“IT DOES suck at the moment, because it’s affecting a lot of other people, which I don’t like.”
An open and honest Harry McKay took to LiSTNR's Ben and Harry Podcast to address a main topic of water-cooler discussion.
The 2021 Coleman Medallist is averaging career-high tallies when it comes to contested marks and inside 50s, but inaccuracy in front of the big sticks has undeniably caused plenty of chatter in the football world.
The concept of blocking out the external noise is a common one in the AFL landscape. But, even for McKay - who aims to avoid football commentary, even at the best of times - the talk is nigh on unavoidable.
Taking ownership over his current situation, a candid McKay shed some light on his headspace and the main source of frustration.
“After the game, seeing people’s faces, mum’s face — she wears it. Dad wears it. Ash Hansen, our forwards coach, he wears it. ‘Vossy’ wears it and gets asked about it flat out, because of what I’m not doing well,” McKay said on the Ben and Harry Podcast.
“I find that part hard, where it affects other people . . . it affects the team.
“There’s one obvious element and that’s that I’d like to be kicking more goals. The reality is if Charlie and I kicked straight on Friday night, we would’ve won the game.”
Accepting and acknowledging that the commentary and expectations is part of the job, McKay compared his current form to how he’d be playing in Covid times: put simply, even if he was playing in empty stadiums, he’d still be as frustrated as he is now playing in front of packed stadiums.
While the intention is clear, the execution hasn’t been there, in stark contrast to the previous two seasons. Over the course of 2021 and 2022, McKay kicked a total of 103 goals and 64 behinds.
Whether it’s “un-training” bad habits or succumbing to something front of mind, the one thing that’s sure with McKay - widely regarded as one of the premier trainers at IKON Park - is that he won’t leave anything to chance, whether that’s from a mental or technical standpoint.
And while he knows that in the long run, he’ll look back on this as something that makes him - rather than breaks him - he doesn’t want to fall into any trap.
“It’s a challenging period when one aspect of your game is so glaringly off in a public space. I’ve made a conscious effort not to look at anything,” he said.
“But the dead giveaway is lots of people sending you messages saying ‘don’t listen to it, mate’: as soon as I see that, I know it’s being spoken about.
“You’d be lying if you’re saying you don’t think about it a lot. [The talk] is another wave to it . . . but I’d still be as frustrated as I am now [regardless].”
“Everyone comes from a great place, they all want to help and it’s awesome. I could never critique that. I always feel supported and I think it’s great that people care and want to help.”
For the full chat, watch the full video in the player above, with thanks to LiSTNR.
