‘So rare’: Tough trade truth behind bombshell Curnow report as contender considers play

In a shock report, Carlton superstar Charlie Curnow has expressed his desire to leave the Blues and play for an interstate rival.

Carlton superstar Charlie Curnow has expressed his desire to leave Ikon Park and play for the Gold Coast, it has been revealed.

As first reported by Nine’s Tom Morris on Tuesday evening, the dual Coleman Medallist is keen on relocating from his club of a decade, citing lifestyle reasons and a desire to leave the at-times unforgiving Melbourne “football bubble.”

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“Charlie Curnow would like to play for the Gold Coast Suns. This is based around lifestyle, living in Melbourne and the football bubble — getting out of the spotlight here in Melbourne,” Morris began on 9News.

“Crucially, Carlton knows this. They’ve told him in the last couple of weeks that he’s not for sale. Graham Wright also met with his management when the possibility of a move north was floated. It was made clear that Curnow is a required player, and contracted until 2029.

“His agitations have also peaked the interest of at least two other Victorian clubs, who are keeping tabs on his availability — no matter how unlikely a trade appears at this point.”

Curnow returned to form with three goals in the Blues’ eight-point win over Melbourne last Saturday night at the MCG, after going four consecutive weeks without a major.

Charlie Curnow has expressed an interest in playing for Gold Coast. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

The 28-year-old signed a six-year contract extension with Carlton in August of 2022, with only Adam Cerra (2030), Harry McKay (2030) and Jacob Weitering (2031) signed on longer deal at the club than him.

Gold Coast are currently fielding a forward line with three tall forwards in Ben King, Ethan Read and Jed Walter — the latter two each members of the club’s Academy program in their second year as an AFL-listed player. King, who was drafted in 2018, reportedly has clubs attempting to lure him back to his home state of Victoria at the end of next season; namely Collingwood.

“They (Gold Coast) haven’t chased Curnow, but they’re aware of his interest in them,” Morris added.

“Curnow’s not unhappy; I’ve got to make that very clear. Nor is he kicking the door down like (Christian) Petracca at Melbourne last year. But he’s clearly been pondering what life in Queensland would look like.”

Morris also noted on X that Carlton officials have told their superstar key forward more than once that he won’t be traded this off-season.

Reacting to the shock reports around Curnow’s desire to move elsewhere, Fox Footy reporter Jon Ralph flagged the sheer difficulty of any hypothetical trade.

“We’ve told you a couple of times before that Charlie Curnow is grumpy. Now (there were) reports from Nine today that Carlton have had to tell him that they’re not trading him to a club like the Gold Coast, that he’s looking around,” Ralph told Midweek Tackle.

“There are various reasons that he’s grumpy. He’s got four years left on a deal. I can’t see that would work at the Gold Coast: ‘Alright, we’ll trade you to the Gold Coast for a generational player. We’ll have Matt Rowell? No. We’ll have Noah Anderson? OK, no. We’ll have Ben King’.

“It’s easy to say one generational player will move. It’s so rare to get two players of almost equal stature to swap clubs, especially when the Gold Coast is flying right now.”

Two of Curnow's long-term teammates in Sam Walsh (far left) and Harry McKay (far right) have also both had speculation around their future at Carlton. (Photos from Getty Images)

Midweek Tackle panellist Corbin Middlemas added: “I spoke to people close to this today and essentially their feeling is at least one of them (Curnow, McKay or Walsh) won’t be there next year.”

“We know Graham Wright doesn’t have a lot of flexibility in the way things look at the moment. That would obviously give him some. The other thing I can tell you tonight is there have been at least half a dozen players meet with Graham Wright in recent weeks basically to search a direction for the club, which is hardly surprising given the comments from the president a couple of weeks ago that we’re going to wait until the end of the season to re-assess what it looks like.

“So, a number of senior players have effectively tried to get ahead of things, go and chat to Graham Wright themselves and work out exactly what it looks like moving forward.”

North of 15 players are still out of contract heading into the end of this year’s home-and-away season, as much-loved Carlton veteran Sam Docherty announced his retirement from the game after this Thursday’s clash with Hawthorn at the MCG>

Originally published as ‘So rare’: Tough trade truth behind bombshell Curnow report as contender considers play