Sophie McKay's eye-catching goal celebration proved to be one of the moments of the first week of AFLW finals. But even after the Blues rookie's matchwinning third-quarter turn in Carlton's elimination final demolition of West Coast, she still came off the field to an annoyed parent.
Andrew McKay, Carlton great and father to Sophie and Blues captain Abbie, was less than impressed with his youngest daughter's antics. After slotting a brilliant goal in the wet, Sophie decided to fake a hamstring injury and follow it up with 'stanky leg'.
'He just said, 'Don't you ever do that again',' Sophie said before Carlton training on Tuesday. 'A couple of my family friends who were standing with him said he had a heart attack.'
The 19-year-old, who is a contender for the AFLW's Rising Star, rehearsed the celebration as a joke on Friday at training in front of Blues veteran Darcy Vescio. After deciding against pulling it off should she kick a goal in the game, Sophie was coaxed into eventually doing it by her teammates.
Star midfielder Abbie, who became Carlton captain ahead of this season, was thrilled, but is sometimes embarrassed, to play with her younger sister. 'I just roll my eyes when she does some of the celebrations, but it's hilarious,' the Blues skipper said. 'She lifts the energy of the whole team up and gets us all going.'
The McKay sisters have a growing social media presence, having a shared TikTok account with more than 4000 followers. Carlton will meet injury-hit Hawthorn in a semi-final on Saturday night, with the Hawks coming off back-to-back defeats to undefeated reigning premiers North Melbourne.
