Harry McKay

A key forward, McKay played junior football at Warragul and state under-18s football with the Gippsland Power. He was drafted by Carlton with a first-round selection (No. 10 overall) in the 2015 national draft.^[1] He missed much of the 2016 season—his first season in the professional system—with stress fractures in his back,^[2] and he made his senior debut for the club in Round 18, 2017.^[3]

McKay began to command a regular place in the Carlton forward line in 2018, and he was soon the club's primary spearhead. He won his first club leading goalkicker award in 2019 with 26 goals and was named forward pocket in that season's 22under22 team;^[4] he then led the club's goalkicking again in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season with 21 goals. He had a breakout season in 2021, serving as a deep full-forward. He was among the strongest contested marks in the league. He kicked 58 goals for the season to be named in the 2021 All-Australian team and winning the Coleman Medal by a four-goal margin. This was both the most goals and first Coleman Medal by a Carlton player since 2009.

A natural left-foot kick, McKay's has gone through phases of both high and low goalkicking accuracy throughout this career. In 2021, he adopted a style of taking his set shots from the right side of the ground with a perpendicular run-up and snap kick, even from relatively narrow angles, while continuing to favour the conventional drop punt from the left side of the ground,^[5] and won the Coleman Medal with 58.33; but his proficiency with the snap declined over subsequent years, culminating in a 2023 season tally of 29.29 from 77 attempts (across all kick types) which drew extensive negative coverage.^[6] McKay significantly reduced his use of narrow angle snap shots from 2024,^[7] finishing that season with a greatly improved return of 49.21.

In Opening Round 2024, McKay kicked the match winner with a minute and a half to go to win the game for the Blues after trailing by 46 points against the Lions at the Gabba.

McKay is the mirror image twin brother of fellow professional footballer Ben McKay, who plays as a key defender at Essendon and previously at North Melbourne. It was not until 2024, their ninth seasons in the league, that they played an AFL game against each other, often as a result of one of the two being suspended or withdrawn late with injury,^[8][9] leading to internet jokes that they were the same player running a fake-twin gambit.^[10] The twins grew up in the Victorian town of Warragul and played local football for Warragul Football Club.^[11]

Updated to the end of round 2, 2026.^[12]

Notes