Harry McKay (footballer)

Harry McKay
McKay playing for Carlton in April 2018
Personal information
Full name Harrison McKay
Nickname(s) H, Big H, Feathers
Date of birth (1997-12-24) 24 December 1997 (age 27)
Place of birth Warragul, Victoria
Original team(s) Gippsland Power (TAC Cup)/Warragul Football Club
Draft No. 10, 2015 national draft
Debut Round 18, 2017, Carlton vs. Brisbane Lions, at the Gabba
Height 204 cm (6 ft 8 in)
Weight 106 kg (234 lb)
Position(s) Key Forward
Club information
Current club Carlton
Number 10
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2016– Carlton 128 (252)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of the 2024 season.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Harrison McKay (born 24 December 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). In 2021, McKay won the Coleman Medal, awarded to the season's leading goalkicker.

Career

A key forward, McKay played junior football at Warragul and state under-18s football with the Gippsland Power. He was drafted by Carlton with a first-round selection (No. 10 overall) in the 2015 national draft.[1] He missed much of the 2016 season—his first season in the professional system—with stress fractures in his back,[2] and he made his senior debut for the club in Round 18, 2017.[3]

McKay began to command a regular place in the Carlton forward line in 2018, and he was soon the club's primary spearhead. He won his first club leading goalkicker award in 2019 with 26 goals and was named forward pocket in that season's 22under22 team;[4] he then led the club's goalkicking again in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with 21 goals. He had a breakout season in 2021, serving as a deep full-forward. He was among the strongest contested marks in the league. He kicked 58 goals for the season to win the Coleman Medal by a four-goal margin, which was both the most goals and first Coleman Medal by a Carlton player since 2009.

A natural left-foot kick, McKay's has gone through phases of both high and low goalkicking accuracy throughout this career. In 2021, he adopted a style of taking his set shots from the right side of the ground with a perpendicular run-up and snap kick, even from relatively narrow angles, while continuing to favour the conventional drop punt from the left side of the ground,[5] and won the Coleman Medal with 58.33; but his proficiency with the snap declined over subsequent years, culminating in a 2023 season tally of 29.29 from 77 attempts (across all kick types) which drew extensive negative coverage.[6] McKay significantly reduced his use of narrow angle snap shots from 2024,[7] finishing that season with a greatly improved return of 49.21.

In Opening Round 2024, McKay kicked the match winner with a minute and a half to go to win the game for the Blues after trailing by 46 points against the Lions at the Gabba.

Family

McKay is the mirror image twin brother of fellow professional footballer Ben McKay, who plays as a key defender at Essendon and previously at North Melbourne. It was not until 2024, their ninth seasons in the league, that they played an AFL game against each other, often as a result of one of the two being suspended or withdrawn late with injury,[8][9] leading to internet jokes that they were the same player running a fake-twin gambit.[10] The twins grew up in the Victorian town of Warragul and played local football for Warragul Football Club.[11]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of the 2024 season[12]
Legend
  G  
 Goals
  K  
 Kicks
  D  
 Disposals 
  T  
 Tackles
  B  
 Behinds 
  H  
 Handballs 
  M  
 Marks
  †  
 Led the league for 
the season
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
2017 Carlton 10 2 3 2 11 4 15 7 1 1.5 1.0 5.5 2.0 7.5 3.5 0.5
2018 Carlton 10 13 21 11 103 35 138 70 23 1.6 0.9 7.9 2.7 10.6 5.4 1.8
2019 Carlton 10 20 26 30 161 46 207 125 32 1.3 1.5 8.1 2.3 10.4 6.3 1.7
2020 Carlton 10 13 21 15 76 21 97 57 20 1.6 1.2 5.8 1.6 7.5 4.4 1.5
2021 Carlton 10 19 58† 33 154 31 185 113 27 3.1† 1.7 8.1 1.6 9.7 6.0 1.4
2022 Carlton 10 19 45 31 169 48 217 114 25 2.4 1.6 8.9 2.5 11.4 6.0 1.3
2023 Carlton 10 21 29 29 190 57 247 141 34 1.4 1.4 9.1 2.7 11.7 6.7 1.6
2024 Carlton 10 21 49 21 207 67 274 143 52 2.3 1.0 9.8 3.2 13.0 6.8 2.5
Career 128 252 172 1071 309 1380 770 214 2.0 1.3 8.4 2.4 10.8 6.0 1.7

References

  1. ^ "PICK 10: Harry McKay". CarltonFC.com.au. Bigpond. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  2. ^ Danielle Balales (20 September 2016). "Season review: Harry McKay". Carlton Football Club. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. ^ Cherny, Daniel (21 July 2017). "Carlton name Harry McKay to make debut v Brisbane Lions on Sunday". The Age. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 26 July 2017.
  4. ^ "2019 22under22 team unveiled". AFLPA. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  5. ^ Russell Gould (15 June 2021). "AFL: Carlton spearhead Harry McKay says snapshot goalkicking is the new normal". The Australian. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  6. ^ Catherine Healey (31 May 2023). "'So glaringly off': Blues spearhead's brutally honest take amid goal kicking woes". Fox Sports. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  7. ^ Lachlan Green. "HOW HARRY MCKAY HAS GONE TO WORK TO FIX HIS ACCURACY WOES THIS OFF-SEASON". SEN. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  8. ^ Jack Jovanovski (10 June 2024). "'Thank god that's over': Blues coach's latest on forward after McKay friendly fire in win". Fox Sports. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  9. ^ "Will Harry ever meet Ben? The curious case of the McKay twins". Australian Football League. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  10. ^ "Blues' McKay fuels fire on social media". Zero Hanger. 30 April 2022. Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  11. ^ "Harry and Ben McKay have talent spotters looking twice ahead of AFL national draft". amp.theage.com.au. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
  12. ^ "Harry McKay". AFL Tables. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
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