Blues boosted by return of McKay, Tigers to get Prestia and Lynch back
Carlton have received a boost days out from their season opener against Richmond with key forward Harry McKay declared fit to play by his captain Sam Docherty.
Blues co-captain Docherty said McKay would play pending the club’s selection panel deciding to include him in the squad to take on Richmond on Thursday night.
McKay injured his ankle in the pre-season match against Essendon then recovered to take on St Kilda the next week in the AAMI Community Series. However, he injured his ankle again in that game and played no further part in the match.
Harry McKay is set to return to the Carlton attack.Credit:Getty Images
“He’ll be right to play, given that he gets through training,” said Docherty.
He played 13 games in 2020 and kicked 21 goals, including two bags of three in rounds six and seven and a bag of four in round 17.
McKay is an important cog for the Carlton forward line with Charlie Curnow [knee] targeting a mid-season return while Mitch McGovern (back) won’t play round one.
Eddie Betts (calf) is also available for selection, as is Levi Casboult.
“He [Betts] played last week so he will be available selection, it’s just whether it gets picked,” Docherty said.
Their opponents Richmond will also be able to select Dion Prestia (hamstring) and Tom Lynch (toe) for the match. The pair did not play in the AAMI Community Series match against Collingwood.
“Both have trained really well this week so I’d be surprised if either weren’t fit to play on Thursday night,” Tigers skipper Trent Cotchin said on Monday. “But again, we have another main session tomorrow, which is just another final tick of approval.
“He [Lynch] has been humming around the track the last couple of weeks.”
Docherty said he and his teammates were not feeling the pinch despite club legend Robert Walls declaring the Blues may have to sack coach David Teague if they miss finals for an eighth consecutive season.
“If they made finals, they have got to continue with David Teague no doubt. But if they didn’t, they will probably have to cast the net and look at what’s about,” Walls said.
Carlton are targeting another premiership within the next three seasons under their “The Carlton Way” blueprint.
Docherty said the team would be dictated to by their internal expectations, not by those on the outside.
“I wouldn’t say we feel the weight of expectations,” the defender said. “I think internally we have our own standards and our drive to get better and to be a better footy side. We haven’t obviously been where we want to be for a number of years now.
“We understand that it’s not going to just come and just get handed to us so we’ve got a lot of hard work this year to put in to be able to get to where we want to get to, and we’ve got to group up that’s pretty hungry to do that.”
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