McCarthy was recalled to the seniors for Saturday's 50-point demolition of Fremantle at Skilled Stadium, belying his 197cm, 102kg frame to boot two goals in the heavy rain and strong winds in his 16th game for the Cats, which was only his third of the season.
But the smile that McCarthy was having trouble wiping from his face after the club's sixth successive win, which took it into the top four for the first time this year, was nowhere to be seen when McCarthy had to have his appendix out a month-and-a-half ago.
Not feeling at his best heading into a VFL game with the Cats, McCarthy's condition worsened over the next 24 hours and he underwent an operation the following night, but he is glad he didn’t give up on playing again this season.
"It has been frustrating, I was playing pretty poorly at the start of the year and I've been in the twos but kept getting a few niggling injuries and had my appendix out and just haven’t been able to string three or four good games together," he said.
"I think I missed three games, I was a bit sore for a while, but it's fine now. I just thought I'd better keep boxing on and you never know what can happen. Things can change pretty quickly, and they sort of did."
Not convinced he would retain his place when he woke up on the morning of the game and saw heavy rain falling, McCarthy is now hoping his performance in his first game since Round Two, as well as a couple more good games, could see him play finals.
"I was half expecting a call to say they were going for a little bloke, but yeah I was just rapt to get a chance," he added. "It wasn’t too bad, I had a few tackles. It wasn’t great, but I made a contribution."
"I knew from the start of the game that marking wasn’t going to be much of a go, just had to try and make contests and lay a few tackles, just have a crack really, that's all you can do."
"You know it's going to be tough so you just keep things simple and anything you get is a bonus I've just got to try and do the team things and get a spot for the finals, which would be great."
While McCarthy was dreading a possible phone call to tell him he would be again playing in the VFL, coach Mark Thompson never considered such a change, and has the former Old Xaverian under consideration approaching September.
"Just because I've seen him play in the wet before and I knew he could mark the ball," Thompson said when asked why McCarthy was promoted. "In wet conditions big strong bodies hurt, they chip away at the leaner sorts of bodies and Matt is a contest player."
"He's a big awkward guy and I knew he would run straight and take as many bodies as he could."
"He's the sort of forward we need because Kent (Kingsley) and Ben (Graham) provide us the lead-up roles, but he's a real jump split the pack man, bring the ball to ground."
"That's one of the things that finals does provide you, you've got to kick to the contest a bit more. That's why he's slowly coming into the team."
Questioned further over McCarthy's call-up, Thompson made it clear that there was no hesitation.
"You stand in front of Matt McCarthy and stand in front of Shannon Byrnes (who McCarthy replace) and I'll tell you who you wouldn’t want to be hit by," Thompson said.
