Charles Curnow (born 3 February 1997) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club based at Princes Park (stadium), Princes Park in Carlton North, Victoria, Carlton North, an inner suburb of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. The c ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). A key position forward, Curnow is a two-time winner of

Coleman Medal The Coleman Medal is an Australian rules football award given annually to the Australian Football League (AFL) player who kicks the most Laws of Australian rules football#Scoring, goals in the Australian Football League#Premiership season, home- ...

as leading goalkicker in the AFL home-and-away season.

Junior career and draft

Curnow played his state level under-18s football for the

Geelong Falcons The Geelong Falcons is a youth Australian rules football representative club in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition in Victoria, Australia. The club takes in talented junior players from the Geelong, Colac and Warr ...

in the

TAC Cup The Talent League (also known as the Coates Talent League under naming rights and previously as the NAB League and TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition based in Melbourne and run by the Australian Foot ...

. He became recognised as a strong key forward with elite endurance. He was considered one of the top draft prospects on potential, but with a few risks; namely that his junior form had shown flashes of brilliance rather than consistent brilliance; that he had suffered a knee injury which saw him miss a large part of his final year of under-18s football; and that he had been arrested for refusing a breath test in the week prior to the draft. Carlton selected Curnow with its third pick, number twelve overall, in the

2015 AFL draft The 2015 Australian Football League draft consisted of the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players following the completion of the 2015 AFL season. Additions to each club's playi ...

. Charlie's older brother, Ed Curnow, had already been playing senior football at Carlton for five years at the time.

AFL career

Curnow made his

AFL AFL may refer to: Education * Angel Foundation for Learning, a Canadian Roman Catholic charity * Ankara Science High School, a high school in Ankara, Turkey, natively referred to as ''Ankara Fen Liesi'' * Assessment for learning Military * ...

debut in round 2 of the 2016 season against at

Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...

. He recorded eleven disposals, four marks, and kicked his first goal in the fourth quarter. After an eight-point loss to in round 16, 2017 – in which he recorded 19 disposals at 79% efficiency, ten marks, four tackles and two goals – he was the round nominee for the

AFL Rising Star award The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 AFL Rising Star, 1993 season, and ...

. He placed fourth overall in the 2017 AFL Rising Star award, with a total of 27 votes. In June 2018, Curnow signed a four-year contract extension with Carlton, committing his future to the club until 2023. He had a breakout season, finishing the 2018 season with an equal-third finish in the

John Nicholls Medal The John Nicholls Medal (formerly the Robert Reynolds Trophy from 1934 to 2003) is an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Carlton Football Club for the season. The voting system as of the 2017 ...

, and was the club's leading goalkicker with 34 goals. In round 13, 2019, Curnow kicked seven goals in round 13 against the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

Marvel Stadium Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics * ...

, at that point the highest in his career. However, he suffered a medial ligament injury in his right knee in the following match – a recurrence of injuries he had suffered on that knee as a junior player – and a slew of subsequent injuries to that knee, including a dislocation and a fractured kneecap in the 2020 preseason, and another recurrence in the 2021 preseason, has meant that Curnow did not play another senior game until Round 20, 2021. Curnow played every game of the

2022 AFL season The 2022 AFL season was the 126th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

and won the 2022

kicking 64 goals. Teammate

Harry McKay Harrison McKay (born 24 December 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). In 2021, McKay won the Coleman Medal, awarded to the league's leading goalkicker ...

had won the medal in 2021, the pair became the first different players from the same team to win consecutive VFL/AFL leading goalkicker awards since 1900–1901. At the end of the season, he signed a 6-year contract to remain at Carlton until 2029. Curnow kicked a career-high nine goals in round 7, 2023, against ; then when Carlton played West Coast again in round 19, Curnow kicked a career best 10 goals, the first Carlton player to achieve this since

Stephen Kernahan Stephen Scott Kernahan (born 1 September 1963) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and for the Glenelg Football Club in the South Australian National Football ...

in 1995. Curnow won his second consecutive Coleman Medal, finishing the home-and-away season with 78 goals.

Statistics

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, , 30 , , 6 , , 5 , , 2 , , 35 , , 25 , , 60 , , 18 , , 9 , , 0.8 , , 0.3 , , 5.8 , , 4.2 , , 10.0 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , 0 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, , 30 , , 21 , , 20 , , 12 , , 207 , , 90 , , 297 , , 119 , , 61 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 9.9 , , 4.3 , , 14.1 , , 5.7 , , 2.9 , , 0 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, , 30 , , 20 , , 34 , , 20 , , 206 , , 71 , , 277 , , 123 , , 42 , , 1.7 , , 1.0 , , 10.3 , , 3.6 , , 13.9 , , 6.2 , , 2.1 , , 3 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, , 30 , , 11 , , 18 , , 8 , , 115 , , 20 , , 135 , , 49 , , 17 , , 1.6 , , 0.7 , , 10.5 , , 1.8 , , 12.2 , , 4.5 , , 1.6 , , 3 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , 30 , , 4 , , 2 , , 5 , , 35 , , 14 , , 49 , , 16 , , 6 , , 0.5 , , 1.3 , , 8.8 , , 3.5 , , 12.3 , , 4.0 , , 1.5 , , 0 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, , 30 , , 22 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 64 ^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 42^† , , 231 , , 33 , , 264 , , 126 , , 35 , , 2.9 , , 1.9 , , 10.5 , , 1.5 , , 12.0 , , 5.7 , , 1.6 , , 11 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , 30 , , 26 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 81 ^† , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 44^† , , 280 , , 76 , , 356 , , 180 , , 27 , , 3.1 , , 1.7 , , 10.8 , , 2.9 , , 13.7 , , 6.9 , , 1.0 , , 17 , - , scope="row" text-align:center ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, , 30 , , 21 , , 57 , , 41 , , 214 , , 40 , , 254 , , 125 , , 20 , , 2.7 , , bgcolor=CAE1FF , 2.0 ^† , , 10.2 , , 1.9 , , 12.1 , , 6.0 , , 1.0 , , 2 , - style="background:#EAEAEA; font-weight:bold; width:2em" , scope="row" text-align:center class="sortbottom" colspan=3 , Career , 131 , 281 , 174 , 1323 , 369 , 1692 , 756 , 217 , 2.1 , 1.3 , 10.1 , 2.8 , 12.9 , 5.8 , 1.7 , 36

Honours and achievements

Individual *

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perfo ...

* 2× 22under22 team: 2017, 2018 *

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

nominee:

: 2022, 2023

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curnow, Charlie Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Carlton Football Club players 1997 births Living people Geelong Falcons players Northern Bullants players People educated at Geelong College Coleman Medal winners All-Australians (AFL) 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian people of Cornish descent