North Melbourne star Paul Curtis brutally sledges Tom Papley after Nick Blakey trade

A nasty little side spat between Sydney firestarter Tom Papley and North Melbourne star Paul Curtis has broken out in the aftermath of Nick Blakey’s move to the Kangaroos.

As the two clubs agreed to the deal that saw Blakey head to the Kangaroos for Pick 6, another first-round selection in 2028, a second-rounder in 2027, and other bits and pieces, the cheeky Papley slid into North’s social pages and dropped a popcorn emoji.

Papley also posted an Instagram story of a picture of himself with Blakey celebrating a win, with the caption, “Love him like a brother, but Mr Dillon (AFL CEO Andrew Dillon), please put out the fixture ASAP.”

While it all seemed harmless enough, the popcorn emoji appeared to get under the skin of Curtis, who immediately responded with a brutal three-word sledge.

“Tom Papley ... main character syndrome,” Curtis wrote, tagging the veteran Swan, who is famous for his enthusiastic goal celebrations.

Of course, football podcaster Dan Gorringe (of Dan Does Footy fame) loved it.

“This brand new beef between Sydney and North over the Liz (Blakey) trade is great. It’s good for the game,” Gorringe said.

“The game is back with the amount, and shit-talking going back and forth.

“Tom Papley, who causes just so much fun mayhem all around the ground now going into socials just to give popcorn emojis about them talking about signing the Lizard ...

“And for Paul Curtis to go, ‘No one talks about my brand new Liz like that that who I just met yesterday. How dare you?’

“Main character syndrome. Paul Curtis is going to get 40 weeks. I’m concerned for Paul Curtis. He gets three weeks for doing nothing. Now he’s got a reason. He’s gonna get 40 weeks.

“Get Papley and Paul Curtis on each other somehow. Get the match-up. Make it work. Dean (Cox) and (Jaymie) Graham, make it work. We need to see this.

“And league, give it to us Round 1. The brand new beef is on, and it’s great for everyone.”

Before the trade went down, Papley had also had a little jab at Blakey as several clubs were preparing to make an offer to the Swans for Blakey’s services.

One of those clubs was St Kilda, which immediately caught Gorringe’s eye at the time, due to the reported offer of three first-round draft picks.

“St Kilda are going all out for Nick Blakey,” Gorringe said.

“Go and get a forward... you need that. You don’t need a Blakey, you don’t need to pay that much for him.

“St Kilda love giving way too much for something. They’re sickos for it.”

With scant regard to what Sydney’s list managers and coaches were thinking, Papley chipped in: “Jesus, overs.”