AFL 2021: Carlton rules luckless forward Charlie Curnow out from early season return
Carlton coach David Teague has conceded the Blues will take a conservative approach with injury-prone forward Charlie Curnow in 2021.
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Carlton has confirmed it is thinking “bigger picture” on luckless forward Charlie Curnow, with coach David Teague admitting he won’t be sighted until the second half of the season.
Curnow required surgery last November to stabilise a stress injury in his patella in the same knee that had already needed multiple operations in the past 18 months.
Speaking on Wednesday morning, Teague admitted the club was thinking long-term on Curnow and would not rush him back.
“You won’t see Charlie in the first half of the season. He’s tracking well, but we’re thinking bigger picture,” Teague said on SEN.
“We care about Charlie and we want a long career out of him.”
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In better news for the Blues, Teague said he has been impressed by off-season recruit Zac Williams, who joined from GWS Giants on a lucrative six-year deal.
“He’s been quite dangerous in our front half as well, he keeps hitting the scoreboard in our match play,” Teague said.
“He’s very strong in his tackling, (and) you can see he’s played in big games with his decision-making under pressure.”
Teague said there has been plenty to work on over summer as his side pushes for an elusive top eight berth in 2021.
“Last year we got a bit frustrated with our ball use going inside 50,” he said.
“That’s the area from a chemistry point of view we haven’t had before.
“Our defensive 50 exits hurt us on the scoreboard a bit, too.
“That’s what we’ve been spending our time on over summer.”
The Blues coach said there has also been a focus on stopping opposition run-ons, which was an issue for his side last year.
“There’ll be some adjustments depending on the game,” he said.
“You want to control the ball and keep it off the opposition for a little while.
“We’ve trained that over the preseason.”
ESSENDON V CARLTON: 15 THINGS WE LEARNED
Carlton fans are talking about finals after an exciting practice match win against Essendon.
JON RALPH was watching the Blues closely. Here are his key takeaways.
1. The new salary cap rules will rob Adam Saad of $30,000-$50,000 this year.
Why? Mark him in for a top-three best-and-fairest finish at Carlton this year, even if he doesn’t pick up a bonus given AFL clubs have had to scrap those rewards to stay under the revised cap. If he stays fit, he will be a revelation for the Blues. Not only because he’s a darned good player but because of the structure of the back six.
Carlton has Liam Jones and Jacob Weitering as the intercepting talls, Lachie Plowman as the lockdown defender and then Sam Petrevski-Seton, Sam Docherty and Saad as the rebounding talls.
Against Essendon he switched from defence to attack in a heartbeat, throwing himself into packs in one second and then receiving quick wraparound handballs from Docherty to surge upfield.
HIs jinking, bouncing run that finally saw him pumping the ball to Patrick Cripps at the top of the goalsquare 60m downfield was everything this club wanted.
At Essendon he was often trapped on the last line as Devon Smith played the attacking role but David Teague will set up his game plan to allow him to play that rebounding role.
2. Eddie Betts might have to be prepared to play some VFL this season.
Betts is working his way back to full fitness after calf issues, having kicked 13 goals in 15 games last year.
But for the first time in a long the Blues seem to have multiple small forward options.
Zac Fisher has fully embraced his role as a premier small forward, standing out against Essendon not only with his resplendent mullet but his chase-down tackle on Dyson Heppell.
Marc Murphy is playing half forward, ex-Cat Lachie Fogarty has a role to play in attack, and Jack Silvagni is injury-free after only three games in 2020.
With Jack Martin also taking one of those spots, Eddie will have to sing for his supper.
Which is no bad thing.
3. Marc Murphy should easily be able to play until he is 35.
Marc Murphy didn’t figure in Carlton’s best-and-fairest top-10 announced last week but a player who has remained more loyal than so many other players doesn’t have to be one of Carlton’s stars any more.
Assistant coach Dale Amos revealed he was likely to play more half forward this year and against Essendon he did it on his ear.
Murphy has always revelled kicking to the lead and finding the right option with ball in hand.
Now with the Blues’ midfield depth he can stop the physical punishment his body has received for so long rotating through the half forward line.
He will have to buy into the forward pressure game but he can extend his career by carving out a niche role.
As Amos said: “Murph has really brought into playing a slightly different role at stages. It doesn’t mean he won’t play there but he and Zac Fisher are two who have really stood out as guys who have played a fair bit of midfield time in the past who have really embraced playing a different role for the team. They are classy players who add a bit of polish for us up front.”
4. Greg Williams’ sledge to Paddy Dow - “You’ve got to toughen up” - might have hit the mark.
One strong showing does not confirm a breakout, but after a knee injury and poor form kept Dow to only three games last year, he has clearly put the summer to good effect.
Against Essendon Dow kicked two goals, hit targets, threw his weight around and won hard ball in the centre square.
It’s exactly what Carlton needs so they can push Patrick Cripps and Murphy forward at times.
Williams said he wasn’t desperate enough and didn’t go hard enough but in his fourth year the Blues will be desperate for him to justify his No.3 draft selection.
He doesn’t have to be Darren Jarman with the Sherrin, he just needs to cut out those horror clangers to become a dependable mid for his teammates.
5. Lochie O’Brien should seek out Greg Williams himself.
The Blues aren’t able to pay the part-time coaches they once did so Williams isn’t on staff.
But despite game time against Essendon the club’s No.10 draft pick O’Brien still wasn’t able to make an impact.
With Jack Newnes on one wing and Sam Walsh and Will Setterfield spending time on the other, it’s hard to see a spot for O’Brien.
O’Brien will never be as physical as Williams, but he needs to find a way to impact games when he hasn’t got ball in hand to hit targets with that excellent left foot.
6. Patrick Cripps is back.
Was anyone else surprised by Cripps’ ninth-placing in the Carlton best-and-fairest despite playing 17 games last year?
Anyway, while he might never have 20 contested possessions for the Blues again given a midfield that bats much deeper, he can still impact games just as profoundly.
Against Essendon he started in the centre square but often pushed forward to create the kind of mismatches which saw him kick 13 goals in 2019.
Said Amos of Cripps’ perfect summer: “He has had a great pre-season so he’s learning to play a slightly different role because we have more depth through the midfield.
“It will help that he’s not shouldering all of the load and having to win all the clearances, he’s playing a role in there among the team and can complement Paddy Dow and Williams in there. It was really exciting to see.”
7. Sam Walsh should aspire to be Carlton’s best player by the end of 2021.
Walsh’s second placing in the best-and-fairest behind only Jacob Weitering was a sign of things to come as he came roaring home after winning more centre square time in the last few rounds.
Walsh isn’t some young kid to be coddled on the wing any more, he’s a battle-hardened 20-year-old with 39 games under his belt.
The Blues knew that when they finally took the handbrake off and threw him into the centre square in those final three weeks and he took games apart.
He still hasn’t missed a game in his career so far and with a genuine centre square role this year the sky is the limit.
8. Marc Pittonet is ready to take over from Matthew Kreuzer.
Pittonet might never be All Australian but the Blues don’t need him to be, his excellent first-half duel with Sam Draper showing he’s ready to step up again in Kreuzer’s absence after a solid first season.
Draper was super with his follow-up work before being rested at half time but Pittonet held even, at times outmarking the Essendon firebrand and giving his mids first use.
His strong mark at the top of the goalsquare late in the contest shows he has the full skill set to become a long-time Carlton player at the age of 24.
8. Buckle up for the ride.
Carlton wants to play fast. It wants to play direct.
It will mean there are games where it all comes crashing down if the Blues get belted in the midfield or turn it over by foot but as a fan of any football team you should want them to aspire to high-scoring, attractive footy.
Assistant coach Dale Amos was spot on post-match - the Blues love the new man-on-the-mark rule because it allows them to get the quicksilver ball movement they want.
9. Harry McKay still needs a wingman.
Against players including James Stewart on Thursday McKay was largely quiet despite bobbing up for two goals until a late ankle roll.
Essendon is young and inexperienced so the forward line still won the day, but he needs Mitch McGovern or Levi Casboult flying for marks alongside him. McKay kicked 21 goals in 13 games last year but for Cripps or Jack Martin to get that perfect aerial match-up the Blues will be keen to play those two talls.
McKay will eventually become elite, but he still hasn’t kicked more than 26 goals in any given season.
Thankfully help is soon at hand.
10. The Blues will never have a better chance to snap a run of 10 defeats against Richmond.
The 10 losses in a row have become embarrassing, even if Carlton have been in many of those Round 1 contests until late.
But they believe they will be close to full strength with all of Levi Casboult, Eddie Betts and Mitch McGovern closing in on full health.
The Blues said on Thursday they should all play at some level next week but the feeling is McGovern might still be rested until Round 1.
Richmond isn’t far short of full strength themselves (Bachar Houli will miss, Dion Prestia is touch-and-go with a hammy), but the Blues can’t blame excuses for a Round 1 defeat.
11. There has never been a better chance for Mitch McGovern to shine.
McGovern has had a solid summer despite a late low-grade hamstring strain that kept him out of the side against Essendon.
His best season was the 2016 year for Adelaide when he kicked 32 goals from 23 games. In that season the Crows were flying as they surged inside 50 at will to multiple targets.
Finally Carlton’s midfield is good enough and its ball movement quick enough that McGovern might get the same kind of service.
He is never going to be the kind of 45-goal forward who competes 1 v 3 to take huge pack marks and change games.
But he might be the third tall who bobs up and kicks 35 if the delivery is just right.
Now he needs to translate that summer of toil into on-field performances after 31 goals in 28 games in the Navy Blue.
If not now at 26 years of age, then when?
12. Zac Fisher’s mullet. Do yourself a favour and check it out.
As Ronny Lerner said on Twitter, he looks like a relative of Steve Kernahan with the glorious, flowing mane of hair so reminiscent of all those Carlton idols of the late 80s and 90s.
On the serious side, he could have thrown the toys out of the cot last year when David Teague told him he wasn’t playing midfield. He might have even done so for a few days.
Then he got fit, had a cracking second half of the year as that small forward, and then re-signed over the summer. Great signs for the Blues.
13. Carlton finally has depth in most positions.
Insiders will tell you that last year as they lost four of the last five games to finish a disappointing 7-10, the Blues were just gassed coming into games off short breaks.
They had only a handful of players in scratch matches and the players they did pick in the seniors were running on fumes.
The Blues have Ben Crocker, Cal Moore and Oscar McDonald training for a summer rookie spot but given a reasonable run with injuries and a normal fixture they can’t claim inexperience any more.
14. Essendon’s inexperience means Carlton have to believe they are confident of securing the one A-grade midfielder they still need in Zach Merrett.
Essendon hopes Merrett stays. They hope they will be a reasonable side this year.
But spending an hour on the way into Ikon Park chatting to various Essendon figures on Thursday it was apparent they know how young they are.
They know this will be a season of blooding kids, scrounging wins and taking the batterings that will come their way at times.
Merrett might still stay because Essendon gets its connection right and builds something special he wants to be involved with.
But it’s extremely unlikely the reason he stays will be because they have quickly developed into a force challenging for finals.
So on a day when Adam Saad played his old mob and Merrett played the team that will chase him all year, it was apparent Merrett’s finals-winning drought will likely remain by the end of 2021.
And that has to give Carlton a strong bargaining position to lure him across at year’s end.
15. No more bloody excuses, Carlton.
Every year Carlton is hyped (yes, guilty as charged).
Every year we think this might be the year to surge up the ladder.
They are finally locked and loaded with depth, talent, experience and A-grade names.
They have secured the big-money stars in Jack Martin, Adam Saad, Zac Williams and Mitch McGovern.
They have elite talent in Harry McKay, Patrick Cripps, Sam Docherty, Jacob Weitering, Sam Walsh.
They have the game-plan to maximise that talent, and for all their relative youth, they have 15 players 25 and over to compliment that youth with experience.
A team that hasn’t played finals since 2013 can’t use the excuse of a series of close losses or a spate of injuries or being on the wrong end of the rub of the green with umpires.
Time to get a bloody wriggle on, Carlton.
BOMBERS SMOKY?: RALPHY’S TAKE ON BLUES V DONS
Essendon list aspirant Alec Waterman has franked his Round 1 credential with a four-goal haul that will see him become a Bomber as the road back to football for Michael Hurley was on Thursday laid bare.
Essendon’s new brand of Baby Bombers lost by 21 points to Carlton at Ikon Park, at one stage giving up seven consecutive goals but closing late with great signs from their kids.
Assistant coach Blake Caracella said young Bombers Archie Perkins, Nik Cox, Ned Cahill, Nick Hind and Harry Jones were all chances to play in Round 1.
But on Thursday they were usurped by 24-year-old ex-West Coast forward Waterman, who kicked four goals from limited game time.
Essendon only wanted to see his practice match form transfer into match play to see him added as a summer rookie.
The Herald Sun understands he is certain to be elevated onto the senior list after two injury-hit years at West Coast in 2015-16.
He used his nuggety 182cm frame and booming boot to lead Essendon’s goalscorers after finding space to mark on the lead as well as kick two goals from free kicks.
“Four goals from half a game, so it’s a great effort on his behalf and he’s going to keep training and we will see what happens contract-wise,” Caracella said.
The club’s No. 8 pick Cox played most of the game on a wing and showed touches of class, while No. 9 selection Perkins played deep forward and apart from one lovely sidestep was quieter.
But second-year tall Harry Jones kicked two goals, while new-look defenders Ned Cahill and Nick Hind were excellent in patches and joined by captain Dyson Heppell at half back.
Peter Wright was also a solid presence up forward alongside Jones and Cale Hooker, while Caracella was impressed with the inside game of new Don Jy Caldwell.
Essendon’s players were thrilled to see Hurley back among the fold after two weeks in hospital with a serious hip infection that is putting his season at risk.
He looked gaunt, having clearly dropped a significant amount of weight, and was barely able to walk, shuffling slowly across the Ikon Park turf with the help of crutches.
Caracella said the club was hopeful he would still return this season but was unable to give an update on his progress as he tries to rid the infection from his body.
‘“The boys were pretty happy to see him. He has had a hard few weeks and it’s not great being in hospital and we don’t really know when he’s going to be back but it’s great to see him out of hospital and with the boys.
“I am not sure when he gets back. It’s up to the medical staff and how his condition improves but hopefully we can get him back.”
Aaron Francis rolled his ankle and finished the game on the bench, with Essendon’s sole official AAMI Community Series clash against Essendon next Saturday night at GMHBA Stadium.
Andy McGrath will play in that clash after a concussion, while Jake Stringer is training but two or three weeks from a return to full fitness so will be touch and go for Round 1.
JON RALPH’S ESSENDON-CARLTON TAKE-OUTS
RULES
The sky isn’t going to fall in on the AFL’s head with a spate of 50m penalties in Round 1 because of the man-on-the-mark rule.
There was only a single 50m penalty for a player moving off his line when Carlton’s Ed Curnow infringed, with the only other 50m penalty when a Carlton player infringed into the protected area in the first quarter.
For that one 50m penalty there were numerous examples of players having to hold the line which allowed their opponent to hit a kick in the corridor.
It might not result in the boost in scoring we want but the game will certainly see quicker ball movement.
WHO WILL DEBUT IN ROUND 1?
Alec Waterman should not only receive a quick elevation to the senior list but should be a SuperCoach smoky as a 24-year-old ex-Eagle desperate for his second chance.
He might have been a touch lucky with a 50m penalty goal and a free kick goal, but he played limited game time and still kicked four goals.
Nik Cox should play Round 1 as a 200cm wingman, Archie Perkins might play on potential alone and Harrison Jones did his claims no harm with two goals.
Ned Cahill has already debuted but he has been slotted into defence and the former small forward looked at home alongside Nick Hind, the ex-Saints small forward also slotted into a new role.
For Carlton the Blues are more established and gave up their picks on Adam Saad.
But Paddy Dow, who played only three games last year, is a lock after a two-goals contest that had him among the three or four best Blues.
WHO FIRED FOR YOUR SIDE
Adam Saad
Adam Saad brought his own footy against his old mob, who knew exactly how he plays and still couldn’t stop him. He was superb and should form a dangerous rebounding half back line alongside Sam Docherty and Sam Petrevski-Seton.
Zac Williams
The beauty of Williams’ game is that he isn’t only a line-breaker, the new Blue able to get his hands dirty with centre clearances when those acres of space didn’t present in front of him.
Then he went forward and led from the square to kick a lovely late goal from 45m out.
Marc Murphy
As Sam Walsh and Zac Williams won more centre square time, Murphy pushed forward alongside Zac Fisher to set up goals and kick a late major himself in a new role for the former Carlton captain. One of the club’s most loyal servants adds a touch of class, while Fisher’s vision and chase-down tackle on Dyson Heppell results in a goal from point blank range.
Nik Cox
Not everything Cox did was perfect, his perfect sidestep onto his left foot early on resulting in a missed target and his right-footed set shot from 40m skewing hard right off his boot.
But Essendon will back in this kid, slotting him in on a wing for most of the contest to allow him some nice touches including a late goal from a quick snap. Essendon knows it can only play the kids, so why not from Round 1?
Harry Jones
Jones’ first year as the club’s initial draft pick from the 2019 national draft was ruined by foot issues, but despite his spindly frame he took strong marks inside 50 and converted twice.
Essendon will play Peter Wright as their big marking target and hope Cale Hooker, who was quiet on Thursday, is robust enough to play as the second target.
But Jones needs game time and is on his way to getting it in Round 1.
Nick Hind
With Michael Hurley out, the Essendon backline was basically unrecognisable to the 2020 version with Nick Hind, Ned Cahill, Dyson Heppell, Jayden Laverde all getting game time alongside skipper Dyson Heppell.
Heppell was rusty but the lightning Cahill and the canny Cahill both had lovely moments, while Stewart beat Harry McKay until the Blues forward limped off with a rolled ankle.
Despite having to absorb 58 inside 50s the new-look defence, which also includes Jordan Ridley, held up extremely well.
INJURY WATCH
Blues
Blues assistant Dale Amos said Harry McKay’s late ankle roll shouldn’t keep him out of the AAMI clash with St Kilda next Thursday.
The Blues believe all of Levi Casboult, Eddie Betts and Mitch McGovern will be around the mark as they return to full training.
Whether they are risked or played in a reserves clash next week is yet to be determined.
Bombers
Francis rolled his ankle in the third quarter and eventually limped off at three quarter time.
It might mean he misses next Saturday’s clash against Geelong but it didn’t seem overly serious.
Jake Stringer is 2-3 weeks from a return according to assistant coach Blake Caracella, which means he is some chance of playing in Round 1.
Andy McGrath will be back next week after concussion but David Zaharakis (knee) is unlikely for Round 1.
GAME STYLE
Blues
Carlton wants to break their opponent’s hearts with quick ball movement that is built on a rock solid back six.
With Liam Jones and best-and-fairest winner Jacob Weitering in fine form on Thursday, it was left to rebounders Sam Docherty, Adam Saad and Sam Petrevski-Seton to rebound with intent.
At one stage Saad burst through the corridor on the run then hit Patrick Cripps at the top of the goalsquare in a movement that was poetry in motion.
Bombers
Essendon had a younger side but can only hope to dominate with a strong midfield that has excellent depth and then paper over the crack given inexperience at both ends.
The Dons know they are young and will have many kids playing in their side but at least against Carlton they looked composed in defence and pushed numbers back hard to avoid being opened up, conceding only 14 goals from 58 inside 50s.
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Originally published as AFL 2021: Carlton rules luckless forward Charlie Curnow out from early season return
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