Curnow to miss the rest of the season; Goodwin responds to ferocious criticism

Carlton star Charlie Curnow will miss the rest of the 2025 season after being sent for knee surgery.

The 28-year-old has battled with knee soreness but was adamant he would be able to play in the Blues’ clash with Fremantle in Perth on Sunday, but a further consultation midweek saw that plan change.

The key forward was linked with a possible move away from the Blues in recent weeks, but last round stated he would be in Carlton colours in 2026.

The Blues hope that by sending Curnow for “clean-up” surgery on his knee, he will be fully fit to resume pre-season training later in the year.

“While Charlie wanted to finish the season strongly, and we would have loved to have him out there for the remaining games, after further consultation this week it became clear that this would give Charlie the best chance to get himself right, recover fully over the off-season, and be ready for when we return for the start of pre-season,” Carlton football general manager Brad Lloyd said.

“Waiting until the end of the season could have impacted that, so we’ve taken the sensible approach.

“As we’ve seen in the back half of this season, we’ve been able to give opportunities to players who have been able to step up at senior level and show some real promise – we will look to continue to do that, as we set our sights on a strong finish to the season.”

Curnow will finish the season with 32 goals from 18 games.

He returned from injury to play his first game in six months in the round-three clash against Hawthorn after a turbulent off-season.

Curnow played in 69 games between the start of 2022 and the end of 2024, barely missing a game during that period.

But this past off-season was nothing short of a disaster for the two-time Coleman medallist, who went under the knife on three separate occasions; once for an ankle reconstruction, and twice on his troublesome knee.

Curnow said last round he was determined to play for the Blues next season.

“I obviously want to be here … I’m playing at Carlton next year boys, there you go, done,” Curnow said.

“Nothing is happening. So [I will] pretty much put in my time into playing footy at this club next year and the future years.”

He urged fans to stick with the Blues next season despite their disappointing campaign this year.

“It’s a hard one for them to cop for sure but grow with us, have fun with us. We’re trying. We’re trying hard out there. We do really want to have a crack for them. Stick with us and something good will happen,” Curnow said.

With Peter Ryan

‘You can’t get consumed’: Goodwin feels the blowtorch after shattering loss

Scott Spits

Simon Goodwin says he feels “incredibly supported” by Melbourne’s board as the club grapples with the fallout from losing after giving up a 46-point lead at three-quarter-time against St Kilda last Sunday.

The Demons coach presented to the board barely 24 hours after the dramatic scenes at Marvel Stadium in which the Saints notched a miraculous win after Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s heroics, kicking the match-winning goal after the siren.

But a defeat to last-placed West Coast at Marvel Stadium on Saturday would be catastrophic for Melbourne, who are 13th with just six wins this season.

“I feel incredibly supported by the board. I have for nine years. We’ve been able to go through these challenges before with clarity and strength and stability to create success,” Goodwin said on Thursday.

“In 2019 we finished second last, and two years later, we won the flag. So you can’t get consumed [by outside] noise. All you can do is be really clear about your strategy, clear about your process, understand the challenge, be clear about it, and go about the process to build the next great team.”

Goodwin said Monday’s board meeting was previously planned. It included presentations from the coach and former All Blacks performance head Darren Shand, the consultant who ran the club’s football review at the end of last year.

Goodwin reiterated that the list was in transition after the drought-breaking 2021 flag. He has coached the Demons since 2017 and is contracted until the end of next season. This masthead reported that a payout of nearly $1 million for the final year of his contract would not stop Melbourne from parting ways with the premiership coach.

“We’re a different team to what we were. We’re a new team,” said Goodwin.

“We reviewed the whole last quarter, clearly it was unacceptable. If you look around, if you looked into the rooms after the game [there was] devastation from the players, and I can only imagine from our supporters and everyone involved.

“We knew it was unacceptable.

“Every moment matters, every contest matters, irrespective of the scoreboard. And that’s the type of approach that we need to develop. Otherwise, we keep having inconsistencies.

“Sometimes when you have moments like you had on a weekend in [the] last quarter, it exposes things quicker, so you can do something about it quicker.

“This could be a moment that we look back [that] has been incredibly helpful for where we want to go.”

Melbourne supporters have expressed extreme frustration with the loss to St Kilda. Goodwin was the target of a social media post on Sunday night that sparked a report by the club to the league’s integrity unit.

An anonymous account posted a picture of a car in a car park, with the words: “I’m currently waiting outside Simon Goodwin’s car: Don’t fret Melbourne fans you won’t need to worry any further.”

Security officials at Melbourne Stadium were alerted. The car in the photo was not Goodwin’s, and the car park was not at Marvel Stadium.

Goodwin said the AFL and police had dealt with it, and he wanted to move on from it.

“Your family hears about it, that’s for sure,” he said.

“That’s in the hands of the AFL and the police. Clearly, we don’t want to see that in our game, but I don’t want to make that the focus of today. I want to make the focus of today about our footy club and about what we need to do.”

Amid significant confusion about what precisely teams can do after a 6-6-6 breach when a free kick is paid, Goodwin said the Demons had sought AFL clarification.

“On a reset clearly they’ve got to reset the field. That was the first thing,” Goodwin said.

“The ruckman has to stand mark, but the players inside [the centre square] can pretty much go wherever they need to.

“There’s a bit of technicality in that. I think every club has probably taken note of it.”

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