David Teague on Charlie Curnow’s injury and how players pushed Carlton to bring Eddie Betts back
Carlton coach David Teague laments the unfortunate basketball injury that has derailed Carlton star Charlie Curnow’s season, but insists the gun forward is entitled to letting his hair down away from footy.
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Carlton has backed Charlie Curnow to ‘live his life’ in the off-season, despite the basketball incident that has ruined his summer.
The Blues have found the silver lining in Curnow’s patella surgery, adamant they were keen for him to test out his knee around the time it buckled during a shoot-around game of basketball.
As much as coach David Teague was “disappointed” his star had gone down, the club had wanted him to test the problem knee surfing and running to assess its progress from bone bruising.
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Unfortunately, he stepped on a Carlton teammate’s foot during the casual game of hoops, requiring surgery to stabilise his patella in a setback that will keep him from running until Christmas.
“They’ve got to live. They can’t live in a cocoon and we needed him to test it out, to be honest with a bit of training,” Teague said.
“I think if we get our players in a really good headspace, that will allow them to perform at their best and sometimes they need to be able to go and have a surf, shoot some hoops and things like that.
“Sitting here right now I am happy he did it in October, not December or January.”
Curnow was one of a number of senior players at training yesterday a fortnight ahead of schedule, including Harry McKay, Eddie Betts and Charlie’s brother Ed.
Teague said player power had a critical role in the club’s recruitment of Betts as the Blues cult hero returned to Ikon Park training today.
And he revealed that the Blues would have secured a Shaun Burgoyne-style veteran if they had missed securing Betts. Teague is adamant Betts can make an impact despite many believing he is past his best.
Teague, in his first summer as full-time coach, said the Carlton list-management group had not been as split over Betts’ recruitment as many had suggested.
“I was keen. We were looking to add a bit of small forward talent in our group and Eddie brings that but he brings so much more,” Teague said.
“He brings a lot off field, he will be a great leader for this group.
“I know some of the older guys were like, ‘Get him back, we want him back’.
“They want him at this footy club, the fans want him back and when he said he wanted to come back and wanted to enjoy his footy, it was something I thought it would work well and his performance on-field as well as the leadership will work well for us.
“I have heard some of the media reports but we challenge every decision.
“There are really good football brains there and it would be boring if we were all the same.
“There wasn’t a lot of debate around it. It was more on our strategy going forward.”
Eddie is back. And yes, he is in the forward pocket. His pocket. @superfooty pic.twitter.com/FIPKU1qDYQ
— Jon Ralph (@RalphyHeraldSun) November 5, 2019
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Teague said the Blues were aware he didn’t perfectly fit into the youth-led resurgence but added so much more than the 37 goals he kicked in 2019.
“Is he part of the youth going forward? No, but he brings leadership and it was something we needed and it was an area we needed to continue to grow.
“If it wasn’t Eddie we would have got a Shaun Burgoyne or someone like that who would have helped our leadership.
“The fact I had a relationship with him made it easier to get him here, but we are excited to have him.”
The Blues are determined to continue playing with the same attacking style that helped them win six of 11 games under Teague’s care.
But the new full-time coach said he was determined to fine-tune the club’s 2020 gameplan over the summer with significant buy-in from the players.
Teague and his new band of assistant coaches will design a series of drills that ask questions of players, with the answers to help instruct how they plan next year.
“Hopefully it will really empower them that they are making the right decisions and that they are solving those problems on the training track.
“We will come up with a final game style by working together by watching vision and sort it out together.”
Teague has been in regular contact with Gold Coast half forward Jack Martin, who remains insistent he will only play with Carlton next year.
Martin is expected to tell Suns coach Stuart Dew he will not return to Queensland and has no desire to play with Melbourne, which seems unlikely to call his bluff in the pre-season draft.