Carlton news: David King suggests Harry McKay could play ruck as goalkicking problems continue

As he continues to struggle in front of goal, a shock solution has been floated to help Harry McKay regain his confidence. Do you think it would work?

Harry McKay.

Carlton should look at how Brisbane‘s uses spearhead Joe Daniher in the ruck as a way of fixing a “broken” Harry McKay.

McKay‘s goalkicking yips were again the story of the Blues loss to Sydney on Friday night with the 2021 Coleman Medallist kicking three behinds. He has now kicked 14.16 for the season plus 11 complete misses.

“Every time he takes a shot it‘s a different run-up, it’s a different type of kick, it’s a different attitude, everything is brand new, You can’t have that at this level,” former North Melbourne premiership player David King told SEN.

“If you know he is such a broken product inside 50 there is no value going to him. It‘s a bad business model.

“They kicked it to him 18 times and they go to Charlie Curnow, who is the best target in the land and who is having a great night, they only went to him seven times.

“They‘re better off getting him (McKay) out of the way. They need to look at a different role. Do you run him in the ruck or push him out to centre-half forward, tell him to get on your bike and don’t worry about the goals for a while.”

Harry McKay is struggling in front of goal.

Joe Daniher in a ruck contest against Toby Nankervis.

King pointed out that the Lions had boosted Daniher‘s confidence, which subsequently improved his goalkicking, by moving him into the ruck for short bursts during games.

Former Carlton star forward Brendan Fevola has previously offered to help McKay with his goalkicking technique but was knocked back.

Carlton fullback Jacob Weitering said both McKay and Curnow – who kicked 1.3 goals against the Swans – were putting in the hard yards at training with their goalkicking.

“We back them in, unfortunately they didn‘t get their job done in their department and we own it as a group,” Weitering said.

“We probably can be more efficient going inside 50 certainly, we‘ve got some tall timber down there and need more marks inside 50 to get some quality shots because 6.15 doesn’t cut it.

Harry McKay laments Carlton’s loss to Sydney.

“There is an element of player ownership that we need to take, we will stick together and I thought the first half was a real positive, it was our best half in defence in terms of trust and connection.

“But we share the frustration with the fans.”

The Blues were counting the cost of the 26-point loss with young midfielder Ollie Hollands (AC joint), Nic Newman (hamstring) and George Hewitt (concussion) all to miss next week‘s clash with Melbourne.

Captain Patrick Cripps hurt his ankle when he was stepped on by an opponent but he is expected to play against the Demons.

Originally published as Carlton news: David King suggests Harry McKay could play ruck as goalkicking problems continue