Carlton Head of Football Brad Lloyd is incredibly confident Charlie Curnow will return in 2021 and have a big influence for the club.
Curnow will miss the entire 2020 season with a knee injury that has plagued him since the start of 2019, the Blues taking an ultra-cautious approach with their young star.
Despite fears about the key forward’s knee long-term, Lloyd confirmed Curnow is already moving well and will have a big role to play for the Blues in the future.
“I can see him getting back up and running and having a great career,” Lloyd told SEN’s Bob and Andy.
“Over in WA last week and I looked over and thought who the hell is that over there and it was Charlie walking by and he’s kicking and moving and he’s starting to get pretty mobile with the way that he’s going about it.
“He’s been in the hub the whole way through and he’s been really engaged and helping out with our VFL team and right into it so I can see him getting back into it and getting back into full shape and having a huge impact for us.
“I’m getting pretty excited about him now with the way he’s starting to move around. He’s a worker, he just wants to get in and get things done and now that he can start getting mobile, his spirit is really lifting.
“I’m really bullish about him and I just sort of feel with some of those forwards with Harry (McKay) who continues to develop, I think it’s pretty exciting when you think of a Jacob Weitering up one end and Charlie and so forth up the other because they’re hard to come by.”
Up the other end of the ground, Carlton recently announced they have re-signed key defender Jacob Weitering through to the end of 2025.
Lloyd believes the young key defender is the kind of player that only appears in a draft every few years.
“I thought it was a huge (re-signing) and shout out to (list manager) Nick Austin for getting that done,” he said.
“Those sorts of players they’re once in three or four drafts, a key position player who can read the play the way that he can.
“He’s absolutely enormous for our club and he’s growing all the time. It’s great to get him sorted on a reasonably long-term deal.”
Listen to Brad Lloyd on SEN below