Carlton star Charlie Curnow has suffered a fresh injury setback to his troubled knee.
The Blues announced on Tuesday night that the gun forward will require surgery for a fractured knee cap.
It is the same knee that the 23-year old had an operation on in April that held him out of the entire 2020 campaign.
Carlton footy boss Brad Lloyd confirmed the unfortunate news in a statement on the club website.
โCharlieโs patella has been complicated by this current stress injury, however while he has been able to continue with his rehabilitation program, his specialist orthopaedic surgeon feels that surgery to reinforce the area of bone stress will hasten his return to training and minimise the risk of further injury,โ he said.
โWeโre fully supportive of this approach and will continue to support Charlie through his recovery process.โ
While Lloyd could not put a specific time frame on his return, the recovery from a fractured knee cap is generally around 3-4 months. Given it is recurring injury, Curnow may be held out even longer than that.
Curnow missed most of the 2019 season due to a knee injury before dislocating his knee while playing basketball with friends in October that year.
He fractured his knee cap in November of that year then suffered a suffered a hairline stress response in April which ultimately held him out of the 2020 season.
Essendon legend Matthew Lloyd was concerned about Curnow's ability to make an impact in 2021 without a pre-season.
"You get no pre-season and itโs another season write-off," Lloyd told AFL Trade Radio's The Early Trade.
"Youโre just coming from too far back when these guys are rock-hard fit, it takes weeks and weeks to get yourself fit and match fit as well.
"It could be another write-off for Charlie next year and no doubt his career is in the balance with these injuries that keep occurring."
