After 24 years as ‘mirror image twins’ the McKay boys are done sharing, except for footy boots

Now 24, and having played at different AFL clubs for the past seven seasons, the last thing you might expect the McKay twins to still share — or swap — would be their footy boots.

But that’s what occasionally happens with their footwear to this day, according to parents Peter and Tracey, who explain there is a special reason for this.

Carlton’s Harry and North Melbourne’s Ben are “mirror-image twins”, a term used to describe a characteristic of twins whose features appear asymmetric — on opposite sides. When mirror-image twins face each other, it can appear as if they are looking in the mirror.

Both of the McKay twins are powerful kicks — Harry with his left foot, Ben with his right.

However, it is the size of their feet that is the reason they still often swap one boot or shoe with the other. One has a bigger left foot than his right foot; the other has a bigger right foot than his left.

Peter explains of the occasional boot swap: “They both have enormous toes”.

“The (big) toe on the left foot (for one) and the toe on the right foot on the other one’s foot are bigger than their opposite foot. So it works out to be a perfect swap of boots (or shoes).”

Tracey adds: “They get two pairs and swap a left and right boot. They are mirror-image twins, which means Harry is more left-sided and Ben is more right-sided.”

Keeping on the theme of opposites, position-wise, the brothers couldn’t be more different.

Harry has always been a key forward and he took his game to a higher level last season, kicking 58.33 from 19 games, winning the Coleman Medal in a team that didn’t play finals.

He finished third behind Sam Walsh and Jacob Weitering in the best and fairest and was rewarded with All-Australian selection for the first time.

Ben, too, had a career-best season in defence for the Kangaroos in 2021, playing every game and being the club’s most important key-position backman.

Having encountered some challenges early in their league careers, particularly with injuries, the twins were standouts last season and look set for long AFL futures.

“They are the opposite in some ways (in personality), but complimentary in so many other ways,” Tracey says.

She adds with a laugh: “The perception of Carlton being the silver spoons probably tends to suit Harry’s personality, the Shinboners, with their blue-collar work ethic, suits Ben’s personality.

“They both love their clubs. We couldn’t be happier with how Carlton and North Melbourne have looked after the boys.”

Early years

The twins were born on Christmas Eve 1997, with Ben the oldest by a minute.

As Tracey recalls: “They were born a month early being twins and they had to come out sooner rather than later, so it was a little unplanned for (that Christmas Eve).”

Ben and Harry were the second and third of Peter and Tracey’s four kids.

Older sister Hannah is now an emergency nurse. Younger brother Charlie is studying creative writing.

“We’re proud of all the kids,” Tracey says.

Peter played a season with Officer in the South East League, but found more joy following Essendon.

Ben and Harry “lived and breathed” footy, so much so that Peter had to take them to Drouin Auskick on the Saturday before backing up at Warragul on the Sunday.

“I would have the Essendon Back-to-Back pack (1984-85) on when they were about three after The Wiggles finished,” he says.

“From the time they got up in the morning until the time they went to bed, they would be wearing their Bombers uniforms, jumper and shorts.”

Their competitive edge was always there.

“Harry was always a month more advanced than Ben in a maturity or skills sense,” Peter says. “I remember when Ben was five, Harry learnt to bounce the ball before him and Ben was devastated. He would be on the front porch, crying his eyes out.

“Harry would dominate for a month. Then Ben would get the hang of it and catch up.”

Peter joked that when he built goalposts in the backyard they might have been on an angle, which might explain Harry’s kick-around-the-corner style at times.

“They had terrific skills as young kids, but when they started playing under 14s, as the other kids got bigger and uglier, the boys withdrew a bit in themselves,” he says.

Confidence boost

As the McKay brothers grew though, their confidence did the same.

Collingwood 2010 premiership player Leigh Brown watched them one cold night at Warragul and excitedly contacted Gippsland Falcons talent guru Peter Francis.

“They found a bit of self-confidence again, so that’s when Leigh Brown was good enough to come down to training one wet night at Warragul,” Peter McKay says.

“The boys stood out, marking the ball in atrocious conditions.”

Francis won’t forget the excitement in Brown’s voice.

“Leigh Brown went down to Warragul looking for new talent,” Francis says. “The next day he came back and he says ‘Peter, you are not going to believe this, but there are these two twins at Warragul who look the goods’ and they were six foot six. We invited them down for our pre-season the next year.”

Ben, for a time, wavered on his AFL dream and returned to play some senior football with Warragul before having a change of heart.

He came back to Gippsland Power in the middle of the year and “fitted like a hand in glove”.

“Ben had some outstanding games back and forward, Harry was predominantly a forward,” Francis says.

Tracey recalls draft night in Adelaide in 2015: “We had no idea where they would go.

“Brad Scott (then Kangaroos coach) stopped us on the way in and he says, ‘what are you hoping for?’ We said, ‘whatever club they go to, we just want them to go to clubs who will treat the boys with care for them as people as well as players’.”

Tracey says Carlton — who took Harry with pick 10 — and North Melbourne — who took Ben with pick 21 — have fulfilled every part of that equation.

Just like it was when they were kids, Harry had the edge on Ben leading into 2021.

Before the start of last year, he had played 48 games for 71 goals in his first five seasons; Ben had played only 15.

Harry became the star of the Blues’ attack last year, while Ben took the opportunity presented to him with a highly consistent season in defence at North Melbourne.

“Ben took a little longer (to make an impact), but they deserve what they get as they have both put in every ounce of effort,” Tracey says.

Peter believes there is still scope for further improvement in both: “They are still a fair bit off of what I think they can do.”

McKay v McKay

It’s the match-up the footy world has been waiting for, but hasn’t yet happened.

They have collectively played 104 matches, but never against each other.

The good-natured ribbing has been going on for a number of years now, with Ben once claiming he would never play on his brother because “I normally take the best forward”.

Harry responded: “Ben might be playing in the twos then.”

The much-anticipated first clash almost happened last July before Harry pulled out with an injury the day before the match — the second time that had happened.

Ben sent a tweet, saying: “Dejavu”, to which Harry teased: “I’m playing, don’t worry.”

Harry told Carlton’s website recently he can’t wait for the sibling showdown to happen, with the two teams set to clash in round 7.

“It’s building the suspense a bit,” he says.

“I’m looking forward to it — if it ever happens.

“I guess the universe just doesn’t want us to play against each other in front of no crowds.”

When it looked like happening last year, Tracey joked about knitting a dual jumper — half Carlton, half North Melbourne. At least Peter and Tracey will be able to witness it first-hand this year, if and when it happens.

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