Finals flop drives new leader Curnow
Coleman medal-winning Carlton spearhead Charlie Curnow has put his underwhelming finals series behind him, adamant his first experience will make him better as he embraces a new role in the club’s leadership group.
The brilliant forward, who booted 81 goals as the Blues surged to the preliminary final, kicked only three goals in his team’s three finals in a “different ball game”.
But knowing a return to September action is the minimum expectation for the Blues in 2024, Curnow is keen for “another crack,” knowing his new role as a club leader is extra motivation to deliver.
“I didn’t perform as well as what I would like to in the end but that’s probably the nature of our game – I get to have another crack at it this year,” Curnow said on Wednesday.
“I’m looking forward to playing with our forward line as a unit and attack hopefully another finals series.”
Curnow’s captain Patrick Cripps lauded the impact the big goalkicker had on his teammates, who were “drawn to him”, which made the decision easy to add the dualColeman medallist to the club’s leadership group.
He joins best and fairest Jacob Weitering and star midfielder Sam Walsh as co-vicecaptains, supporting Cripps, giving the Blues leaders on every positional line in 2024.
“Charlie is a great bloke, a quality player and is growing into a great leader among our playing group,” Cripps said.
“His presence and energy makes people drawn to him. He’s a big family man with strong core values that have become infectious throughout our football club and Charlie has played a massive role in establishing that.
“He brings people together and when he talks, people listen. Charlies has unique traits and strengths that as a leader complements and helps grow our leadership group.”