SOPHIE GANNON: Trading Charlie Curnow is the bold move Carlton needs to save their future

Carlton believe they are still in a premiership window, but all signs say otherwise and it might be time Michael Voss and Co. read the writing on the wall.

A flag in 2030 might be more viable than a premiership in 2026 and while a bitter pill to swallow for long-suffering Blues fans, another year of kidding themselves isn’t going to help.

If there’s one mistake an AFL side can’t make, it’s miscalculating where their club is at.

Getting this wrong has drastic results long-term. Just look at the West Coast Eagles.

It essentially comes down to two options. Is your club trying to win a flag next year or in three to five years?

After reaching the lofty heights of a preliminary final, Carlton scraped into the eight last year and then won only nine games this season to finish 11th.

They have lost generational player Tom De Koning, who opted to take the megadeal from the Saints despite St Kilda winning the same number of games.

Jack Silvagni turned his back on the club his family had bled for for three generations to buy in to whatever dream Ross Lyon was selling.

And in what now seems a fait accompli, Charlie Curnow is leaving even as the Blues doth protest too much.

Curnow is so desperate to get out of town he will go to Geelong, Sydney or the Gold Coast, though the move down to the surf coast seems the most likely outcome.

Carlton’s hand is being forced. They may have thought that the hard list decisions were a few years away, but they have arrived on their doorstep early. They are here now.

The window for this particular Carlton team to win has shut and when that realisation arrives, the time to act is now.

Carlton need to cash in on Curnow and use this opportunity to attain depth and talent. Carlton should make the most of Curnow’s currency and demand the Cats give up two first-round draft picks, or 23-year-old Shannon Neale and a pick.

But the Blues need to make a decision and fast.

Cats’ football boss Andrew Mackie said that Carlton have got to be the ones that will determine that market, not them.

“We don’t want to drag things out if it’s not possible to,” he told 7News.

As it stands, Carlton’s current list doesn’t inspire much confidence and their biggest star had a year to forget.

Patrick Cripps, the 2024 Brownlow medallist with a record 45 votes, was a shadow of that player this year with 19 votes.

Adam Saad, Mitch McGovern, Zac Williams and Adam Cerra didn’t turn into quite the players the Blues thought they were getting.

Yes, Jagga Smith, pick three in the 2024 draft, might turn into a star, but he hasn’t played a game, and he’s only one player.

Carlton’s backs are inconsistent, their small forwards are bland and boring, and the players they are being linked to aren’t exactly world beaters.

That leaves Carlton with two options. They can double down, hold on to Curnow, and recruit aggressively to plug the gaping holes with more experienced names.

Alternately, they could focus on developing a club that has a future, a squad with depth that doesn’t rely on their couple of stars. Even if that means trading out big names.

Neither is a painless option, but living in dreamland is a lot worse.

So don’t get me wrong, trading Curnow will hurt, but it could accelerate a rebuild and ensure the Blues don’t waste another decade disappointing fans.

This trade period will shape the next decade of the club and it’s up to them where they want to end up.