Kane Cornes doesn’t believe Harry McKay’s mammoth contract extension was good business by Carlton.
The Blues revealed on Monday that McKay had recommitted until the end of 2030, adding seven years to his current deal which runs out at the end of next season.
Cornes, a vocal critic of long-term deals, expects Carlton to “get burnt” by the length of the contract, citing the 24-year-old’s pre-existing back issues as cause for concern.
“In terms of long-term contracts, they’re not going to work,” Cornes said on SEN Mornings.
“I guarantee you Carlton are going to get burnt, absolutely going to get burnt.
“Harry McKay has got a bad back and they’ve just committed to him for eight years, it’s a big commitment.
“Eight years is ridiculous if you’re going to be completely fair about it.”
While the 2021 Coleman Medallist is still relatively young and one of the competition’s premier forwards, Cornes feels his form issues in 2022 prove that the deal is risky.
“For what Harry has achieved in the game, he’s a Coleman medallist but some issues with his form,” Cornes said.
“He finished seventh in Carlton’s best and fairest, he’s had back issues, to commit to him to the end of 2030 for a team that hasn’t played finals for a long time (is a risk).
“I guess they’re all in on this group and that’s fine if that’s the strategy they’re going down but it’s a massive risk.”
Cornes believes that McKay’s deal will only be proven successful if Carlton wins a premiership with the forward playing a big part.
“We’ll see, I can’t see how this works out in the favour of the Carlton footy club,” Cornes said.
“We’ll wait and see, and time will tell, if they win a premiership great, but if not, I guess it’ll be seen as a failure.
“You can’t come up with too many examples of long-term contracts that have worked out in the favour of the club, and this will be another one of those.”
McKay has kicked 174 goals from 86 career games having made his debut in 2016.