) and when a hammer "slipped out the side door" and came towards him, he forgot to step to the side and tried to outrun it.

The ball landed and he got a nasty whack in the leg with the shaft.

This year our ground crews instructions have been amended to read

"Stay behind the netting or beyond the end of the landing zone"

"Do not stand to the side and assume that the hammer will be thrown straight or that you can out run it"

We are currently also considering using a system of flags or a klaxon to signal to the Heavy that the Judges are happy everyone is standing in a safe place and that you are clear to throw.