Carlton uncertain over when injured star forward Charlie Curnow will be able to return

Charlie Curnow is set to have another check up on the broken patella that wrecked his pre-season, with the Blues admitting they don’t know when the superstar forward will be back up and running.

The Blues and Charlie Curnow would be frustrated by his knee injury. Picture: Getty Images

Charlie Curnow’s recovery from a significant knee injury is threatening to drag on, with the Blues still uncertain when the gun forward will be cleared to return.

Curnow, 23, will have another check-up on his broken patella on Tuesday, which will help determine whether he is still on track for a mid-season comeback.

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The Blues and Charlie Curnow would be frustrated by his knee injury. Picture: Getty Images

The Blues also confirmed Nic Newman (elbow) and ruckman Matthew Kreuzer (foot) had also undergone surgery after hurting themselves in the Round 1 loss to Richmond.

Newman played on with a dislocated elbow but will miss 8-10 weeks, while Kreuzer had a screw inserted into his foot and will be sidelined for up to four months.

Speedster Zac Fisher is also in a moon boot after suffering a syndesmosis injury.

Curnow, who hurt himself slipping on some tiles, was hoping to be fit around the midpoint of the season.

But Carlton high performance manager Andrew Russell said it was hard to know when Curnow would be ready.

“We understand it’s a significant injury and we understand the injury,” Russell said.

“We feel confident that he’s going to get back and play high-level footy: the one thing we don’t know for certain is when that’s going to be.

“To get a good result, we need to take time and take time frames out of the equation to get a good long-term outcome.

“He’s having another update (today) which will determine his progression. What we know about Charlie is that he’s an extremely hard worker.”

Matthew Kreuzer has had surgery on hiw wrecked foot. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

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Kreuzer had a screw inserted into his fifth metatarsal and will be re-evaluated in six weeks, opening the door for former Hawk Marc Pittonet to take his spot when football resumes.

Russell said the current postponement was a good opportunity to fix Newman’s elbow problem.

The rebounding defender had the elbow already taped when he suffered the injury against the Tigers.

“Amazingly, he came back on and had pretty good function … given the break, we decided to get surgery on that lateral ligament in his elbow,” Russell said.

“We feel it’s going to be an 8-10 week injury, so we feel he should be back maybe when we resume, or very soon after when we resume.

SOS SAFE

Former Carlton list chief Stephen Silvagni has avoided the coronavirus crisis in Italy after recently returning home to Melbourne.

The former champion defender chief flew to Italy for a family holiday at the end of the year, but made it back to Australia before the country went into lockdown.

Tragically, Italy has since been hard hit by the virus, recording more than 10,700 deaths and more than 97,600 overall COVID-19 cases.

Silvagni, 52, has no plans to return to football this year after parting ways with the Blues following the trade period last year.

The club said it let Silvagni go because his two sons, Jack and Ben were on the club list, creating a conflict of interest.

Originally published as Carlton uncertain over when injured star forward Charlie Curnow will be able to return