Carlton key forward Charlie Curnow ruled out of Fremantle Dockers clash in massive Blues blow
The Blues have won seven of their past eight clashes against the Dockers, with spearhead Charlie Curnow proving vital - kicking 12 goals in his past three games against them.
But he won't be there on Sunday after it was revealed he pulled up sore following Carlton's loss to Hawthorn and failed to train during the week.
'Charlie Curnow is expected to sit out the trip to play Fremantle,' Mitch Cleary reported on Channel 7.
'Curnow pulled up sore from the loss to Hawthorn and failed to join teammates at training yesterday, five days on from that game.'
Despite the Blues' struggles this season, Curnow has remained one of their best with 32 goals and has not missed a game since round one.
His absence could allow Fremantle to take the safe route with captain Alex Pearce, given the Blues will likely have only Harry McKay as the primary key forward threat.
Pearce has been dealing with shin soreness, playing just one game since May, and was listed as a test to play this weekend. While Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir was confident they could bring Pearce back, he admitted it wasn't without risk.
'I can't say 100 per cent though. The loads of a game are a lot different to the loads you can put him up to at training,' Longmuir said.
'There's always that risk but we feel like he's done the work and he's in a good spot.'
The Blues could also be without former Docker Adam Cerra, after he was seen with his knee heavily strapped at training this week.
Cerra has averaged more than 27 disposals across his past three games against the Dockers and he would be a massive loss given the calibre of Fremantle's midfield.
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Courier-Mail
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Anxious galloper Tuff Tu Mus wins seventh city race in row at Eagle Farm
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News. It's as rare as hen's teeth that a horse wins seven metropolitan races in a row. And especially one who is as quirky as David Vandyke's gelding Tuff Tu Mus who has battled anxiety to the extent that his trainer often brings him to the races even when he's not racing. It might have been a low-key, off-season city meeting at Eagle Farm but the continued emergence of Tuff Tu Mus threw up a feel-good story. • PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet's team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Tuff Tu Mus means 'bloody tough' in Bislama, the national language of Vanuatu where his owner John Fordham, who hails from small town Croppa Creek near Moree in northern NSW, runs a kava factory. The five-year-old gelding is not only as tough as his name suggests, but also has more than his fair share of enigmatic ability. Starting at $1.70 in a BM90 Handicap as he stretched out over 1815m for the first time, jockey Ryan Maloney sent Tuff Tu Mus to the lead in the Eagle Farm straight and he did enough to hold on. He didn't beat any worldbeaters and the manner of his win wasn't dynamic – but he clocked up his latest triumph in a seven-race winning streak which dates back to October last year. Tuff Tu Mus has now won seven from nine but Vandyke revealed the quirky galloper had been to the races much more than the race book indicates. He often travels to the races on race day but stays in the stalls, just to help get him more used to the process and ease his highly-strung nature. 'He has got that underlying anxiety in him,' Vandyke said. 'He has had nine starts, but he has probably been to the races 25 times. 'He was here last Saturday even though he didn't race, we bring him all the time. 'My staff have absolutely cuddled him and looked after him, it's been a real team effort.' Trainer David Vandyke. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography. Vandyke said he had never had a horse wins seven consecutive city races before, although he had his now retired galloper Weona Smartone win eight in a row. 'Alligator Blood got beaten in the Caulfield Guineas (in 2019) but he won five consecutive races before that, and five after it,' Vandyke said. 'It takes a decent horse to put together a good winning streak. 'Tuff Tu Mus will go for a deserved spell now, but I think he has a nice future. 'There is an 1800m race on Gold Coast Magic Millions day which could be nice for him, which is why I wanted to test him over that distance today.' Champion trainer Tony Gollan finished the day with a bang when ex-Godolphin galloper Pereille saluted at short odds when being one of the best placed horses in Australia, scoring the Class Six Plate (1200m). Meanwhile, Ben Thompson rode his first winner since returning from Hong Kong when Rex Lipp-trained Redzoust ($17) got the chocolates in the BM70 Handicap (1400m). Originally published as Anxious galloper Tuff Tu Mus wins seventh city race in row at Eagle Farm
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Far from the roar of the SCG, former AFL player Brandon Jack has found peace leaving selfies with young footy fans behind. Instead, the son of rugby league great Garry Jack and brother of ex-Sydney Swans star Kieren has been visiting bookstores around Australia, signing copies of his debut novel Pissants. 'I've had moments where I've felt like, 'yeah, this is more enjoyable to me than football ever was,'' Jack tells AAP. Looking back, his five-year, 28-game AFL career was not so much the realisation of a childhood dream as a period of intense anxiety. 'I had five years kind of being on the fringe; of being in the team, out of the team, of resenting the team for not being in it,' he says. 'Post-footy and seeing a psychologist for a long time, I realised there's this fear of, 'am I good enough?' 'I was continually just told, 'no, no, no.' That did something to me that I don't think I reconciled or realised until years later.' Those feelings of rejection are at the heart of Pissants, which details the misadventures of a crew of rowdy AFL players who can't find what it takes to win the approval of coaches, teammates and fans. With stardom painfully close but never within reach, the group self-medicate with drugs, alcohol and a shared twisted sense of humour. While Pissants is a work of fiction, the inspiration is obvious. 'The book is almost like different versions of me at different points in my life communicating with each other,' Jack says. Those voices will be familiar to those who read Jack's memoir 28, in which he detailed his attempts to numb the pain of an unsuccessful and unsatisfying footy career with alcohol. But the adage 'comedy equals tragedy plus time' rings true in the case of Pissants, where the absurdity of life in the AFL system is a source of humour above all else. In a series of uncomfortable interactions, players find themselves telling journalists, coaches and club psychologists what they want to hear, while thinking and feeling something completely different. The authenticity will appeal to footy fans sick of hearing about players 'taking things one week at a time'. 'I hate the whole media training thing that happened in footy - I really do,' Jack says. 'I think it deprived us of so many opportunities to have interesting characters.' Jack admits there was nothing interesting about the front he presented during his playing days. 'The way we were at the Swans was club-first: you are not to stand out. So I didn't really have a personality externally. 'I did a lot of writing but I would never share it. I was always very secretive with my stuff.' There were fears of standing out and concerns he'd be seen as uncommitted. 'As a football player, your primary purpose is to play football and to win games for your team. 'In my third year, when I was worried about my contract, I stopped going to uni part-time because I didn't want anything to be a distraction, or for people to think I was distracted.' Like the characters in Pissants, Jack floundered in footy purgatory, unable to win respect in the game but feeling forbidden from finding an identity outside it. Much has changed for him since leaving the Swans in 2017 and the 31-year-old is pleased to see footy is moving forward too. The likes of Bailey Smith and Jack Ginnivan lead a new breed of AFL players praised by fans, media pundits and sponsors for showing their personalities. But one thing remains the same. 'It's a lot easier to be who you are if you're a successful player,' Jack says. Those not performing well rarely speak publicly - and if they do, it's typically to play the clown. 'One of my least favourite things is when a footy player who didn't have a very successful career comes out and just takes the absolute piss out of himself and that becomes their kind of schtick,' Jack says. 'I've been there and it's f***ing tough. It hurts you deeply.' He suspects some players still face the struggles depicted in Pissants. 'At every club, there are five or six guys who are in this spot and I can just so clearly picture them in someone's garage drinking beers while the senior game is on because they just don't want to watch it.' Having explored the complexity of his feelings about football across two books, Jack is ready to move on. He is working on a series of short stories that have nothing to do with sport and is excited to see where writing takes him. 'It'll be interesting to see when the switch sort of flicks from 'football player turned writer' to just 'writer'. That would be nice,' Jack says. 'But I'm not going to crucify myself waiting for it to happen. It'll happen eventually.'
The Advertiser
15 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Beers, tears and existentialism: the unseen side of AFL
Far from the roar of the SCG, former AFL player Brandon Jack has found peace leaving selfies with young footy fans behind. Instead, the son of rugby league great Garry Jack and brother of ex-AFL star Kieren has been visiting bookstores around Australia, signing copies of his debut novel Pissants. "I've had moments where I've felt like, 'yeah, this is more enjoyable to me than football ever was,'" Jack tells AAP. Looking back, his five-year, 28-game AFL career was not so much the realisation of a childhood dream as a period of intense anxiety. "I had five years kind of being on the fringe; of being in the team, out of the team, of resenting the team for not being in it," he says. "Post-footy and seeing a psychologist for a long time, I realised there's this fear of, 'am I good enough?' "I was continually just told, 'no, no, no.' That did something to me that I don't think I reconciled or realised until years later." Those feelings of rejection are at the heart of Pissants, which details the misadventures of a crew of rowdy AFL players who can't find what it takes to win the approval of coaches, teammates and fans. With stardom painfully close but never within reach, the group self-medicate with drugs, alcohol and a shared twisted sense of humour. While Pissants is a work of fiction, the inspiration is obvious. "The book is almost like different versions of me at different points in my life communicating with each other," Jack says. Those voices will be familiar to those who read Jack's memoir 28, in which he detailed his attempts to numb the pain of an unsuccessful and unsatisfying footy career with alcohol. But the adage 'comedy equals tragedy plus time' rings true in the case of Pissants, where the absurdity of life in the AFL system is a source of humour above all else. In a series of uncomfortable interactions, players find themselves telling journalists, coaches and club psychologists what they want to hear, while thinking and feeling something completely different. The authenticity will appeal to footy fans sick of hearing about players 'taking things one week at a time'. "I hate the whole media training thing that happened in footy - I really do," Jack says. "I think it deprived us of so many opportunities to have interesting characters." Jack admits there was nothing interesting about the front he presented during his playing days. "The way we were at the Swans was club-first: you are not to stand out. So I didn't really have a personality externally. "I did a lot of writing but I would never share it. I was always very secretive with my stuff." There were fears of standing out and concerns he'd be seen as uncommitted. "As a football player, your primary purpose is to play football and to win games for your team. "In my third year, when I was worried about my contract, I stopped going to uni part-time because I didn't want anything to be a distraction, or for people to think I was distracted." Like the characters in Pissants, Jack floundered in footy purgatory, unable to win respect in the game but feeling forbidden from finding an identity outside it. Much has changed for him since leaving the Swans in 2017 and the 31-year-old is pleased to see footy is moving forward too. The likes of Bailey Smith and Jack Ginnivan lead a new breed of AFL players praised by fans, media pundits and sponsors for showing their personalities. But one thing remains the same. "It's a lot easier to be who you are if you're a successful player," Jack says. Those not performing well rarely speak publicly - and if they do, it's typically to play the clown. "One of my least favourite things is when a footy player who didn't have a very successful career comes out and just takes the absolute piss out of himself and that becomes their kind of schtick," Jack says. "I've been there and it's f***ing tough. It hurts you deeply." He suspects some players still face the struggles depicted in Pissants. "At every club, there are five or six guys who are in this spot and I can just so clearly picture them in someone's garage drinking beers while the senior game is on because they just don't want to watch it." Having explored the complexity of his feelings about football across two books, Jack is ready to move on. He is working on a series of short stories that have nothing to do with sport and is excited to see where writing takes him. "It'll be interesting to see when the switch sort of flicks from 'football player turned writer' to just 'writer'. That would be nice," Jack says. "But I'm not going to crucify myself waiting for it to happen. It'll happen eventually." Far from the roar of the SCG, former AFL player Brandon Jack has found peace leaving selfies with young footy fans behind. Instead, the son of rugby league great Garry Jack and brother of ex-AFL star Kieren has been visiting bookstores around Australia, signing copies of his debut novel Pissants. "I've had moments where I've felt like, 'yeah, this is more enjoyable to me than football ever was,'" Jack tells AAP. Looking back, his five-year, 28-game AFL career was not so much the realisation of a childhood dream as a period of intense anxiety. "I had five years kind of being on the fringe; of being in the team, out of the team, of resenting the team for not being in it," he says. "Post-footy and seeing a psychologist for a long time, I realised there's this fear of, 'am I good enough?' "I was continually just told, 'no, no, no.' That did something to me that I don't think I reconciled or realised until years later." Those feelings of rejection are at the heart of Pissants, which details the misadventures of a crew of rowdy AFL players who can't find what it takes to win the approval of coaches, teammates and fans. With stardom painfully close but never within reach, the group self-medicate with drugs, alcohol and a shared twisted sense of humour. While Pissants is a work of fiction, the inspiration is obvious. "The book is almost like different versions of me at different points in my life communicating with each other," Jack says. Those voices will be familiar to those who read Jack's memoir 28, in which he detailed his attempts to numb the pain of an unsuccessful and unsatisfying footy career with alcohol. But the adage 'comedy equals tragedy plus time' rings true in the case of Pissants, where the absurdity of life in the AFL system is a source of humour above all else. In a series of uncomfortable interactions, players find themselves telling journalists, coaches and club psychologists what they want to hear, while thinking and feeling something completely different. The authenticity will appeal to footy fans sick of hearing about players 'taking things one week at a time'. "I hate the whole media training thing that happened in footy - I really do," Jack says. "I think it deprived us of so many opportunities to have interesting characters." Jack admits there was nothing interesting about the front he presented during his playing days. "The way we were at the Swans was club-first: you are not to stand out. So I didn't really have a personality externally. "I did a lot of writing but I would never share it. I was always very secretive with my stuff." There were fears of standing out and concerns he'd be seen as uncommitted. "As a football player, your primary purpose is to play football and to win games for your team. "In my third year, when I was worried about my contract, I stopped going to uni part-time because I didn't want anything to be a distraction, or for people to think I was distracted." Like the characters in Pissants, Jack floundered in footy purgatory, unable to win respect in the game but feeling forbidden from finding an identity outside it. Much has changed for him since leaving the Swans in 2017 and the 31-year-old is pleased to see footy is moving forward too. The likes of Bailey Smith and Jack Ginnivan lead a new breed of AFL players praised by fans, media pundits and sponsors for showing their personalities. But one thing remains the same. "It's a lot easier to be who you are if you're a successful player," Jack says. Those not performing well rarely speak publicly - and if they do, it's typically to play the clown. "One of my least favourite things is when a footy player who didn't have a very successful career comes out and just takes the absolute piss out of himself and that becomes their kind of schtick," Jack says. "I've been there and it's f***ing tough. It hurts you deeply." He suspects some players still face the struggles depicted in Pissants. "At every club, there are five or six guys who are in this spot and I can just so clearly picture them in someone's garage drinking beers while the senior game is on because they just don't want to watch it." Having explored the complexity of his feelings about football across two books, Jack is ready to move on. He is working on a series of short stories that have nothing to do with sport and is excited to see where writing takes him. "It'll be interesting to see when the switch sort of flicks from 'football player turned writer' to just 'writer'. That would be nice," Jack says. "But I'm not going to crucify myself waiting for it to happen. It'll happen eventually." Far from the roar of the SCG, former AFL player Brandon Jack has found peace leaving selfies with young footy fans behind. Instead, the son of rugby league great Garry Jack and brother of ex-AFL star Kieren has been visiting bookstores around Australia, signing copies of his debut novel Pissants. "I've had moments where I've felt like, 'yeah, this is more enjoyable to me than football ever was,'" Jack tells AAP. Looking back, his five-year, 28-game AFL career was not so much the realisation of a childhood dream as a period of intense anxiety. "I had five years kind of being on the fringe; of being in the team, out of the team, of resenting the team for not being in it," he says. "Post-footy and seeing a psychologist for a long time, I realised there's this fear of, 'am I good enough?' "I was continually just told, 'no, no, no.' That did something to me that I don't think I reconciled or realised until years later." Those feelings of rejection are at the heart of Pissants, which details the misadventures of a crew of rowdy AFL players who can't find what it takes to win the approval of coaches, teammates and fans. With stardom painfully close but never within reach, the group self-medicate with drugs, alcohol and a shared twisted sense of humour. While Pissants is a work of fiction, the inspiration is obvious. "The book is almost like different versions of me at different points in my life communicating with each other," Jack says. Those voices will be familiar to those who read Jack's memoir 28, in which he detailed his attempts to numb the pain of an unsuccessful and unsatisfying footy career with alcohol. But the adage 'comedy equals tragedy plus time' rings true in the case of Pissants, where the absurdity of life in the AFL system is a source of humour above all else. In a series of uncomfortable interactions, players find themselves telling journalists, coaches and club psychologists what they want to hear, while thinking and feeling something completely different. The authenticity will appeal to footy fans sick of hearing about players 'taking things one week at a time'. "I hate the whole media training thing that happened in footy - I really do," Jack says. "I think it deprived us of so many opportunities to have interesting characters." Jack admits there was nothing interesting about the front he presented during his playing days. "The way we were at the Swans was club-first: you are not to stand out. So I didn't really have a personality externally. "I did a lot of writing but I would never share it. I was always very secretive with my stuff." There were fears of standing out and concerns he'd be seen as uncommitted. "As a football player, your primary purpose is to play football and to win games for your team. "In my third year, when I was worried about my contract, I stopped going to uni part-time because I didn't want anything to be a distraction, or for people to think I was distracted." Like the characters in Pissants, Jack floundered in footy purgatory, unable to win respect in the game but feeling forbidden from finding an identity outside it. Much has changed for him since leaving the Swans in 2017 and the 31-year-old is pleased to see footy is moving forward too. The likes of Bailey Smith and Jack Ginnivan lead a new breed of AFL players praised by fans, media pundits and sponsors for showing their personalities. But one thing remains the same. "It's a lot easier to be who you are if you're a successful player," Jack says. Those not performing well rarely speak publicly - and if they do, it's typically to play the clown. "One of my least favourite things is when a footy player who didn't have a very successful career comes out and just takes the absolute piss out of himself and that becomes their kind of schtick," Jack says. "I've been there and it's f***ing tough. It hurts you deeply." He suspects some players still face the struggles depicted in Pissants. "At every club, there are five or six guys who are in this spot and I can just so clearly picture them in someone's garage drinking beers while the senior game is on because they just don't want to watch it." Having explored the complexity of his feelings about football across two books, Jack is ready to move on. He is working on a series of short stories that have nothing to do with sport and is excited to see where writing takes him. "It'll be interesting to see when the switch sort of flicks from 'football player turned writer' to just 'writer'. That would be nice," Jack says. "But I'm not going to crucify myself waiting for it to happen. It'll happen eventually."
