AFL set to reach out to Carlton regarding McKay late withdrawal

Channel Nine's Tom Morris says the AFL will ask questions to the Carlton Football Club regarding the late withdrawal of Harry McKay in their Friday night clash against Port Adelaide.

McKay was named to play when teams dropped on Wednesday night but was later withdrawn from the game due to “illness” with Lewis Young replacing the star forward.

McKay suffered a head knock in Carlton’s Round 19 win over North Melbourne in the final quarter where he appeared dazed after the collision but remained on the ground for several minutes.

The 26-year-old was eventually cleared of any concussion and returned to the ground where he played out the remaining minutes of the win against the Kangaroos.

Despite being cleared of concussion, the AFL did in fact say that the Blues breached concussion protocols by not removing McKay quickly enough from the ground and was given a slap on the wrist.

He had a low-key training week at Carlton in the lead-up to their game against Port Adelaide but missed the clash due to illness.

And whilst the AFL isn’t questioning McKay’s illness, they’re rather just wanting to see and know how they managed him during the week.

“This is from the AFL this morning, Jay Allen who is their spokesperson has just sent this to us on Crunchtime saying, ‘we acknowledge McKay’s late withdrawal last night due to illness and we will make some enquiries with Carlton on McKay’s diagnosis and management during the week,” Morris told SEN’s Crunch Time.

“In other words, the AFL just wants to be entirely satisfied that the protocols were followed regarding his concussion last week and his late withdrawal last night.

“There’s also a lot of footy fans who think there’s whiskers on this but the AFL just wants to make sure that he was ill.”

The Blues lost by 14 points against the Power with Michael Voss’ side managing just the nine goals and only one in the second half.

McKay is expected to play in Round 21 against Collingwood on Saturday night.