Harry McKay spills beans on Christian Petracca fallout in telling AFL trade admission
The Carlton sharp-shooter was touted as a potential makeweight for the Demons star.
Carlton forward Harry McKay has opened up on the Christian Petracca AFL trade drama and how he inadvertently became "collateral damage" in the ongoing saga around the Melbourne premiership star. Petracca's future at the Demons has been one of the most hotly discussed topics over the last few weeks amid reports he was seeking a move away from the club, despite having five years left on a lucrative deal.
Petracca finally put the speculation to bed over the weekend after recommitting to the Demons but not before McKay became caught up in the situation. With Collingwood and Carlton the two clubs linked with a potential trade for Petracca, the Coleman Medallist emerged as the man most likely to head to the Demons in exchange for the Melbourne ace.
McKay’s agent Dave Trotter and the Blues came out quickly to squash the speculation and insist their player was happy at Carlton. But after seeing his name splashed through the headlines through no fault of his own, McKay has now spoken out about the fallout and revealed it was a lot more "full-on" than he ever anticipated.
“I think sometimes we need to have more awareness around throwing a name (around) hypothetically up and not understanding the collateral damage that has sometimes,” McKay told the Ben and Harry podcast. “I knew there was going to be an article at some stage but how it was reported was a bit more full-on than how I was thinking it was going to be.
"That next 24 hours you get a lot of calls, lots of messages, family members checking in seeing what’s going on. I’m not sure people fully understand – they might think it’s just part of the job and that’s what you put up with as a player – but it’s the people close to you. It’s funny the amount of calls and messages of family members checking in.”
Harry McKay says young Blues fan pleaded for him to stay
McKay revealed on the podcast that even though he had no intention of leaving the Blues and that no one at Carlton had broached the subject of a Petracca trade with Melbourne, he had one young fan begging him to stay at the club after the reports first broke. “I remember the next day, I was leaving the club and there was a young family – a mum and three daughters – were there and had their Carlton jumpers on,” McKay recalled.
“(They were) asking for a photo and an autograph. The young girl would have been six or seven, but when I was signing she was like, ‘are you getting swapped to Melbourne? Please don’t say you’re getting swapped to Melbourne’.” McKay credited Blues officials for putting his mind at ease and explaining there was never any substance to the trade reports and said it demonstrated a "really good sign of a really good culture” at Carlton.
“Everyone at the club was awesome,” the 26-year old said. “When key stakeholders and people are ringing me straight away, nearly having a laugh about it, saying like, ‘there’s no merit to anything. Mate, you’re super valued’. And it was nearly just we were having a bit of a laugh about it. It was really good from that point of view and I think the club was great.”
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McKay is expected to be one a number of key ins for the Blues when they take on the Brisbane Lions in Saturday night's elimination final at the Gabba. McKay is tipped to overcome a quad injury and take his place in the side alongsid fellow forward and leading goalkicker Charlie Curnow, Mitch McGovern, Zac Williams and fan favourite Sam Docherty - who is set to make a miraculous return to the ground where he suffered what most thought was a season-ending third ACL injury in the opening round.
with AAP
