Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\nCharlie Curnow with teammates during the Sydney Swans team photo day. Picture: Phil HillyardSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
SWANS \u2018A NEW FAMILY\u2019<\/p>\n
As daunting as \u201cputting yourself out there\u201d for trade was, Curnow was also nervous for the prospect of settling into a new AFL club environment in a new state.<\/p>\n
But the 29-year-old said he was \u201csuper grateful\u201d for the Swans\u2019 welcoming environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was going to be this big, daunting experience going to a different football club, but it\u2019s really not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of clubs are, I\u2019m assuming, quite similar. Carlton has some great things about them and Sydney also have some great attributes to them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know, it hasn\u2019t been too daunting. You get into the club and it\u2019s like having a new family all of a sudden. You\u2019re just there and you\u2019re all working together to get this ultimate success.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do that, you kind of fast-track your friendships a little bit and it\u2019s pretty cool. There\u2019s not many workplaces in the world where you get to do that and experience different people and different places instantly.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Curnow, being fit and training fully at this time of the year is a blessing.<\/p>\n
Charlie Curnow in the gym at Swans HQ for the first time. Picture: Phil HillyardSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Curnow\u2019s 2025 campaign was hampered by injury setbacks. He said he underwent surgery four times before Round 1 of last season, which initially stemmed from some knee discomfort in the pre-season.<\/p>\n
The star forward managed to play 18 games, but kicked just 32 goals \u2013 well down on his output from the previous three seasons, which saw him win two Coleman Medals.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the 2026 season with Sydney, Curnow is fit and firing, with no concerns around his previously troublesome knee. In an ominous sign, Swans track-watchers believe he\u2019s been one of the club\u2019s summer standouts on the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all going really good,\u201d Curnow said. \u201cThis time of year, it\u2019s nice just to be training and doing every session. It\u2019s always nice when you\u2019re just out on the track and having a kick and enjoying time with the boys.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re not out there this time of year, it\u2019s painful to watch and I feel like you get to enjoy your life also. You get to jump in the ocean, go for a surf \u2013 it\u2019s a bit more freedom when you\u2019re not injured.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Curnow celebrates setting up a goal with Isaac Heeney during the Sydney Swans match play. Picture: Phil HillyardSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
BUDDY-LIKE IMPACT<\/p>\n
Weeks after Curnow had started training with the Swans, star teammate Errol Gulden likened Curnow\u2019s on-ground presence to Lance Franklin, telling reporters the ex-Blue had already given direction around \u201cwhere he wants the ball to go and how he wants us to play and deliver the ball\u201d.<\/p>\n
While Curnow was flattered by the Buddy comparison \u2013 \u201cthat\u2019s lovely by Errol!\u201d \u2013 he said he just wanted to \u201cgo in and be yourself a little bit and have a bit of fun with training and games\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully they\u2019re learning a bit off me and I\u2019m learning a lot off them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has their own unique style and the way they play. I\u2019m here just to hopefully jump in and have a bit of fun with them and hopefully get a few wins along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always looked at the Swans as a team that had such a great history. Moving from South Melbourne to Sydney and learning about that journey already since I\u2019ve been at the club, it\u2019s been super inspiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom their recent history, they\u2019ve been such a great football club for a few years now and they\u2019ve been up that top-end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to come in and enjoy my footy with the boys. They do everything so well, so I don\u2019t need to try and reinvent the wheel with them. It\u2019s just slotting in and working with what they\u2019ve got because they\u2019ve obviously done it for such a long period now and they\u2019ve got to that last day in September a few times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charlie Curnow during the Sydney Swans match play. Picture: Phil HillyardSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
After making the 2024 Grand Final as minor premiers, the Swans produced a sluggish start to their 2025 campaign, dipping to 4-8 halfway through coach Dean Cox\u2019s first season at the helm. They won eight of their last 11 games but ultimately finished ninth to miss finals for first time since 2020 and just the fifth time this century.<\/p>\n
In recent years, an AFL team tends to jump from the bottom 10 to the top four every season. The Swans, for many pundits, are the team most likely to make that jump in 2026.<\/p>\n
Curnow said he sensed \u201ceveryone\u2019s quite hungry to take that next step\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I just look across the board of the list and what we\u2019ve got, I think it\u2019s a pretty unique opportunity with our list,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say we\u2019re in pretty good stead for a great year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Star Swans recruit Charlie Curnow has opened up on the \u201cdaunting experience\u201d of requesting a trade, declaring he\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,689,3423,25547,3239,1129,236196,236192,236191,12148,236189,13213,51244,1119,77698,147322,236193,31732,65312,236194,673,677,222600,80079,85,236195,670,7200,227845,1133,660,236190],"class_list":["post-459250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-ben-waterworth","tag-blockbuster-trade","tag-carlton-blues","tag-charlie-curnow","tag-club-environment","tag-daunting-experience","tag-daunting-experience-putting","tag-dean-cox","tag-errol-gulden","tag-finals-series","tag-first-round-draft-picks","tag-football-club","tag-fresh-start","tag-injury-setbacks","tag-knee-discomfort","tag-lance-franklin","tag-match-play","tag-miss-home","tag-new-south-wales","tag-oceania","tag-origin-match","tag-south-melbourne","tag-sports","tag-swans-player-charlie","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-swans","tag-sydney-swans-player","tag-trade-period","tag-victoria","tag-weeks-post-trade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459250","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=459250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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