Carlton captain Patrick Cripps has said he is 'pretty confident' Blues forward Charlie Curnow will stay at the club despite reports he is considering his future.
Curnow, who has won two Coleman Medals at the club, is contracted at the Blues until the end of the 2029 season, but is reportedly considering his future at the club despite his long-term contract.
Cripps has explained it's been a tough year for Curnow and the club, which finished the year in 11th place.
“I’m pretty confident (he’ll stay),” Cripps said on 3AW.
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“I’m a pretty good mate of Charles’. You don’t get too many players of his calibre that play AFL footy.
“I’m just there as a mate for him. It’s obviously been a really tough year for him. He had a lot of injuries.
“I’m sure he’d be the same; there’d be a lot of us who weren’t totally satisfied with the year, both personally and as a team.
“I’ll always back him in. He knows I’ve got his back, and I know he’s got mine.
“It will be interesting to see what happens, but I’ve got a lot of support for the big fella.”
Earlier this month, Carlton's chief executive Graham Wright said he hoped Curnow would finish his career at the club.
“I think we’ve been very clear from the start, Charlie is a required player, a contracted player for the next four years, and we want to see him finish his career here,” Wright said on Carlton's website.
“It’s been a big 12 months for Charlie. He’s had two or three operations across that period of time. He’s away on leave at the moment, we’re expecting him back in the next couple of weeks prior to the best and fairest, and he’ll be a Carlton player going forward.”