CARLTON forward Harry McKay is not getting sidetracked by his side's hot start.
McKay has once again been amongst the goals in an opening three weeks which has seen the Blues account for the Tigers, Bulldogs and Hawks in consecutive weeks.
While the 24-year-old forward admits his side have been playing some good football to get them over the line, there are still plenty of areas to improve on moving forward.
“It’s been a better start to the year with wins and losses but we’re still looking to improve,” McKay said.
“We’d rather be learning and winning than the other way around so all in all, it’s not a bad start.”
Carlton’s forward line is something that has turned heads over the last few rounds, with multiple individual goalkickers coming to the table each week, as well as the pair of McKay and Charlie Curnow.
McKay praised his line for their ability to connect and work together to get the job done, rather than relying on one or two people to hit the scoreboard.
“No one needs to be Batman out there, everyone is just playing their role and we’ll get around each other for it,” he said.
“I think the forward line as a group has been really strong to start the year, you look at guys like Matt Owies and Corey Durdin and ‘SOS’ [Silvagni] is playing some really good footy as well.”
One thing McKay did point out was his line’s aerial ability, considering that to be one of the biggest strengths in the forward 50: he said it wasn't just a matter of himself and Curnow, but rather a number of players in the side's attacking line-up.
“Tom De Koning and ‘SOS’ have threats of their own in the air, one of our strengths as a group is probably our aerial threat in the forward line,” he said.
“Whether it’s myself, Tom, 'SOS', Jack Martin, I think we can all have a role to play in the air and we can engage defenders in that way — I think we have a multi-faceted forward line which is good.”
As for Curnow, McKay is definitely enjoying having the key forward back in front of goal, applauding the way that Curnow can conjure up goals in a way that no one else can.
“As a key forward, it’s simple to a degree in terms of competing in the air and providing options to your teammates and putting pressure on when you can,” he said.
“Now that Charlie is there, I think it’s just a different avenue to score and the way he kicks his goals, it’s different to everyone else and we all bring our own strengths.
“It brings a smile to my face: it’s just good to see him back playing footy and having some confidence again.”
Looking ahead to the Gold Coast game, McKay said the team will once again be focusing on winning games no matter the personnel or opposition, trusting in their system and process as they have been all year.
“If you look over the last few weeks, we’ve won in different ways,” he said.
“The ability to do it in slightly different ways each week has been encouraging so that’s something we’ll take confidence from.
“[Gold Coast] are always a tough side to play, whether it’s up there or down here, you know you’re in for a fight and battle: we’re going to have a really good week on the track and review last week and work out a plan to get the job done down there.”
