Carlton has made their intentions clear about any potential trade request from Charlie Curnow, and it's 'quite clear' according to Blues head of list management Nick Austin.
There have been reports that Curnow, who is contracted at the Blues until the end of the 2029 season, has reportedly looked a requesting a trade out of the club, with Geelong rumoured to Curnow's preference if he does request a trade.
The Blues have already lost Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni to St Kilda through free agency, but received picks 9 and 21 as compensation for those losses.
However, Carlton's head of list management, Nick Austin, has put to bed any rumours about Curnow's future, explaining that the Blues expect him to be at the club next year despite questions about his future.
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“Our position on Charlie has been pretty clear for quite some time now,” Austin told Carlton Media.
“We had a really honest conversation with Charlie at the end of the season, and again, every decision we make is in the best interests of the Carlton Football Club.
“He’s had a chance to go away over the break and have a bit of a refresh, but we fully expect him to be a Carlton player in 2026.”
Austin added that the club is looking forward to the trade period with Fremantle's Liam Reidy, Western Bulldogs' Buku Khamis and West Coast's Campbell Chesser all requesting trades to the Blues.
“It’s an opportunity for us to refresh our list in a lot of ways," Austin said.
"It’s been a challenging year, but we feel like the competition is extremely close. We’ve lived the highs and lows of that closeness over the last few years, and I guess looking forward, it’s an opportunity for our guys to come together, work really hard.
“We got some feedback this year that there’s a bit of a gap that we need to close, so I guess making some changes and refreshing it all and bringing it together come day 1 of pre-season.”
The AFL trade period started at 9 am today and will finish next Wednesday at 7:30 pm.