With its 2025 finals hopes quashed and doubts looming over how ajar its premiership window now is, crunch time looms at Carlton.<\/p>\n
And for many AFL pundits, the Blues must be bold and brave at the trade table.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to break it down now, it\u2019s not working,\u201d triple all-Australian Nick Dal Santo told foxfooty.com.au.<\/p>\n
FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re currently seeing right now isn\u2019t winning them a premiership.<\/p>\n \u201cSo how do you bring in some value without disrupting the whole playing list?\u201d<\/p>\n With the Blues to miss finals after featuring in September the previous two years, their list make-up has come into sharp focus in recent weeks.<\/p>\n None more so than on Tuesday night when 9 News chief football journalist Tom Morris reported superstar forward Charlie Curnow \u2013 a dual Coleman Medallist and dual all-Australian \u2013 had expressed a desire to leave Ikon Park and play for the Gold Coast Suns<\/a>, primarily for \u201clifestyle\u201d reasons to escape the \u201cfootball bubble\u201d.<\/p>\n Charlie Curnow of the Blues takes possession of the ball. Picture: Morgan Hancock\/AFL Photos\/via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n Morris reported Curnow, contracted until 2029, had been told by the Blues he was \u201cnot for sale\u201d and \u201ca required player\u201d at Carlton. He also reported the Suns hadn\u2019t chased Curnow, but were aware of his interest in joining the club.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the latest of many Blues trade twists this year under coach Michael Voss, who\u2019s consistently fielded questions this year on speculation around some of his big-name players, most notably Curnow, Harry McKay and Sam Walsh.<\/p>\n Voss on Wednesday morning declared Curnow was \u201ca very important person to us and he\u2019ll play out his career here\u201d, adding: \u201cHe\u2019s a Carlton person and will stay one.\u201d<\/p>\n But as crushing as it would be to lose a player of Curnow\u2019s talent, should Carlton be taking a big-picture view on the situation?<\/p>\n Amid the Blues\u2019 gradual slide down the ladder this year, they\u2019ve been urged to leave no stone unturned this off-season. Four-time premiership Hawk Jordan Lewis even suggested earlier this month on Fox Footy\u2019s <\/a>On The Couch<\/a> that dual Brownlow Medallist Patrick Cripps wasn\u2019t untouchable.<\/p>\n Dal Santo said he backed the Blues\u2019 stance on Curnow this week \u2026 but suggested others shouldn\u2019t be off-limits.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I\u2019m Carlton \u2013 and this has been raised for weeks now \u2013 he (Curnow) is the one I\u2019d want to keep,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019d be others I\u2019d be calling the Gold Coast to say: \u2018Hey, what about these other guys? Do you want (Harry) McKay? If you\u2019re calling about McKay, we\u2019ll answer the phone.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s quite a few layers here, so I think Carlton are right in saying: \u2018No, not you, Curnow is not on the table\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Voss shuts down Curnow speculation | 02:02<\/p>\n Dal Santo said he was concerned by the lack of depth on Carlton\u2019s top-heavy list.<\/p>\n \u201cI think George Hewett sets a fantastic standard, Nic Newman has done that in the past across half-back and Jacob Weitering is locked in. I think you only need one of McKay or Curnow \u2013 I would take Curnow if I\u2019m picking a team that I still want to remain a building block for the next five to eight years \u2013 and then you can put the pieces around it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cMy concern with Carlton is those other pieces aren\u2019t great. They\u2019re not prospect players \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t cut it so thin that you lose everybody, but I think there\u2019s a couple of players that you could move on for value.\u201d<\/p>\n Dal Santo, who provided special comments for Fox Footy\u2019s coverage of West Coast-Richmond on Saturday night, said he\u2019d been particularly taken aback by the Tigers\u2019 list profile.<\/p>\n While acknowledging the Tigers were in the early years of an aggressive rebuild \u2013 and that their emerging players still needed \u201cthree to five years to be consistent week-in, week-out performers\u201d \u2013 Dal Santo said the early signs suggested they\u2019d struck a good balance between acquiring young talent while retaining senior players.<\/p>\n \u201cSo in defence, you\u2019ve got Nathan Broad, Jayden Short and Nick Vlastuin. Midfield, you\u2019ve got Toby Nankervis, Dion Prestia, Jacob Hopper and Tim Taranto. Then forward you\u2019ve got Kamdyn McIntosh and Tom Lynch. So they\u2019ve got this core of senior players that, for a lot of them, clearly aren\u2019t what they once were, but around them they\u2019ve got kids everywhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Harry McKay of the Blues. Picture: Josh Chadwick\/AFL Photos\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThen you look at West Coast, they don\u2019t have that. They should have it with Jeremy McGovern and Oscar Allen and Elliot Yeo \u2013 and Tim Kelly should be playing better \u2013 but they\u2019ve cut so deep that they\u2019re actually relying on, as Andrew McQualter said, on a 20-year-old (Harley Reid) to carry your midfield. Richmond don\u2019t have that.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if Carlton decides to pull the trigger and say \u2018we\u2019re cleaning the decks\u2019, you still need a handful of senior players to create the culture and the standard Monday to Friday while you\u2019re blooding this youth coming through. I think that\u2019s the best way to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n While the Blues clearly remain committed to Curnow \u2013 and continue to back in McKay and Walsh \u2013 they\u2019d now surely be bracing for free agent Tom De Koning to leave the club.<\/p>\n Unless there\u2019s a late, dramatic script flip, De Koning is set to exercise his free agency rights and join St Kilda on a juicy, long-term deal. While the Blues are prepared to match the Saints\u2019 tenure length offer (seven years), they\u2019re well short in the cash stakes, with St Kilda reportedly prepared to pay De Koning around $1.7 million per season across the life of the deal.<\/p>\n While losing a player of De Koning\u2019s top-end talent would be a blow, there\u2019d be various silver linings for Carlton.<\/p>\n Dal Santo believes Marc Pittonet has the capability to step up and become the Blues\u2019 permanent first-choice ruck. Stats presented by Leigh Montagna on First Crack even suggest Cripps is a more effective clearance player rucking to Pittonet than De Koning.<\/p>\n De Koning\u2019s exit would also provide the Blues with some salary cap relief, which might help them retain son of a gun Jack Silvagni, who\u2019s receiving late interest from Collingwood.<\/p>\n Emotional Docherty reflects on career | 02:31<\/p>\n And, considering the nature of St Kilda\u2019s offer, the free agency compo pick for losing De Koning would be in the first-round.<\/p>\n Whether that compensation selection, ultimately, lands before a bid is placed on father-son gun Harry Dean \u2013 the son of dual premiership Blue Peter Dean \u2013 remains an intriguing watch. A gun key defender who could partner Weitering in Carlton\u2019s defence early next year, Dean was arguably the biggest bolter of the recent Under 18 national championships, starring for Vic Country with his intercept-lockdown balance. He also went at 89 per cent efficiency by foot during the carnival.<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s via draft or trade, Dal Santo said the most pressing list need for the Blues was to acquire more efficient ball users.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked at their kicking efficiency as of a couple of weeks ago and there\u2019s a lot of players going in the 50s. You look at that midfield and you\u2019ve got (Adam) Cerra, Cripps, normally Walsh, Hewett\u2019s really serviceable and I respect the game that he plays but it\u2019s more negating \u2026 there\u2019s no one through there that\u2019s really slicing you up,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cYou look at the best teams \u2013 and let\u2019s just go to Brisbane \u2013 Hugh McCluggage can slice you, ball in-hand, you\u2019ve got the Ashcroft\u2019s that can find targets, you\u2019ve got Dayne Zorko off half-back, Cam Rayner comes into the middle, Zac Bailey can slice you ball in-hand. I just don\u2019t see that threat at Carlton.<\/p>\n \u201cI know they got Jagga Smith last year, so maybe that\u2019s their piece that we just haven\u2019t seen yet. But I don\u2019t think you can ever have enough ball users in the modern game \u2026 We rave about these guys that can kick the football because they\u2019re so rare.\u201d<\/p>\n Fox Footy commentator Corbin Middlemas on Tuesday night reported on Midweek Tackle that people close to the Carlton-Curnow situation that \u201cat least one of them (Curnow, McKay or Walsh) won\u2019t be there next year\u201d.<\/p>\n Should that come to fruition, that would give the Blues some flexibility to work with. But only if they\u2019re bold and brave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With its 2025 finals hopes quashed and doubts looming over how ajar its premiership window now is, crunch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17981,17993,8406,63,689,17994,3423,18004,3239,17999,1129,17987,17978,10133,18005,15830,17990,17988,17977,3496,17983,18008,774,18001,17982,2105,2485,9130,2536,17976,43,6179,9014,18007,17991,17997,18002,17998,647,3257,7198,44,17986,13152,17985,677,15836,7800,18006,17980,18000,17984,701,18003,17996,17975,1138,17989,17979,1122,17995,8404,9022,17992,1117,12120,1144,41,39,42,40,11236,1140,3485,660],"class_list":["post-16757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-agency-compo","tag-agency-rights","tag-andrew-mcqualter","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-ball-users","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-bold-trade","tag-carlton-blues","tag-cash-stakes","tag-charlie-curnow","tag-chief-football-journalist","tag-clearance-player","tag-collingwood-magpies","tag-compensation-selection","tag-corbin-middlemas","tag-crunch-time-looms","tag-dion-prestia","tag-dramatic-script-flip","tag-dual-premiership","tag-efficient-ball-users","tag-elliot-yeo","tag-finals-hopes","tag-football-bubble","tag-george-hewett","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-gold-coast","tag-gold-coast-suns","tag-harry-dean","tag-hawk-jordan-lewis","tag-headlines","tag-jack-silvagni","tag-jacob-hopper","tag-jeremy-mcgovern","tag-kamdyn-mcintosh","tag-kicking-efficiency","tag-list-make-up","tag-list-profile","tag-melbourne","tag-michael-voss","tag-michael-willson","tag-news","tag-nic-newman","tag-nick-dal-santo","tag-nick-vlastuin","tag-oceania","tag-oscar-allen","tag-patrick-cripps","tag-permanent-first-choice-ruck","tag-playing-list","tag-premiership-window","tag-pressing-list","tag-queensland","tag-rebuilding-club","tag-salary-cap-relief","tag-sam-doherty","tag-sam-walsh","tag-senior-players","tag-silver-linings","tag-st-kilda","tag-tenure-length-offer","tag-tim-kelly","tag-tim-taranto","tag-toby-nankervis","tag-tom-de-koning","tag-tom-lynch","tag-tom-morris","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-trade-news","tag-trade-table","tag-vic-country","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}