Michael Voss opens up on Charlie Curnow trade

FORMER Carlton coach Michael Voss has revealed he was initially adamant Charlie Curnow would not be leaving the Blues, admitting his first reaction when the star forward raised the prospect of a trade was to "say no the whole way".

Speaking on Continental Tyres AFL Trade Radio, Voss detailed the shift in thinking that ultimately led Carlton to entertain offers for one of the game's premier forwards.

Curnow had first flagged his desire for a fresh start midway through the year, and made his intentions official at his exit meeting post-season.

Despite Voss' initial stance, he mellowed and began to look at the bigger picture from a club perspective.

"When I first sat down with Charlie .... my first thoughts were 'This is not going to happen'," Voss said.

"But I thought, if we're going to entertain this, this has to be a generational trade so when we're looking at Carlton and where they're at and adding capacity to the group, was this the opportunity we had to change the fortunes of the club?

"It meant that probably your best player, a Coleman medallist had to leave ... but then it had to protect the future of Carlton and that was probably the cornerstone of the thinking shift for me.

"You've got to look past the person and look at the asset, which is a really cold way of looking at it, but we had to look at what can we turn it into.

TRADE HUB All the latest player movement news

"I was pretty gutted when it happened but I look back now and see what Sydney has been able to do, and that's been a win for them, and I see where Carlton are and how they're going to use those picks and how it's been relevant for (Harry) Dean and (Cody) Walker, and all these other opportunities that are going to show themselves.

"So in the end, as much as there was a fight and tension and conflict, I think it ended up in a win-win situation."

Despite months of discussions, Voss said the blockbuster deal was still hanging by a thread in the final minutes before the 7.30pm trade deadline.

In fact, he had already called Curnow to tell him the move was off before negotiations took a dramatic late turn.

"I rang Charlie about 7.14pm and said 'This is not going ahead', and it's fair to say he wasn't happy with me that I was telling him that," Voss said.

DRAFT HUB Click here for the latest draft news

"He made his final plea about why he needed to move and I said, 'Well, mate, it's not about us now, it's about Sydney and where you want to go', so right now there's no one coming from Sydney saying they're prepared to do that deal.

"Out of that phone call, all of a sudden there must have been another phone call made to Charlie and Robbie (D'Orazio - Curnow's manager) with very explicit instructions with getting this deal done, and then it started to move and it moved really quickly from there."

Carlton received one of the biggest trade hauls in history for giving up the star goalkicker, landing three first-round draft picks from Sydney as well as forward Will Hayward.

The Blues also struck a separate deal for contracted Swans defender Ollie Florent.

Voss admitted his relationship with Curnow deteriorated during the Trade Period as he dug his heels in in the best interests of the club.

"It did through the Trade Period," Voss said when asked if his relationship with Curnow broke down. "He was determined to go somewhere else.

"Part of my own strategy was to make this as hard as I possibly could ... I was just going to ride this and say no the whole way.

"I was there with the interests of getting a generational trade done so it could actually help the football club for a long period of time, and from my point of view ... I wasn't going to accept anything less than that, so I felt like my role through that was to make it as hard as I possibly could.

"Through that period of time I was obviously seen as a key sticking point behind it not happening and I wanted it to be that way, and the tension was definitely there between player and coach, but not before that. I've had a great relationship with Charlie."

Curnow won his third Coleman Medal in his first year at Sydney, kicking 69 goals in the home and away season, and 75 including finals as he played 24 games.

Click here to read article