IF THERE’S anyone who understands the merits of a full pre-season at Carlton, it’s Harry McKay. So it comes as no surprise that that’s where his focus lies heading into an unprecedented summer.

For the second consecutive year, McKay finished the campaign as the Blues’ leading goalkicker. With 21 goals from 13 games, McKay was the only player in the competition to achieve 20 goals from less than 16 games in total.

Of course, it was a season with less scoring and less game time: that was especially true for McKay, who juggled the most interrupted of preparations into the season.

If it wasn’t for the COVID-19 break, there’s no telling how much football McKay would have played in 2020, with a groin injury ruling him out early in the season.

Come the end of the year, McKay was back in business, and his form in the final month of the season will hopefully be the perfect launching pad for the 22-year-old.

“I didn’t really have any summer or pre-season. It was going to be pretty tight for the start of the year: I missed Round 1 and it was going to be a few games before I’d get back and play, which would’ve been pretty challenging,” McKay told Carlton Media.

“We had the break over COVID to get 6-8 weeks of work in and get on top of my ground issues. It was always going to be scratchy at the start of the year, and it definitely was that.

“As the season went on and I got a few games under my belt, I was able to play some alright footy towards the end of the year.”

That “alright footy” saw McKay take more contested marks than anyone in the final four rounds of the season, while kicking the second most goals (10) in that timeframe behind Hawthorn’s Jack Gunston (11).

McKay said it was the ability to get a body of work in during the week that was a key factor behind his run of form, as well as full confidence in his body after previous complications.

It wasn’t just his groin that held him back: a knee niggle restricted McKay from playing four consecutive games until after the Round 11 bye.

“It set me back a fair bit, compared to the year before where I had a full summer and got to do a lot of the work,” he said.

“Comparing the start of the year, it was really different: you don’t realise how much you miss it until games come around. The pre-season is crucial.

“The good thing is I was able to play out the year. I’m really looking forward to having a big pre-season: the body is feeling really good.”

The last two years have been a case of two halves for McKay: he kicked 16 goals from the first nine games last season, and 20 from his final 10 games this season.

If anything, it shows how damaging the big man can be when he’s up and going: and he’s hoping to be much more effective in front of goal come the 2021 season.

“I wasn’t making the most of my opportunities. I had a lot of looks on goal that I didn’t capitalise on, which was frustrating,” he said.

“I’ll have a big focus on my goal kicking and making the most of the opportunities I get. I’ll really put a lot of work in that, as well as the forward craft stuff in terms of leading patterns and body work.

“Getting a whole summer of that will be really nice.”

Everyone of a Navy Blue persuasion was hoping that finals football would be coming around in 2020, particularly the key forward given his end-of-season form.

McKay believed that a few games ultimately defined Carlton’s season, but he was hoping it would hold the Blues in good stead in the long run.

“It was disappointing not to play finals footy. We had opportunities to win games that would’ve basically cemented our spot, which is pretty frustrating, he said.

“Looking back, the Collingwood game and the Giants game were the two that defined our season. If we had have gotten over the line, we would’ve been playing finals now which is disappointing.

“We’ll use this season as a stepping stone to hopefully play some finals next year… I’ll be able to carry some momentum into the summer.”

Harry McKay’s season by the numbers

No.1 for goals at Carlton, No.2 for contested marks per game at Carlton

No.8 in AFL for goals per game (minimum 10 goals)

No.1 in AFL for contested marks from Rounds 15-18

No.2 in AFL for goals from Rounds 15-18