TEST DELAY HAS HARRY OFF TRACK

CARLTON coach David Teague has revealed Harry McKay was forced to miss a key group training session due to a delay in getting his COVID-19 test results.

Dismissing suggestions McKay had suffered a hamstring injury, the Blues coach said the forward had been forced to train on his own away from the main group on Thursday as his test results had not come back in time before the session.

McKay later got the allclear with his results, but Teague admitted on Friday the delay had not been ideal for his preparation ahead of Saturday’s clash against North Melbourne.

“Harry had a concern, his COVID test results hadn’t come back so he wasn’t allowed to train with the main group,” Teague said.

“It was really disappointing obviously because we wanted Harry out there ... but we got a phone call from the AFL saying we had to wait for his results to come through before he could train with the whole group.

“He came back to the hotel and did a training session by himself once he got those results back that he was clear. There was no problem there, it was nothing to do with his test.

“It was to do with the laboratory … I’m not sure what had happened to be totally honest, but he had no concerns with his health or anything like that.

“He has pulled up well from that session, he did it by himself, which will be hard because we don’t know exactly what he did because he wasn’t with the whole group … it wasn’t ideal for his preparation.

“I know there are reports he has a hamstring (injury), he has no hamstring (injury).”

After kicking just one goal in the first three rounds, McKay has booted six goals in the Blues’ past two matches against the Western Bulldogs and Port Adelaide.

Meanwhile, the Blues have sent ruckman Matthew Kreuzer home from their Queensland hub to continue rehabilitation on his foot injury in Melbourne so he can access club facilities.

“We needed to get him onto an AlterG machine for his running, it’s one of the great pieces of equipment that has changed the way we bring players back from injuries over the last five to six years,” Teague said.

“We didn’t have access to that, particularly when we are in isolation and we go to Perth and we are going to be in isolation again (and) I presume we don’t have it there.”