By Peter Ryan
Charlie Curnow has now played 45 games since he returned late in 2021 after injuries sidelined him for close to two years.
He has booted 133 goals in that time, at an average of 2.95 goals a game. To kick most of those goals he has used a right leg that still carries the metal used to fix his knee.
Charlie Curnow, and Carlton, are peaking at the business end.Credit: AFL Photos / Getty Images
He won last year’s Coleman Medal and is on track to win his second having already kicked 67 goals this season, three more than he kicked when he won it in 2022.
His athletic physique and curly hair makes him look like a Roman sculpture. He gallops like a brumby. And, lately, he has kicked straighter than a pencil.
He has taken 61 marks inside 50 this year, and it’s no wonder the Blues are targeting him 7.5 times a game, making him the third most targeted player in the game in 2023.
Blues senior assistant Ashley Hansen, who played as a key forward in West Coast’s 2006 premiership, said Curnow’s aura and impact were undeniable and irresistible.
“He’s a presence,” Hansen said. “The players know that when Charlie is up and going we are probably going to have a good day.”
But it’s not just game day that makes the man supporters dubbed “King Charlie” infectious. His boundless energy underpins his constant improvement and makes him the fulcrum on which the team turns.
“He practises his craft at a really high level and consistently because he has such high energy. His energy gives him the drive to want to do things rather than just study things,” Hansen said.
Curnow’s spirit was evident to former coach John Barker during his time with the Blues, and he believes it helps him maintain that energy in the pressure-packed AFL environment.
“He loves some of the simpler things in life. He loves heading down the beach and surfing, loves spending time with his mates, and he loves taking his dogs for a walk,” Barker said.
Cashing in: When Carlton spearhead Charlie Curnow is celebrating so are the Blues.Credit: Getty Images
Hansen admits Curnow can’t sit still and it makes him “a pleasure to coach”. Rarely does he see the 26-year-old around the club without a smile on his face, but he also knows he carries the same competitive nature that all the best players possess.
“Those super competitive guys want the ball in their hands at the key moments because they are driven to win. They probably don’t see failure,” Hansen said.
Ex-Blues skipper Marc Murphy, who played 45 games with Curnow and through no fault of his own saw too much failure at Carlton, referenced retired champion Lance Franklin when describing his former teammate’s ability to influence games.
“There are not many people like ‘Buddy’ Franklin and I reckon Charlie of a similar ilk. He is a unicorn. There is no one that is similar to him,” Murphy said.
But he also warned not to mistake a carefree nature for a carefree attitude, saying Curnow’s passion for football is evident. Murphy suspects Curnow’s older brother Ed (who has racked up 218 games at the Blues) has quietly played a role in directing his insatiable work ethic into the right areas.
The life and times of Charlie Curnow.Credit: Getty Images, Age archives
Thankfully, he has also retained the maverick element that most great forwards possess.
“He doesn’t take himself too seriously which I think everyone loves as well and I think that comes out in the way he plays,” Murphy said.
Hansen is conscious of the need to let Curnow play on instinct and reveal the full extent of his talents.
“You want him to be reliable and predictable to others but sometimes the magic he can do is not that and you certainly don’t want to take that away from him,” Hansen said. “Sometimes his instinct can be ‘the remarkable’ but sometimes it can also be ‘the head scratcher’ because he can see things that you can’t see.”
Carlton’s Ed Curnow, centre, has had an influence on Charlie with the tight family hugely respected Credit: Joe Armao
The pair’s discussions about football are two-way as Hansen respects Curnow’s view on the game. He notes that the key forward’s game is evolving as he performs deeds that improve his teammates and builds team cohesion.
“If you are not having instinctive movement that complements the others around you, you are not not going to function at the level that is required against really good team defence,” Hansen said.
He dismisses as crazy the notion that Curnow and Carlton benefit from Harry McKay’s absence – “[Charlie] is a better player when Harry is there” – but understands such pub talk is part of being in Melbourne.
And right now, all the talk is about Curnow, the Coleman Medal leader and a player who lifts teammates, crowds and his club as he heads towards his 50th game since he made a hesitant return late in 2021.
“His genetics and athleticism are elite and when you combine that with someone who has actually got a good work ethic, that makes him the beast that he is now,” Barker said.
The beast also makes defenders panic. Collingwood’s supporters carried on like Lord’s members last Friday night when he kicked three goals from free kicks. He has kicked 16 goals from free kicks this season, the most in the competition, and only Geelong’s Ty Stengle has kicked a higher percentage of his goals from free kicks this season.
Defenders’ attempts to stop him are often overcooked and he has received 10 more free kicks inside 50 than any other key forward. It’s like the umpires can’t say no to a man with the initials CC.
But no one who loves the games cares because Curnow is back in a big way as Carlton attempt to land an unlikely finals berth in the next month, powered by the 26-year-old whose career looked in trouble before he returned two years and one week ago.
“To see him playing the type of footy he is now on the way to winning another Coleman, [I] couldn’t be happier,” Murphy said. “It’s just rewards for a bloke who went through a really difficult period.”
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