SAM DOCHERTY has not missed having to train against the likes of Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow while he plies his trade in the midfield. 

Having spent his time in the backline as well as in the midfield, Docherty can see how lucky the group is to have the two talls in the forward 50, providing an aerial and physical threat where they need it most. 

Always pushing each other to be better, Docherty admitted it’s a real advantage to have two unique players jelling together so well. 

“Charlie is the athletic running around player - he doesn’t stop moving - and then Harry is 202cm and he’s a very tall player,” Docherty said. 

“It’s not only having two good [defenders] to play on them, you’ve got to have two guys with the right skillset to be able to match up on them.” 

Through a variety of issues, Curnow and McKay have yet to play an entire season of football together, with 2022 being the first real glimpse of the double-headed monster in action.

With another full pre-season under their belts - working together before, during and after training - Docherty thinks the results will be ‘scary’ for the competition. 

“Their own games will evolve and they’ll get better, but I think the bigger piece is around the connection and cohesiveness on the field,” he said.

“The more that they build on that - which is just time - they’ve had all of last pre-season, most of last season and then this whole pre-season to work on that. I can tell you right now they’ve been a handful on the track.

“It’s going to be interesting, they’re very competitive and they’re going to be good for us.” 

Despite being competitive beasts, Docherty noted that there was no squabbling about who held the spot as the best tall forward.

Both having won Coleman Medals in the past two years and each having their own breakout season, Docherty said they can settle and admit that they’re better together rather than apart. 

“I don’t think they’re trying to be the No.1 forward, they accept and they now appreciate that if they co-exist, their job is a bit easier rather than trying to do it all by themselves,” he said. 

“They’re both competitive people in terms of being the best player that they can be – they drive each other to that extra level of improvement in each other. 

“They’re now 26 this year, they've learnt they’re stronger together and they become more of a handful the more they work together and that's going to be really important.”