Carlton coach David Teague has revealed key ahead Harry McKay has been taking part in by a shoulder harm for at the very least the previous fortnight.
McKay got here from the bottom early within the first quarter after struggling a knock to his proper shoulder within the Blues’ 26-point loss to Melbourne on Sunday.
The Coleman medal favorite went right down to the rooms however re-emerged late within the first time period and bravely performed out the sport.
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McKay appeared ginger and struggled to compete one-on-one towards Steven Might however got here to life within the third quarter with two of his three targets.
Teague stated McKay had been battling the shoulder situation for the previous few weeks.
“He’s had that for a few weeks so hopefully it’s going to proceed to get higher,” Teague stated after the sport.
“He stated he felt higher going into this recreation than final week so hopefully it’s going to get higher once more.”
In a double blow for the Blues, David Cuningham appears set for an prolonged stint on the sidelines after happening within the opening minutes with a knee harm. Cuningham shall be assessed to find out if he suffered an ACL harm.
Teague didn’t shed an excessive amount of mild on the extent of the injury after the sport however stated it was a “critical knee harm”.
“We’ll discover out (on Monday) precisely what it’s however, yeah, it’s actually disappointing,” he stated.
In the meantime, star midfielder Patrick Cripps shrugged off any issues concerning the seriousness of his again harm to rack up 27 touches and 7 clearances.
Stories surfaced through the week that Cripps was taking part in by a fractured again, however the issues have been rapidly dismissed by Teague and the Blues as a previous again harm that had absolutely healed.
Teague stated that Cripps’ efficiency on Sunday was far “higher than the best way (he) dealt with the media convention” through the week.
“It was in all probability one among my worst press conferences,” he stated.
“I assumed the harm was up to now, it hampered him in rounds two and three so when it bought introduced up I used to be in all probability a bit pissed off, and wasn’t as sincere and direct as I may have been.
“I knew the complete extent (of the harm). The message I wished to get throughout is he’s tremendous now and I in all probability may have been clearer.
“I assumed his recreation was good, he had about 10 tackles, robust inside, competed laborious, he’s been a terrific participant for us for a very long time and at this time he was robust once more and put his head over the ball.”
Teague stated Sunday’s loss to the undefeated Demons was one among their extra disappointing video games for the yr as they hadn’t performed in addition to a few of their different related losses.