New Sydney spearhead Charlie Curnow says he knows time is ticking on his career after cementing his blockbuster move to the Harbour City.

But he rejected speculation that his relationship with coach Michael Voss had become strained, adding he had no hard feelings towards the Blues in what he called a “gradual” desire to start fresh elsewhere.

Curnow was officially dealt to the Swans in the headline deal of this year’s trade period, with Sydney offloading forward Will Hayward and three first-round picks as part of the arrangement for the dual Coleman medallist.

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Addressing reporters on Thursday morning in Melbourne, Curnow called the past few days “crazy”, outlining the sequence of events that led to his move.

“Last week, we went up to Sydney and had a chat with ‘Coxy’ and a few of the guys, and that (made it) start becoming a bit of a possibility,” he said.

“But honestly, a week ago, I had no idea what was going on. Obviously, I put myself out there for a trade before that and yeah, it worked out really well.”

Curnow, who said “all parties come out with a great result”, said he had no hard feelings towards the Blues as he shared the process of coming to his decision to change clubs.

“Everyone’s reporting different things. I honestly didn’t talk to anyone from another football club until after the season,” he said.

“It was a long season, it was a tough season — there probably wasn’t a point where I said ‘damn, I need to get out of here’ — it was kind of gradual.”

The concept that Curnow’s career clock is slowly ticking isn’t lost on him, who’ll be 29 years old by the start of next season, predicting he has “about four or five years” of footy left in him.

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“I’ve only got a short career, (that’s what) the reality is. (Former Carlton stalwart) Kade Simpson, when we first got drafted, said ‘it goes quick, mate’, and it was his 18th year in … (I thought) ‘come on, that doesn’t happen, we’ve got ages ahead’ — and (now) I’ve only got about four or five years left,” he said.

“So, that’s (how) it kind of went on a decision for myself, a personal decision, and I thought the best thing was to move forward and try and change it up.”

The addition of Curnow’s considerable goalkicking ability adds massively to a Sydney tall forward line that has consistently underperformed in recent years.

“If I was there or not, you look at their team from two years ago … that year, they were one of the best teams in the competition,” the power forward said of the Swans’ status as premiership contenders going into 2026.

“I’m not here to change anything, I’m hoping just to slot in and play some good footy with all the other boys in the forward line; it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Curnow added of sounding out former Swans hero Lance Franklin: “I haven’t yet. I grew up watching ‘Buddy’ … I’ll probably hopefully reach out to ‘Buddy’ over the next couple of days.”

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Speaking further on his Princes Park exit, Curnow rejected speculation that his relationship with senior coach Michael Voss had become strained towards the end.

“Nah, not at all (was it strained),” he said.

“In the end, it’s a pretty high-pressure environment. Obviously, some things maybe leaked out there that I would say aren’t true. It’s always a tough environment, football, and it’s going to be a lot of challenges that come with that, but for me and him, I don’t see our relationship being affected at all by this.

“It’s just, I had to have a few good conversations with him at the end of the season, to, if I want to get traded, you have to do that. I’m not going to go behind his back and just start putting myself out there.

“I think we’re in a pretty healthy spot, and as I’ve said, I played some awesome footy under him, and I thank him a lot for that.”

In terms of his discussions with members of the Carlton playing group, Curnow said he’d spoken with teammates “for three months” about his feelings around potentially leaving, adding they came as “no shock” to them.

“I was really transparent with them,” Curnow said. “A lot of the boys I’ve been with for a long time, I’ve made all these great mates there. I had conversations with them for three months about this, like it was no shock to any of them.

“And look, I live right around the corner from ‘Cez’ (Adam Cerra), ‘Walshy’ (Sam Walsh), ‘Binnsy’ (Jaxon Binns), all these guys — it will be hard to leave, and going for coffees with them in the morning on the way to training, the things you will miss … (but) I was really transparent with them, leading into this period.”