Inside Charlie Curnow’s rise from hot talent to AFL’s most watchable player
A key figure who had watched all of Charlie Curnow’s draft year couldn’t have been clearer to the Bombers about why they should take him. But the Dons said no – twice.
Carlton
Don't miss out on the headlines from Carlton. Followed categories will be added to My News.
They were the sliding doors moments that helped the game’s most watchable player Charlie Curnow get to where he is today.
As Curnow and Carlton prepare to take on Sydney in an elimination final on Friday night – his maiden final and the club’s first in a decade – the swings and roundabouts of the power forward’s AFL career have been extraordinary.
If any of those sliding doors moments had gone a different way, 26-year-old Curnow might not be a back-to-back Coleman Medallist, nor arguably the Blues’ most important player in a quest to break their long premiership drought.
And it hasn’t just been Blues supporters who have been gripped by his journey.
One highly-respected talent spotter urged Essendon to select Curnow with one of its two top 10 picks in the lead-up to the 2015 national draft.
The Bombers passed on him, and would be still rueing that decision.
Another club traded out pick 12 that year – the selection the Blues used to secure the athletic, but then slightly immature teenager from Torquay.
A few more suitors may have been spooked when 18-year-old Curnow refused a breath test when stopped by police in an uncharacteristic moment in the days leading up to the draft.
Then, just as his AFL career trajectory looked set to skyrocket with the Blues, Curnow suffered a series of knee setbacks which left some wondering if he would ever play again.
Dealing with those sliding doors moments didn’t break Curnow’s spirit. In fact, they made him stronger, better and hungrier to make up for lost time.
HOW THE BOMBERS MISSED CHARLIE
Long-time Geelong Falcons regional manager Michael Turner couldn’t have been clearer when speaking to Essendon ahead of the 2015 draft.
He told them to pick Charlie Curnow as he would secure a future star.
“Essendon came down and I was giving my presentation to them,” Turner recalled this week.
“They had pick five and they were always going to take Darcy Parish. They also had pick six and I was telling them, ‘Trust me, you need to pick Charlie Curnow, he is going to be a star’.
“I was saying that to all the clubs.”
Turner said the Bombers believed Curnow had been “a little hit or miss” with the Falcons, but he stressed he was genetically gifted and a late developer.
Ultimately, Essendon passed on Curnow.
Instead, after choosing Parish with pick five, Essendon went with young South Australian Aaron Francis at pick six.
Francis would go on to play 54 games for the Bombers before being traded to Sydney.
“They (Essendon) just made a bad strategic mistake; they had the perfect pick for him,” Turner said.
“It wasn’t just Essendon … I told everyone about how good I thought Charlie would be.”
DRAFT WEEK LESSON
Eight clubs owned the top 12 picks of the 2015 draft – Carlton had three selections, Essendon two and Melbourne two, while Brisbane Lions, Sydney, GWS Giants, Gold Coast and Adelaide each had one pick.
Curnow had been considered a top five pick earlier that season, but having had some knee issues for the Falcons, he looked set to drop a few spots.
Then came an out of character off-field incident in the early hours of Friday November 20, four days before the draft.
Curnow was pulled over by police in Torquay at around 3am, having gone out to buy some fast food. In a “moment of panic”, he refused a breath test.
He was extremely remorseful.
It is hard to know the impact this incident had on his draft order, though he made it through to Carlton’s pick 12, uniting him with his brother Ed, who was almost eight years older.
The Blues traded for that selection, which the Western Bulldogs had given up for pick 25 (Josh Dunkley) and 26 (Kieran Collins).
The Blues wanted him, and knew more about his character than others.
So, too did Turner, whose wife Karen had been Curnow’s teacher at Torquay Primary School. She described him as “the kindest kid” she had taught.
“I think the biggest compliment you can give someone is to say they are a kind person,” Turner reflected.
“Between the end of our season (with the Falcons) and the draft, it was a long time. He was just out having a bit of fun and he made a mistake.
“When you are talking about the draft, clubs are conservative because they don’t want to pick someone who could f*** up. But do you want to pick a choir boy or do you want to pick the best player? Luke Hodge wasn’t a choir boy; neither was Charlie.
“They weren’t bad, they were just a bit immature. At the right club, they were always going to flourish.”
Turner met with Curnow and his parents in the aftermath of the incident.
“I remember sitting in front of my house in Lorne speaking with Paul Connors (who along with Robbie D’Orazio manages Curnow),” he said.
“I went to see him and his parents, and they were mortified by it. But we all make mistakes.”
D’Orazio said Curnow learnt a massive lesson from the experience: “He was probably thinking AFL was big, but he probably didn’t realise until that night just how big AFL football was.
“I am not going to speak (on behalf of the other clubs) but I know Carlton licked their lips when they kept hearing that he might be getting to them.”
Curnow hasn’t put a foot wrong since.
After the Bombers bypassed Curnow, the Giants went with Jacob Hopper, the Suns chose Callum Ah Chee and Melbourne called Sam Weideman’s name out.
It is understood Carlton – having secured Jacob Weitering with pick 1 – rated Charlie Curnow slightly ahead of Harry McKay.
The Blues had picks 10 and 12, with the Crows splitting it with pick 11. But they also knew Adelaide would not pick Curnow, given Ed spent a year there as a rookie before being cut and picked up by Carlton.
So when the Blues called McKay’s name as pick 10, the Crows went with Wayne Milera, guaranteeing Curnow to the Blues at 12.
“That’s the other sliding doors moment … he got drafted to Carlton where Ed was, and Ed would have put his arm around him and looked after him,” Turner said.
“If he had gone to say Adelaide or West Coast, it might have been different. Charlie was a bit immature in body and mind, but going to Carlton gave him the best chance.”
KNEECAPPED
Curnow was only 20 and 22 games into his AFL career when Dermott Brereton predicted in 2017 he could become the game’s best player within two years.
“This kid may take a bit of trial and error, but he is going to brain it,” Brereton said.
In his 57th game, Curnow kicked seven goals against Western Bulldogs, in round 13, 2019. Then his world changed.
In the next game against Fremantle, he grabbed his right knee. The timeline for his medial ligament damage was meant to be a month; it ended up being the rest of the season.
But it was about to get worse.
Playing in a social game of basketball in October 2019, Curnow dislocated his knee cap. He went in for stabilisation surgery on the patella.
Then a month later, he fell up tiled stairs at his parents’ Torquay home, fracturing his knee cap with “barbed wire” put into his patella.
Melbourne’s Covid lockdown meant Curnow was working in a makeshift gym – again at home in Torquay – when he experienced pain squatting in April 2020.
As Blues head of football Brad Lloyd recounted: “He came into the Gold Coast hub and he stuck it out for the whole season without being able to play.”
Then in November 2020 he endured another setback – his right knee gave way when he was kicking on his left with brother Ed.
A new surgeon reinforced the area of bone stress.
Leading sports medico Dr Peter Larkins said Curnow’s future was under a cloud at the time.
“The nature of the injury and the complication of the surgery were dramatic. I would dare say the medical expectation was guarded as to what his ability to absorb training loads would be, because when you are running the knee cap takes a lot of pressure,’ Dr Larkins said.
“It wasn’t just the fractured knee cap; it was also the fact that he initially had a loose knee cap, which is what we call a patella reconstruction to stabilise it. But then it fractured which meant the cushioning cartilage was inevitably damaged on the back of his knee cap.
“Some aching and swelling would be what you would say would be the best result; the worst result was that he was never going to play again.”
As Curnow recalled on the club’s website: “I spent countless hours at mum and dad’s (farm), sitting around the fire (in his recovery).
“I had heaps of fractures re-occurring in my knee, from small movements that would occur.
“I had to talk to a lot of people (at the club) … mum and dad and my managers Paul (Connors) and Robbie (D’Orazio) which kicked things off for me.”
At one stage his then coach David Teague publicly questioned whether he would ever get back to the same high standard. Curnow used those comments as part of his motivation.
D’Orazio said: “He had to keep the faith and keep doing the work. But he also had to try and stay happy and put on a facade, even though deep down he was hurting.”
Lloyd said Curnow’s application and the teamwork of the Blues’ medical and high performance staff never wavered.
“There was that fear that people might not see the best of him with his injuries, but he was very dedicated behind the scenes with his training, with his diligence, with his nutrition and the way he applied himself,” Lloyd said.
COMEBACK TO COLEMANS
The gap between Curnow’s 58th and 59 AFL games stretched 762 days.
When he made his return in Round 20, 2021, some questioned whether the club should have made him wait until the following year.
But he dusted off the cobwebs in the last four weeks of that season, and looked with confidence to 2022.
As Curnow told Ed in an interview to mark his 100th game earlier this year: “I had a fair bit of doubt back then.
“To launch into packs, that was the hardest part … the fear of getting injured again was definitely huge for a long time there.”
Curnow didn’t kick a goal in round one, 2022, but since then has scored at least one major in 44 consecutive games for a collective 142.
As former Blues great Anthony Koutoufides said: “I can’t believe a guy who would miss two seasons of footy could come back and do what he has done.”
Curnow kicked 64 goals last season to win the Coleman Medal and backed it up with 78 goals to win again this year.
This year’s Coleman went down to the wire … and Charlie stayed up to watch Taylor Walker’s nine goals against West Coast in round 24.
It meant the Blues forward had to kick two goals to win it outright.
“We had a nervous night,” D’Orazio said. “We were texting each other. He wanted to go to sleep as he was playing the next day, but he wanted to find out.
“He knew what he needed to do the next day (to win the Coleman).”
Curnow’s passion for Carlton, for his teammates, and for his soon-to-retired brother Ed is something that has driven his quest to return.
That saw him recommit to the Blues for the next six seasons last August, despite a big offer from a Victorian-based team – believed to be Geelong.
But as Turner said, the Curnows are a fiercely loyal and grounded family, and he always knew he would be staying.
As part of the negotiations, Charlie made sure his manager highlighted to the Blues that he wanted his brother to play on for as long as possible, such is their bond.
He is now one of the game’s most marketable players. As much as he is focused on footy, he is also looking to venture outside the game, having set up a business with a group of leading AFL stars which will launch across the country in Liquor Land in grand final week.
D’Orazio said Curnow’s passion was on show in the round 23 win over the Suns: “Charlie doesn’t show a lot of emotion. But if you looked at him after the Gold Coast win, I think he cried. You could see it was massive for him … it means so much to him.
“He has genuine care for his teammates. And he loves his brother Ed more than life itself.
“He is so good with kids – with Ed’s kids, with my kids. When he kicked 10 goals (against West Coast), he grabbed my son (Hunter) out of the crowd and got him to sit in the middle while he was stretching.”
Curnow’s team-first attitude stands out for Lloyd: “He works hard with our forwards coach Ash Hansen on watching footage and he is a deep thinker about the game.
“He is very good at team meetings and he cares deeply about his teammates.
“He is a big-moment player. He has been able to kick goals … (but) he along with our other forwards is really unselfish, even his little flip over to (Matt) Cottrell (in round 24).
Koutoufides cannot wait to see Curnow unleashed in the finals, happy that the sliding door moments not only got him to Carlton, but kept him playing beyond the knee dramas.
Kouta said: “He could go to a new level now … he could be scary in finals.”
More Coverage
Originally published as Inside Charlie Curnow’s rise from hot talent to AFL’s most watchable player
Will $5m fix Carlton’s horror injury woes?
Carlton’s injury troubles in 2024 have been well documented – but new data shows just how far back the club’s woes extend. A review is underway, as is a new multimillion-dollar project.
Nasty infection leaves Blues CEO hospitalised
Carlton CEO Brian Cook is back to work after dealing with a nasty blood infection that had previously afflicted him after making the climb to Mt Everest base camp.