The potential trades that could pry Charlie Curnow out of Carlton
Charlie Curnow wants out of Carlton. But what would it actually take to see the star forward leave? Josh Barnes answers questions about the Blues spearhead, and unpacks his options.
As Charlie Curnow settles in for some tennis in New York and Carlton holds the line that it won’t trade the superstar, those in his camp will be working away behind the scenes to figure out an exit from Ikon Park.
If the Blues say publicly they aren’t going to trade Curnow, privately they must say it would only take an offer that knocks off socks to let the dual Coleman medallist leave with four years left on his contract.
Figuring out the deal that lets him loose from Carlton is difficult for two main reasons.
Firstly, because it is rare in the modern era of trade for a player to be shoehorned into a deal just to grease the wheels.
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Last year’s blockbuster involving Dan Houston, John Noble, Rory Atkins, Jack Lukosius and Joe Richards did not see players forced in to help the trade work.
The days of Ryan Burton being firmly asked to leave Hawthorn to help the Hawks get Chad Wingard are rarer and rarer, so it’s unusual to see a club like Sydney tap a player on the shoulder to move him for Curnow.
The second reason is that simple trades for big players are tougher to pull off than ever.
There is a reason is took three teams, five players and eight draft picks to get Houston to Collingwood.
There were 14 picks in the Jason Horne-Francis deal.
So any trades mapped out now, over a month before the trade period actually begins, will have to be finessed and adjusted for them to be any chance.
But with that said, here are some frameworks to start as potential trade options as the time ticks towards any hope of a Charlie Consensus.
The following deals were kept as realistic as possible, including not featuring Sydney superstars like Isaac Heeney and Errol Gulden who are not up for trade, but given the wait until trade period will need work.
It’s hard to see these two-team trades working because one team loses from these deals.
A Geelong-Carlton swap seems impossible because the Cats don’t really need a big forward and Shannon Neale’s value may be higher than Curnow’s right now anyway.
Industry scuttlebutt had raised players like James Rowbottom in a Sydney trade for Curnow but he captained the Swans earlier this year and has little interest in a move.
Ditto for Tom Papley.
So without the superstars on the block, it’s hard to see a trade for one of Sydney’s key forwards and a runner like Oliver Florent getting up.
Jed Walter is a juicy prospect who is out of the Suns side right now but swapping him for Curnow seems unlikely, while also adding about $700,000 to the Suns’ salary cap.
The Port Adelaide draft pick was secured in the Houston deal last year and sits at No.6 right now but will slide down the order.
So now we turn our attention to Sydney’s Logan McDonald and Melbourne’s Christian Petracca.
It’s pretty clear where things fall over here – the stars shoved on the trading block don’t want to move.
If Logan McDonald or Chad Warner wanted to move back to Perth, or Christian Petracca wanted out at Melbourne, these could get moving but right now there hasn’t been any rumblings of it happening.
Industry figures believe the Blues would not move Curnow out without getting a goalkicking replacement in return so landing picks, even if they were juicy, would not be that enticing.
Which brings us to...
This one just isn’t happening even with the four first rounders, because Carlton needs players not picks.
And if they collected a bunch of Sydney draft picks while sending Curnow to the Swans, surely Dean Cox’s side would be so good the picks would be terrible when the Blues went to use them at the draft.
The Suns are going to be walking a tightrope with their draft points given they could have three academy prospects to gather up in the first round of this year’s draft, even though they hold three firsts right now.
Four first round picks is a lot and the only benefit for 2026 would be if the Blues decided they could take in the picks then flip them to lure in established players.
The Blues don’t get enough here really, but it’s fun to dream big.
For another month, dreaming big is about all Curnow can do as he waits for a dream deal to come together.
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Originally published as The potential trades that could pry Charlie Curnow out of Carlton
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