Carlton will play their traditional season-opener against Richmond at the MCG on Thursday night without Charlie Curnow, opting to take a cautious approach with their star spearhead.
Blues coach Michael Voss confirmed on Sunday morning at Ikon Park that Curnow, who had surgery in February to remove a screw from an old knee injury that was causing some discomfort, would be held out of round one.
Charlie Curnow will not be in the Blues’ round one side.Credit: Getty Images
However, midfield star and fellow Carlton vice-captain Sam Walsh will face the Tigers – barring a setback – after recovering from a hamstring strain sustained in January.
“We’ve decided to be a bit more patient there,” Voss said of Curnow.
“He’s back training, and you’ll see him running around today [at training], and you’ll see him moving around really, really well, and you’ll sort of think, ‘God, why isn’t he playing?’ but we need to get some work under his belt.
“He’s had a really good week-and-a-half, two weeks. We feel like [by getting] another week under his belt, he’s going to be in a really strong position to not only just get him back, but we obviously need him thriving for another 20-plus games.”
Curnow, who arrived at training on a push-bike, has resumed full training and is expected to return against Hawthorn in round two.
Curnow’s absence against Richmond means Harry McKay and Brodie Kemp will be the Blues’ main aerial targets.
The dual Coleman medallist has played 69 games and kicked 202 goals across the past three seasons after making only 15 senior appearances between 2019-21 because of repeated knee issues.
Carlton midfielder Adam Cerra is looking forward to welcoming Walsh and Curnow back into the line-up across the next fortnight.
“Obviously, we know the calibre of players they are, which obviously makes a big difference,” Cerra said.
“But on top of that, they are two vice-captains of this group, so in terms of the leadership sense, what they provide on field isn’t purely just their football ability – but also their ability to help others and really breed confidence within the group, so we definitely can’t wait to have them both back.”
Carlton endured a horror injury campaign last year, and parted ways with high-performance director Andrew Russell at the end of the 2024 season. Sydney’s former fitness boss Rob Inness replaced Russell at the Blues in September.
Defender Nic Newman (ruptured patella tendon) and prized No.3 draft pick Jagga Smith (ACL) will miss the entire season after summer setbacks, but Voss was confident in how they had prepared the group.
“The durability of our group has been well-spoken about. We’ve put a lot of effort into that,” Voss said.
“It’s probably a little bit disappointing to lose ‘Jags’ and also ‘Newy’ over the course of the pre-season, but we feel really well-prepared when it comes to the work that we’ve got into the guys.
“We’ve probably [also] gone to a fair bit of work on what our game style needs to look like moving forward, and we have made some modifications to what that actually looks like. We’re looking forward to being able to roll that out in the first game.”
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