WHAT’S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n Charlie Curnow takes centre stage at the SCG on Thursday night as Sydney and Carlton open the season, and whether or not the Blues physically target Curnow will be a big watch. <\/p>\n The spearhead forward opted out of Carlton\u2019s cause last year while under contract, desperately seeking – and granted – a last-minute trade to the Swans. <\/p>\n And despite Blues coach Michael Voss\u2019 commentary around the need to not let the narrative distract his playing group in the season opener, spotfires are almost certain to erupt, with Will Hayward and Ollie Florent also coming up against their old side. <\/p>\n Former West Coast coach Adam Simpson, who\u2019s working at Carlton this season in a part-time mentorship role, offered his thoughts on if the Blues players should target Curnow. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably a bit old-school to say \u2018we\u2019re going to put the bullseye\u2019,\u201d he said on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 on Wednesday night. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve all had games, back in the day, when there\u2019s a bullseye on someone, and they\u2019re the target player \u2026 I\u2019d let it go. <\/p>\n \u201cObviously, there are some things that have happened that I\u2019ve got no idea about, but from a playing point of view, this is a locker room thing. <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really think it\u2019s from a club point of view, and from a planning point of view, it\u2019s \u2018How do we stop him kicking five?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cBut from an on-field relationship point of view, it\u2019s over to the players, but you just wouldn\u2019t want to cross any lines to the point where you\u2019re taking the focus off the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Retired Sydney premiership coach John Longmire agreed with Simpson\u2019s sentiment. <\/p>\n \u201cI think you\u2019ve got to know the sort of person that Charlie is,\u201d Longmire said. <\/p>\n \u201cI tend to agree with \u2018Simmo\u2019, I wouldn\u2019t be going near it too much, and just letting things unfold naturally without necessarily building it up. <\/p>\n \u201cThe build-up is big enough as it is; you probably don\u2019t need any extra.\u201d<\/p>\n It comes after former Carlton captain Marc Murphy tipped \u201cbad blood\u201d to boil over on Thursday night. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a big grudge match with a couple of Sydney players coming to play for Carlton and Charlie Curnow, who just wanted to opt out,\u201d Murphy told ABC Melbourne\u2019s \u2018AFL Monday\u2019. <\/p>\n \u201cThat is fair enough, that\u2019s his right, he played 10 years for the footy club. But there will be a bit of bad blood in the first five or six minutes. <\/p>\n \u201cI reckon there will be a few little spotfires here or there.\u201d<\/p>\n Remembering Dennis Cometti | 03:40<\/p>\n DEVILS GUERNSEYS UNVEILED<\/p>\n The Tasmania Devils have unveiled their inaugural home and clash guernseys as they prepare to enter the VFL and VFLW this year. <\/p>\n On Wednesday, the Apple Isle club released green and white strips, with both emboldened by the Devils head.<\/p>\n The Devils unveil their inaugural VFL and VFLW guernseys. Image: Tasmania Devils on X.Source: FOX SPORTSThe Devils unveil their inaugural VFL and VFLW guernseys. Image: Tasmania Devils on X.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n \u201cThe launch of our first playing jumper is another big moment for our club,\u201d Devils CEO Brendon Gale said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are looking forward to our men and women running out in this new kit that is a great blend of our past and our future.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are thankful for the fan feedback in designing the strip, there is a lot of thought in the elements which we know are meaningful for our athletes and hopefully our fans to.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the course of our journey we will have many jumpers that will take the field, alongside our Foundation Jumper it is great to launch this one today and we look forward to it debuting next month.\u201d<\/p>\n The green strip will make its first official appearance when the Devils host Coburg in the clubs\u2019 VFL season opener on March 21 at North Hobart Oval. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of premiership coaches believe the Blues shouldn\u2019t look to rile up Charlie Curnow on Thursday night.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[1146,638,64,63,689,55,639,53433,3239,50005,1129,259122,252585,258511,667,259120,259128,259119,3231,30404,259121,134636,259126,3257,673,677,259124,259125,79259,33195,259123,85,670,7200,259127,53432],"class_list":{"0":"post-518858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-adam-simpson","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-australian-football-league","14":"tag-australianfootballleague","15":"tag-brendon-gale","16":"tag-carlton-blues","17":"tag-centre-stage","18":"tag-charlie-curnow","19":"tag-clash-guernseys","20":"tag-club-point","21":"tag-dennis-cometti","22":"tag-footy-club","23":"tag-foundation-jumper","24":"tag-inaugural-playing-guernseys","25":"tag-inaugural-tasmania","26":"tag-jack-jovanovski","27":"tag-john-longmire","28":"tag-locker-room-thing","29":"tag-marc-murphy","30":"tag-mentorship-role","31":"tag-michael-voss","32":"tag-new-south-wales","33":"tag-oceania","34":"tag-on-field-relationship-point","35":"tag-planning-point","36":"tag-premiership-coaches","37":"tag-season-opener","38":"tag-split-image-credit","39":"tag-sports","40":"tag-sydney","41":"tag-sydney-swans","42":"tag-target-player","43":"tag-tasmania-devils"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518858","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=518858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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