Carlton have added star forward Charlie Curnow to their leadership group ahead of the 2024 season to see the club's captaincy contingent grow to four.
Curnow will join midfielder Sam Walsh and defender Jacob Weitering in supporting vice-captain roles to captain Patrick Cripps, who is entering his sixth season as skipper and third as standalone captain.
The quartet of leaders will see each vice-captain lead their respective positional lines this year, with the addition of Curnow coming after consultation among the club's coaches and a player-voted process.
Entering his ninth season in the navy blue, Curnow has risen to be a fundamental player in Carlton's return to premiership contention, having won the past two Coleman Medals after an extensive recovery from an ACL injury.
In the eye of his captain, the 27-year-old has "strong core values that have become infectious throughout our football club".
โCharlie is a great bloke, a quality player and is growing into a great leader amongst our playing group,โ Cripps said in a club announcement.ย
โHis presence and energy makes people drawn to him. He's a big family man with strong core values that have become infectious throughout our football club and Charlie has played a massive role in establishing that.
โCharles has unique traits and strengths that as a leader complements and helps grow our leadership group. Between the four of us, including โWeiters' and โWalshy', we each lead differently, in how we communicate and push ourselves and those around us. That diversity will help us connect and get the best out of ourselves and as a wider playing group.ย
โCulturally we are in a strong spot with a clear view of our identity as a group and as leaders, with a clear focus on what makes us a strong side. As a group we are hungry to keep levelling up and taking our connection to the next level. As leaders we will drive each other and the playing group to maintain high standards, ensuring we continue to haveย an environment we all love being part of, as we strive for our ambition."
Curnow has played 110 games for Carlton since making his debut in 2016, leading the club's goalkicking on three occasions to also claim a pair of All-Ausrtalian selections.
His 2023 campaign was the best of his career, booting 78 goals during the home and away season to help steer the Blues to their first finals series in a decade.
While the Carlton spearhead booted at least one goal in all 26 of his appearances last year, he could only conjure three majors across his trio of finals appearances.
Speaking to media following the announcement of his leadership group promotion, Curnow admitted he wasn't at his best come September.
"It was a different ball game," Curnow said, viaย AAP.ย
"I didn't perform as well as what I would like to in the end but that's probably the nature of our game, I get to have another crack at it this year.
"I'm looking forward to playing with our forward line as a unit, and attack hopefully another finals series."
The Blues' 2024 campaign will commence with a trip to Brisbane on Friday, March 8 before returning to Melbourne to meet Richmond at the MCG the following Thursday evening.
