Knee surgery to end Charlie Curnow’s 2025 season

Blues fans are probably just looking forward to the end of what’s been a miserable 2025. But there’s still blows landing, with a star sent for surgery which will end his season.

Carlton’s season from hell has been further compounded with spearhead Charlie Curnow set to undergo more knee surgery which will bring a premature end to his 2025 campaign.

It’s a bitter blow for the Blues who had been keen to finish off another frustrating season with some positive performances across the last month, starting with Sunday’s clash with Fremantle.

Curnow, 28, will have “a necessary clean-up” of his knee after experiencing soreness in last week’s loss to Hawthorn.

It will be his third operation in the past nine months, with previous surgeries in December and February affecting his preseason base and resulting in a modest year for the co-vice captain who kicked 32 goals from his 18 games.

Charlie Curnow’s season is over. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Curnow dismissed speculation last week that he was open to a move to Gold Coast, or potentially Geelong or Sydney, with the Blues saying on Thursday that this surgery was designed to have him fit and ready for day one of Carlton’s preseason.

It remains to be seen if opposition clubs will chase Curnow ahead of the trade period, though the Blues have already ruled out any chance of him moving clubs, given he is contracted until the end of 2029.

Blues general manager of football Brad Lloyd said the club made a decision this week that it was in Curnow’s best long-term interests to bring a premature end to his season.

“While Charlie wanted to finish the season strongly, and we would have loved to have him out there for the remaining games, after further consultation this week it became clear that this would give Charlie the best chance to get himself right, recover fully over the off-season and be ready for when we return for the start of pre-season,” Lloyd said.

“Waiting until the end of the season could have impacted that, so we’ve taken the sensible approach.

“As we’ve seen in the back half of this season, we’ve been able to give opportunities to players who have been able to step up at senior level and show some real promise – we will look to continue to do that, as we set our sights on a strong finish to the season.”

This means Curnow will have to wait until next year to reach his 150th game.

The Blues have had to deal with a myriad of issues this season, including only seven wins so far ahead of this week’s clash with Fremantle as well as mounting pressure on coach Michael Voss, an injury crisis which affected the club, and some rumblings of player discontent.

Originally published as Knee surgery to end Charlie Curnow’s 2025 season