Our newest Swan, Charlie Curnow, spoke to the media today, after the club secured the two-time Coleman Medallist from Carlton on the final day of the 2025 Continental Tyres AFL Trade Period. He spoke about his time at Carlton, his excitement at moving to the Harbour City and who he is most looking forward to playing alongside.
On his decision to leave Carlton
"I've got no hard feelings against anyone or that sort of thing, but I just felt like the time had come. It was a long contract if you look at it, and in that time, I probably changed a few things and felt like I needed to change and felt like it was going to be better for me as a person, maybe to move on. I think in the end it's worked out for all parties. They got what they wanted, and Sydney got what they wanted, and we've worked together on that agreement."
On who he is most looking forward to playing with at the Swans
"They're quite different clubs in a sense, and as I touched on before, there's a lot of great players I've been able to play with at Carlton, and I'm really excited to play with a lot of good players at Sydney. I mean, look across their board, it's got some good talent, everyone tells me about Errol's left foot, so I can't wait to see it."
On the trade coming down to the wire on deadline day
"The last 20 minutes, I started to get very nervous. I mean, I don't know why that goes to the wire, hey? Yeah, it was a funny environment. I said I wasn't going to watch it, but I went out with my partner, Tiana, and we just started watching it. And, it was nerve-wracking the last 20 minutes to see what would happen, it didn't look like Carlton was budging. As I said before, I think all parties come out with a great result, and I don't have any hard feelings toward Carlton at all. I loved my time there, I've probably repeated that a few times, but I really did, and I'm glad we all came to a great arrangement."
On his excitement about moving to Sydney
"I don't know much about Sydney, so I'm pretty excited to get out there. It's like when you go travelling, you go to a different city, you get a good feeling, you get to roam around. I got engaged recently, so it's been a good, you know, three months. I mean, it was a bit hectic there for the last month, but, yeah, we're pretty pumped to get out there and enjoy the new lifestyle and the new team, get to play with some new group of boys. Like, it was an exciting time and I can't wait to get into it."
On Sydney being in the premiership window
"Yeah, if I wasn't there or not, you look at their team two years ago and they had a few players missing from that grand final team, and that year they were probably one of the best teams in the comp, so I'm not here to change anything. I'm hoping just to slot in and play some good footy with all the other boys in the forward line, so it's going to be a lot of fun."
On playing on the SCG
"I'm super excited, like, the stadium's unbelievable. Always, when we get there and do our captains' run, we always sit in that, the old heritage stand there and you sit there and you look across, and it's a pretty amazing stadium. I got to go through the facilities the other day, too, and it's just a totally different environment for me. I'm super excited. It's something different in my life. After 10 years of playing for Carlton, I'm just pretty keen to go do something different and have a crack up there."
