WHILE 2021 has been the breakthrough year in an Abbie McKay career still in its infancy, 2020 was the year which she needed to take her game to the next level.
McKay came into the elite football system at the end of 2018, with plenty of spotlight on her as the competition’s inaugural father-daughter recruit.
After a debut season yielded four consecutive games, her second year was one of development and learnings for McKay, who was unsighted at senior level.
Identifying her areas of improvement for 2021, McKay enlisted the help of her dad Andrew and brother Charlie. As she told The Inner Sanctum, last year’s unprecedented time worked in her favour.
“During COVID, it was actually quite good for me,” McKay said.
“I had a bit more time to go out and do an extra running session, or go out and kick the footy with my dad and brother and change other bits and pieces of my lifestyle if COVID wasn’t a thing.
“Dad would come and do the running sessions with me. He’s a much better runner than me, so he’d push me to go that little bit faster and little bit further.”
It was a shift in training standards which Senior Coach Daniel Harford would ultimately single out when McKay was nominated for the NAB AFLW Rising Star in Round 3.
Having been labelled as “the benchmark for us from a training perspective” by Harford, McKay said the show of faith by the coach couldn’t be understated.
“Not only is it putting me on big names, but also the little things - like in training, him telling me that he thinks I’m good enough to be there - it’s all really encouraging.”
