Charlie Curnow went into his fourth season of footy in 2019 looking poised for a breakout year.
He gave Carlton fans a glimpse of that in their pre-season hitout against Essendon, kicking an early goal and finding eight quick disposals.
He then went down clutching his leg.
He got away with what the Blues described as a ‘corked calf’ at the time, but it set the tone for what was to be a derailed season for the budding star.
He recovered in time for Round 1 and lasted a game and a half before suffering the first of many knee injuries against Port Adelaide.
Back in the side for Round 4, Curnow was then withdrawn late for Round 5 with ‘knee soreness’ before also sitting out Round 6.
The knee concerns faded into the background for a couple of months when Curnow returned to the side in Round 7, playing right through to the Round 14 bye without an issue.
It took him a couple of weeks to find his feet, but between rounds 10 and 13, he booted 14 goals and took 25 marks – including a bag of seven against the Bulldogs. This is what Carlton fans were waiting for.
Unfortunately for Curnow and the Blues, their post-bye trip west to take on Fremantle was where it all came undone.
The key forward collided with a Fremantle player early in the game and suffered a ‘low grade medial’.
He would miss the remainder of the 2019 season, with the Blues opting to take a conservative approach with the youngster.
Curnow would not get a clean run at the 2020 pre-season however as he dislocated his knee in October playing recreational basketball with teammates.
Issues would snowball from there, with Curnow then fracturing his kneecap in late November.
A few quiet months followed before it was revealed that the key forward was suddenly going to miss the first half of the season as the Blues aimed to once again take it slow.
Curnow had wires and screws put inside his knee as part of his treatment, something that ultimately led to a further setback in the middle of April - a year on from the first incident against the Power.
Now the talk is he will sit out the entirety of the 2020 season, despite the postponement meaning we could potentially be playing through to December.
The 23-year-old has played 58 career games to this point. Fellow key forward Eric Hipwood, who was taken in the same draft, has played 76. That gap will obviously widen when the season resumes.
The Blues built their entire rebuild strategy back in 2015 around drafting their key position players first, picking up Harry McKay and Jacob Weitering as well as Curnow in the first draft under Stephen Silvagni.
Weitering has come along nicely and is developing into a reliable full back.
McKay has only managed 35 games, with Carlton holding him back in the VFL for a while and groin issues now bothering him.
Despite that, McKay has shown enough to suggest he should be an AFL calibre key forward and alongside Curnow, could form a dynamic duo for a decade.
This is assuming the Blues can actually get them on the park at the same time.