It’s a Big Year for… Harry McKay

Written By Ari Stamatakos 

Throughout the 2021 Pre-season, Blue Abroad will be providing content to cover everything you need to know about the Carlton Football Club. 

For what should be an exciting and intriguing 2021, let's take an in-depth look at players who are destined for a big year, or just have to have a big year in 2021.

It's a big year for Carlton’s #10 – Harry McKay.

2021 Preview 

Despite an underwhelming 2020 for the Carlton Football Club, there is one man who can hold his head up very high - and that’s the 204cm forward Harry McKay. Kicking 21.15 in an improving and adapting Carlton forward line, this shows incredible promise for the 23 years old and is sure to set him up for an incredible 2021.

He has developed into the prototype key forward. Tall, strong hands and has the agility of a medium-sized forward. Averaging 4.4 marks a game as well as 1.7 marks inside 50, both ranking above average when compared to his fellow forwards, already displaying key attributes that one of an elite key forward has. When compared to similar forward Eric Hipwood, ‘H’ leads both marking metrics as well as being more clinical up forward.

Partnering with a running company in the summer, heavy focus has been put on his pace off the mark and agility work, should he drastically improve in both these facets, he will become a nightmare for all defenders to face. 

“I think my speed and athleticism is a strength of mine: as an industry, we can get caught up in working on the things you’re not so good at,” he said

In 2020, he ranked 12th in the league for marks on lead per match (1.3), displaying his innate ability to read the ball off the boot as well as his already elite agility for his size. Should this program be all it seems, H will become a real danger for defenders in years to come. 

The Best Case Scenario

With Charlie Curnow out for what might be nearly half the year… the burden will fall on Harry big time. While he yet hasn’t proven that he can take the game by the scruff of the neck, he has the ability to develop that trait. The best-case scenario is plain and simple, 50+ goals/All-Australian, this would then put him into the upper echelon of the Colman Medal race. Despite him never kicking more than 30 before in a year, and only kicking 71 in his career, he clearly can make a real and profound stride in his development this year.

Metric wise, the best-case scenario is if he improves his pressure acts. Granted, it’s not a key forwards role to lay tackles and apply pressure. But with how important locking the ball in your forward 50 is in the modern game, it wouldn’t hurt for him to improve just a little bit. He ranked 17th for tackles inside 50 (11) for key forwards and 34th for pressure acts (84), he ranked average and below-average respectively for those stats last season amongst key forwards. 

11 of his 21 goals came from within the 30-meter arc. A massive stride forward would be for him to lead higher up inside 50 and use his pace and agility to leave defenders in the dust and allowing for his leading ability to be put on full show, it also suits his shot run-up technique, which is very Lance Franklin Esq. 

As well as this, 47% of his shots on goal came from the right-hand side of the right behind post. This creates harder shots on goal which could lead to unnecessary misses, intern leads to lower confidence. It would be a major improvement for ‘H’ to get his shots on goal more centrally, allowing him the best possible chance for his to kick goals. Considering he kicked 11.2 from shots inside both behind post’s is concrete proof that he fully can kick them from these positions. 

Overall Expectations 

First and foremost, he must play near on every game this season. If Carlton are serious about making finals, without Charlie and Levi Casboult as the other available number 1 forward, ‘H’ must play at least 20 of the 22 games. Should he complete this, then that will put him in good stead for him to complete any goal that he would need to achieve this season. 

“I’m looking forward to actually being fit heading into the season instead of playing catch up.”

Goals wise, 35+ is the absolute least. He is hitting the prime of his career and considering it a contract year, with the club’s forward line on his back, this should be achievable even if he slightly underperforms. 

Everyone is looking for a big 2021 from ‘H’. Let’s hope for Carlton fans that the hype can be backed up by a career-best year from ‘feathers’ 

Status Leading Into 2021 - Star Player