Harry McKay has come under scrutiny for his body language after appearing to “put a line through himself” just one quarter into Carlton’s blockbuster with Collingwood on Saturday night.
The Blues forward was sore after a knee-on-knee collision with teammate Sam Walsh in the opening term, struggling to keep running before he went down to the rooms with a club doctor.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Harry McKay ruled out after bumping knees with teammate
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McKay was in the huddle at quarter-time but quickly put a jacket on and was soon parked up on the bench with ice on his left leg.
“It didn’t even look that bad, it was just like a little tap on the knee,” Eddie Betts said on Fox Sports.
“He tried to go for a run and just stopped in the middle of the ground. He looked disappointed, he looked in a lot of pain when he did come off.
“He went straight down the race, came back up, went on the bike and then started talking to the docs at quarter-time. It doesn’t look great for Carlton and Harry.”
David King was forthright on McKay’s response to the knock.
“It looks to me like the docs are saying it’s a pain management issue,” he said.
“’We know you’re under difficulty and there is some discomfort there but this is AFL footy, we need you out there’.”
And right at that moment it became clear McKay would take no further part in the game.
“Looks like he’s put a line through himself, putting the jacket on, that’s it, night over,” King said.
“Incredible disappointment. You wonder whether there’s any structural issue there or is it just a pain tolerance discussion?”
AFLW veteran Sarah Hosking, in commentary on Triple M, also called out McKay’s “appalling” body language during the huddle.
“The way in which you get around your teammates at quarter-time … it was a bit more the poor me pity party, rather than focusing on his team,” Hosking said.
“You’d expect more from a leader of his club.”
A win over the Pies would lift Josh Fraser’s Blues right into the mix for a wildcard spot, but defeat would start to make things difficult with games against Brisbane, the Bulldogs and Fremantle still to come.
Carlton conceded the first three goals against Collingwood but bounced back even without McKay, kicking three unanswered goals of their own either side of the quarter-time break.
As the two sides went goal for goal later in the second term King went even harder on the Blues’ absent forward, tapping into the old-school thinking of the likes of his North Melbourne premiership coach Denis Pagan.
“This Harry McKay discussion will rage,” King said.
“There’s nothing worse than when a player of that significance is not there. It changes the whole game.
“My old coaches would say ‘I hope that’s a two or three-week (injury). If that’s a 15-20 minute (injury) you lose a lot of respect’.”
King added to that point at half-time: “If that’s just a bit of pain management then you’ve got a lot more to answer for. I hope that’s not the case with Harry and time will tell.”
Adding to Carlton’s woes, Adam Cerra was ruled out with a hamstring injury midway through the third quarter.
