“THE FEELINGS I felt were all stories in my head.”
Up until last year, Ed Curnow has experienced most of what football has to offer. But a whole season on the sidelines even got to the most energetic of Blues.
While Curnow didn’t take to the AFL field in 2022, but the veteran believes those troubles are now a thing of the past in the new year.
Averaging over 18 games per season in the first 11 years of his career, Curnow - speaking to The Age - admitted that last year’s predicament of not adding to his career tally of 204 played on his mind consistently.
“The footy club was doing their best to support me. It’s just when you’re not running out with the team on the weekend, you’re not as involved in the program, you feel a long way away from game day and what’s going on,” Curnow said.
“I was just craving that game-day challenge, coming to training and the plan to go out and compete. I’d missed that.”
With four consecutive top-five finishes in the John Nicholls Medal leading into last year, Curnow admitted he was “a bit grumpy” throughout the 2022 campaign.
However, one aspect which he loved was the opportunity to watch his brother Charlie in full flight.
The next item on the agenda? Adding to the 53 games the duo have played together — just four of those have come since mid-2019.
“It was awesome. I’ve got little kids, they love seeing Charlie play,” he said.
“It was pretty awesome to go with Mum and Dad and watch him bag six and seven, light up the whole stadium and the crowd… his story is pretty amazing really.
“I had a pretty solid run of consistent football at the same period he was dealing with his knee injuries. Now he’s dealt with that, and I’ve decided to get all these soft-tissue injuries!”
If there’s one thing that hasn’t changed for Curnow in his time at IKON Park (March will mark a dozen years since his debut), it’s his drive and determination to improve himself.
Engrained in the full pre-season program once again, he doesn’t want to leave anything to chance — and give the coaching staff some ‘good problems’ at the selection table.
“I still really want to play and I’m hungry to compete. I love competing against my teammates, love training — it wasn’t like I was mentally ready to move on,” he said.
“Mentally, I was very keen to be part of the program again… I’m really enjoying being normal and train hard and enjoy the grind of pre-season.
“I’m here to make their lives difficult on [selection] decisions. I’ll be trying to be the best I can, the best teammate I can and see where that falls.”
