AFL round 14 West Coast v Carlton: Oscar Allen, Charlie Curnow injured in clash

Michael Voss could be without both Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow, with the former struggling with his knee and the latter injuring his calf against the Eagles. Plus, more on Oscar Allen.

Michael Voss hasn’t ruled out spearhead Harry McKay needing surgery on his injured knee.

The Blues mentor said on Sunday after his side’s win over West Coast that McKay had not responded to treatment as well as the club had hoped.

He said the club would need to make a call this week on whether to send him to surgery or not.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “We have to explore that.

“It’d be too early for me to say other than to say that we need to investigate it further and obviously seeing a specialist is one of those steps that we’ll take.

“And then we’ll make some decisions off the back of that, probably sometime during the week.

“Obviously we had to look at it a couple of weeks ago, and the advice was to wait and see how it responded.

Carlton's Harry McKay could be facing surgery. Picture: Michael Klein

“It seemed like it was hopeful, that we were hopeful that it turned a corner, but it hasn’t.

“So, we’ll have to just do a little bit more further investigation and make a call from there.”

McKay has played only seven of 13 games this season and kicked only nine goals.

He’s been sidelined with a knee injury since round 11 loss to Greater Western Sydney.

The tall forward has been pretty durable over the past four seasons, playing at least 19 games in each season since the start of 2021.

His absence might be felt even more by the Blues from this week, with key forward partner-in-crime, Charlie Curnow injuring his calf in Perth on Sunday.

The extent of Curnow’s injury is not known, with the dual Coleman medallist declaring after the 34-point win over West Coast that he expected to fit to play against North Melbourne next weekend.

ALLEN, CURNOW INJURED IN BRUISING CLASH

It shaped as a night of carnage for key forwards at Optus Stadium on Sunday.

First Carlton’s Charlie Curnow was subbed out of the game at half-time with a suspected calf injury.

Then West Coast captain Oscar Allen needed to be helped from the ground in the final term with what initially looked like a serious knee concern.

But both appear to have dodged serious injury.

Carlton coach Michael Voss said Curnow had even tried to get back onto the ground, but they didn’t want to risk him.

The extent of Allen’s injury won’t be known until during the week though.

He fell to the ground with no other player anywhere near him and was unable to put weight on an already heavily bandaged left leg as he was helped to the sidelines.

But West Coast coach Andrew McQualter said that early signs are that Allen’s injury is not too bad.

“It’s always concerning when someone goes down like that off the ball,” he said.

“You think the worst.

‘We think it’s not too bad, hopefully not serious.

“It’s not a calf, or hamstring, it’s plantaris; that’s what we think at the moment.”

Oscar Allen. Picture: Daniel Carson/AFL Photos via Getty Images.

The small plantaris muscle is located near the knee and ankle joints.

The longer he’s sidelined through, the bigger the headache he becomes for the Eagles.

Allen’s uncertain future has been a big story out of Perth all season.

He’s out of contract at the end of this season.

Many clubs are circling on him as a potential restricted free agent.

Allen was seen talking earlier in the season with Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell.

But Brisbane seems the most likely destination for him next season.

Curnow told Foxtel’s Kath Loughan after the game that he didn’t think his injury was much to be worried about.

“It’s fine. I’ve never really had a soft tissue before,” he said.

“I had a bit of awareness ... so we’ll see how we go. It looks like it’s going to be pretty fine ... so I look forward to getting out against North Melbourne next week.

“You’ve just got to be really careful with those things.”

Hudson O’Keefe, playing just his second AFL game, also finished the game on Carlton’s bench, with a hamstring being iced.

Originally published as AFL round 14 West Coast v Carlton: Oscar Allen, Charlie Curnow injured in clash