Blues coach adamant on response to Curnow trade offers
Shayne Hope |
Carlton won’t entertain rival AFL clubs’ trade offers for disgruntled key forward Charlie Curnow, coach Michael Voss says.
Curnow looms as the biggest name to watch during the October trade period after reportedly telling the Blues at his exit meeting that he would like a fresh start elsewhere.
But Voss on Monday insisted Curnow is “open” to a move rather than demanding one, and the coach is adamant Carlton won’t answer calls from potential suitors.
Curnow, who endured repeated injury setbacks this year, is contracted until the end of 2029 and remains one of the competition’s best forwards when fit.
“Our position is pretty clear … he’ll be at Carlton in 2026,” Voss told SEN radio.
“Those discussions, if there’s any others, we’ll continue to have behind closed doors.
“But as I stated, he’s a two-time Coleman medallist, could’ve been three, he’s got four years to run on a contract.
“We feel like he’s an incredibly important person to us and so he’ll figure for us moving forward. Hopefully he’s playing out the rest of his career here.”
Curnow could become the third star to walk out on Carlton this year, with free agents Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni headed for the exit.
Voss was quizzed on the 28-year-old spearhead’s reasons for considering a move.
“I don’t think it’s worthy of going into detail outside of we’ve had a tough year and he’s had a challenging year,” Voss said.
“If you look at the year he’s had, we could sort of wash over it pretty quick and just look at what happened towards the end.
“He’s obviously had three surgeries over the course of this year … it’s just been a tough year.
“We’ve all felt that and I’d imagine our players have felt that as well. We’re all pretty determined to change that.”
Voss won’t begrudge ruck-forward De Koning taking up a monster eight-year contract with St Kilda, but conceded it was “a tough one to accept” when players decided to move clubs.
He also confirmed the Blues’ decision to ask contracted player Elijah Hollands to seek a trade was “absolutely” related to off-field concerns.
Hollands twice took personal leave this year and ended the season in playing VFL.
Carlton finished 11th this year following successive finals campaigns, and have since been linked to moves for delisted West Coast speedster Jack Petruccelle and Gold Coast utility Sam Flanders.
Voss said the Blues would be “aggressive as we can be” in the player movement market, with multiple holes to fill on the list.
“Everyone would love to be able to get another goal-kicker and everyone would love to be able to get a little extra ball-carry in your team,” Voss said.
“We’ve got to shore up a couple of other positions.”
AAP
