Kicking up a storm:Harry McKay’s goalkicking approach has become a point of debate in a season where the Blues have underachieved.Credit:Getty Images
The star full-forward has only 12 goals in nine games and his shot-at-goal accuracy has dropped to a career low 37.5 per cent,having been at 56.9 per cent in his 2021 Coleman Medal year.
So bad has the big Blue become that three-time Coleman Medal winner Matthew Lloyd declared McKay “can’t kick for starters”,this coming as McKay’s preference for set-shot snaps,rather than taking a conventional,straight-run approach,is again under the microscope after he botched a set-shot snap 35 metres out,directly in front of goal in the loss to the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
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Blight,who booted 444 goals in his 178-game VFL career with North Melbourne,was the 1982 Coleman medallist and is a Hall of Fame legend,said McKay needed to find a confidante.
“Someone has just got to grab hold of him,someone who he believes in,maybe someone outside the club,have a kick in the park,” Blight said.
“Whatever you can do that is repeatable is the right answer[for a routine],but kicking around corners is less accurate than if you are running straight. It just makes sense.
“If you miss two or three[shots],as I said,there isn’t one player who hasn’t been in that situation,and the gremlins start in the head. That’s why if you have a gilt-edged practice routine doing the same thing over and over again,you actually get better at it and kick the demons out.”