By Andrew Wu
Ed Curnow has witnessed many a false dawn at Carlton, but this time he has seen enough to be confident they can be a “contender” next year.
After missing out on what coach Michael Voss described as a year of “transformation”, the veteran is driven by the dual goals of taking to the field with his brother Charlie, and being part of a Blues premiership in what will almost certainly be his final campaign.
Ed Curnow is driven by the goals of playing with brother Charlie, and being part of a successful Carlton side.Credit: AFL Photos
“Every year I’ve gone into the season with the belief you can achieve and compete and push, and you’re aiming to seek out those finals berths – we actually have the evidence we have built from last year’s season,” Curnow said.
“That gives us a lot of belief we can really push and be a contender for the 2023 season. That’s unbelievably motivating. I want to go out on the best note possible.
“I know no matter what I’ll always love my experience at the club, the friendships, there’s been so many great people come and go. I want to train as hard as I can and push the group as hard as I can to try and win the flag. That’s the desire of a lot of good players at the club – to go out and have a crack and see where it lands.”
Though there would not be a footballer in the league without such aspirations, it is a mark of the growing optimism at Ikon Park that players dare mention the “f” (finals) and “c” (contenders) words. Supporters of rival teams, though, will be quick to point out this is a club that has been mocked for some of its marketing slogans.
The evidence Curnow is referring to is their 2022 campaign when they played some exhilarating football only to miss the finals in heartbreaking fashion on the final afternoon of the home-and-away season.
A dejected Charlie Curnow and the Blues take in the narrow loss against Collingwood in Round 23.Credit: AFL Photos
They have a list ready to blossom, led by a Brownlow medallist (Patrick Cripps) and featuring the last two Coleman Medal winners (Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow) and All-Australian talent in every third of the field. The challenge confronting Voss and his coaching staff is turning that elite talent into a topline team.
Unfortunately for Curnow, he was reduced to a spectator for the Blues’ rise out of the doldrums after a string of injuries ruined his season, ending a run of 74 games.
He missed the early rounds with a medial ligament strain, followed by a setback to his calf at training in May, then a hamstring injury early in a VFL game in July, which ended his year.
By his own admission, the 200-gamer gave little to the Blues’ cause last year as life in perpetual rehab got him down.
“I wasn’t adding a whole heap of value around the club either last year, I was struggling a bit in terms of injury and wasn’t getting a hit of energy from the rehab program, probably a bit of a depressed state around the joint, a bit grumpy,” Curnow said.
“I wasn’t the best person to be around last year and I’m not proud about that either. Those guys who are injured deal with it all the time. You get an appreciation for guys who are injured in an elite sporting environment and can’t do what they want to do. You feel devalued based on the fact you can’t do your job.
“The feelings I felt were all stories in my head. The footy club was doing their best to support me. It’s just when you are not running out with the team on the weekend you’re not as involved in the program, you feel a long way away from game day and what’s going on – the wins and the losses. I was just craving that game-day challenge, coming to training and the plan to go out and compete. I’d missed that.”
His personal anguish came amid a period of great excitement for the Blues, who for much of the season appeared destined to end their finals drought, and his brother. Charlie was one of the feelgood stories of 2022, coming back from two years of serious knee injuries to stamp himself as one of the premier forwards of the competition.
Ed and Charlie Curnow have played just 53 of a possible 149 games together.Credit: Getty Images
The stars have seldom aligned for the brothers, who have played together in just 53 of a possible 149 games.
“It was awesome,” Curnow said of watching his younger brother recapture his best. “I’ve got little kids, they love seeing Charlie play. He’s such a fun-loving personality to be around. They love Charlie. His story is pretty amazing, really, to have the amount of surgeries on his knees that not many other athletes have had and be told it’d be unlikely he’d be the same player let alone a Coleman medallist.
“It was pretty awesome to go with mum and dad and watching him bag six and seven, light up the whole stadium and the crowd.
“Early it was frustrating, I wanted to play a bit more footy with him. We haven’t played a lot of footy together. I had a pretty solid run of consistent football at the same period he was dealing with his knee injuries.
“Now he’s dealt with that, and I’ve decided to get all these soft-tissue injures,” Curnow added with a laugh.
Curnow was worried his time as a footballer had come – but the Blues were prepared to look past his grumpiness and ailing body in favour of the qualities that made him a life member – his professionalism, the standards he drives, and offered him a rookie spot.
As the only player over 30 on the Blues list at the time of writing, Curnow also provides experience to what is still a young group.
A mainstay of the Blues midfield through his career, Curnow faces a battle to break into the Blues’ best 23, but the early signs of pre-season are promising. The injuries which bedevilled him in a wretched 2022 have stayed away.
“I still really want to play and [am] hungry to compete,” Curnow said. “I love competing against my teammates, love training, it wasn’t like I was mentally ready to move on.
“Mentally, I was very, very keen to be part of the program again. It was whether I could prove physically I was up to it. That’s what I’m trying to prove to myself and the team at the moment. I’m really enjoying being normal and train hard and enjoy the grind of pre-season.″
The next task is convincing Voss he still has a role to play in the senior side. The Blues have a vastly different looking midfield to the last time Curnow played, though Sam Walsh’s injury creates an opening.
“I’m here to make their lives difficult on that decision,” Curnow said. “I’ll be trying to be the best I can, the best teammate I can and see where that falls.”