AFL Media’s Damian Barrett says all indicators are that Harry McKay will play for Carlton in 2023 despite a potential salary cap squeeze coming up.
McKay is contracted for next season and is understood to be in preliminary talks with the Blues about extending that deal, but has reportedly attracted rival interest.
The Herald Sun suggested earlier in September that Essendon and North Melbourne were both monitoring the situation as they searched for increased forward power.
But McKay hasn't suggested his future could lie elsewhere and Barrett says he’s been told McKay will certainly remain at Carlton.
“McKay is out of contract at the end of next year… I’ve kept asking the question, ‘is there any possibility at all, even one per cent, of conversation around McKay this year (leaving)’?” Barrett told AFL Trade Radio’s The Late Trade.
“I just keep getting told no. He will be going into the Blues in 2023.
“That’s what you’d expect to be the answer too by the way but there is going to be a salary potential problem there too.
“With Charlie Curnow on good money already, Sam Walsh on good money, Patrick Cripps on very good money and McKay already on money that might even be in the zone of $900,000+ already before he seeks a new deal.”
Curnow and Walsh have already re-signed this year, while Cripps and his vice-captain Jacob Weitering inked big deals in 2021 and 2020 respectively.
With Michael Voss at the helm, the Blues enjoyed one of their most successful seasons of the last decade this year to narrowly miss finals.
That was despite an injury crisis and losing the last four games of the season. With five players in this year's All-Australian squad as well as the Brownlow Medallist, Voss’ side is well placed for a strong assault on the 2023 season.
Speaking on McKay’s future, former Carlton list manager Stephen Silvagni suggested being a part of successful environments often requires players to re-sign on lesser contracts to what they could earn elsewhere.
“I think what the Cats have been able to do well and a lot of these successful teams is taking a little bit less to be part of a successful team,” Silvagni said.
“I’m unsure whether that’s happened over the last few years (at Carlton) but you would hope someone like Harry sees the opportunities that present at Carlton over the next three or four years, but you just don’t know.
“You have situations where clubs have been saving money for a number of years and they give you an offer which could be too good to refuse.”
After winning the 2021 Coleman Medal, McKay booted 45 goals in 2022 to form a strong partnership with Charlie Curnow, who was this year's leading goal kicker.