Charlie Curnow in brutal new blow for Carlton as AFL finals hopes take massive hit

Charlie Curnow has been ruled out of Carlton's must-win match against St Kilda, while Mitch McGovern is also in serious doubt in a brutal blow to the Blues' AFL finals hopes. Carlton can seal a finals berth with a win, but a loss to the in-form Saints will give Fremantle a chance to leapfrog them.

Curnow had been named on Thursday to return for Sunday's game at Marvel Stadium but was officially ruled out on Friday. Blues coach Michael Voss confirmed Curnow had failed to make enough progress from the ankle injury which he aggravated against Hawthorn in round 22.

"I'll start with the bad news, Charlie's not playing. So that's the not-so-great news," Voss said. "We sort of thought that he might be able to pull up pretty well from some of the things that he did the other day, but hasn't pulled up as well as what we expected.

"So we'll just make that call now and obviously it gives us an opportunity to be able to lock in on what our forward mix is going to be. So obviously banking in that we can get the job done a couple of times in a row."

Brodie Kemp, who kicked four against the Eagles, will lead the line in attack against St Kilda for at least another week, with the Blues confident that if they can win this weekend, Curnow will be fine to play in the first week of finals. "It's something that he's obviously had to manage for a little while, but just feel like we just need to give it that little extra (time to) settle so it can settle down a little bit more," Voss said.

"But that'll be three, four weeks, after his last incident. So feel pretty confident that obviously the best-case scenario getting through and playing, that he'll be fit and available."

Harry McKay (quad), Jack Martin (hamstring), Adam Saad (hamstring), Lachie Fogarty (collarbone), Jordan Boyd (adductor), Tom De Koning (foot/lung), Adam Cerra (hamstring) and Matt Cottrell (shoulder) are also sidelined for the clash. While McGovern (hamstring) didn't train with the main group this week and is in serious doubt to line up this weekend. But Voss says the Blues will "give him every opportunity" to take the field.

St Kilda look to continue late-season surge

While a win over Carlton won't help their chances of playing finals footy in 2024, Ross Lyon is hoping to get a win to end their season on a high. St Kilda's comeback win over finals-bound Geelong last weekend showcased the talent within their ranks. It was the side's fifth victory in their past seven games, a drastic improvement on their early season form.

The Saints (10-12) have failed to repeat last year's promising finals appearance but Lyon believes there is still plenty of positives to take out of their 2024 campaign. "There's disappointment, obviously, but I don't think it changes what we were doing," Lyon said.

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"There's been a lot of wins, a lot of youth, a lot of debutants again this year. Close losses we learnt from and I think the good thing is where we were stuttering, we've taken some great lessons on different aspects of our game and improved it. And we know when we can get our midfield right, a lot of the other pieces are in place."

Lyon said second-year Saint Mattaes Phillipou will play through the midfield against Carlton on return from two weeks out of the side because of illness but Anthony Caminiti will miss the clash with a shoulder injury.

with agencies