Carlton veteran Ed Curnow admits it is hard not to feel what the fans feel after a loss.
While the Blues enjoyed a percentage-boosting win to the tune of 108 points over West Coast in Round 7, they had lost twice on the trot prior.
They went down to Adelaide by 56 points on the opening night of Gather Round before being beaten by St Kilda by 22 points in Round 6.
Some doubts crept in after that mini slump with some sections of Blues supporters very proactive in providing their advice to Michael Voss, his coaching staff and the players.
Carlton constantly receives enormous and rapturous support from their 80,000-plus members but it has been a lean time in terms of success recently, failing to feature in finals since 2013.
Curnow was asked if the players ever get a sense of that disappointment when things aren’t going as well as everybody involved would like.
“You do,” he said on SEN’s The Run Home.
“I think that’s where you rely on the four walls, or those kind of old sayings, and listening to the right people at the football club.
“But in saying that, I love our supporters and their passion so you get the disappointment and the emotion that comes with that when we’re not performing.
“That creates a little bit of urgency in itself as a player. We had a really big crowd against St Kilda and I saw (some of) the crowd leaving at three-quarter time, probably because I was sub and sitting on the bench.
“But you do feel (it), I feel it anyway. I’d felt like I’d let our fanbase down.
“Then during the week, Vossy and his coaching group are very good at resetting us to look at the areas we need to tweak and improve on as players.
“Probably as fans sometimes you can become a bit exaggerated in the way you think about your football, and really it’s just a couple of little things that you (the team) need to change.
“That’s the best form of confidence when you’ve got a bit of doubt, you go out there and train hard and work on the improvement areas, then to get the reward on the weekend is great.”
Despite the very recent downs, there have also been plenty of positive times so far in 2023 with the Blues winning three in a row (against Geelong, GWS and North Melbourne) on the back of their opening round draw with Richmond.
A key reason for their 4-2-1 record is that of Curnow’s younger brother Charlie.
He has gone a long way to backing up his Coleman Medal form of 2022 by kicking 30 goals in seven games, including a career-best nine against the Eagles last weekend.
Ed admits he has a major sense of pride at seeing his 26-year-old sibling finally flourishing after battling multiple injuries throughout 2019, 2020 and 2021.
“I’m very proud,” he added.
“I’m just very lucky and grateful to be out there and enjoying it with him at the moment because I know it can change so quickly with injuries and form.
“He had two or three years there with patella cracks, and again, and again, and it snapping in half and slipping and it breaking, going between different surgeons. All the doubt associated with that and the fact he’s this jumping, crashing pack, athletic player, you could only imagine what was going through his mind, whether or not he could make it back or not.
“He must be very strong-willed. His self-belief is huge and his work rate and appetite to work is great.
“What you see game day, there’s a lot of work that goes in behind that.”
Next up for the Blues is a major test in the form of the Brisbane Lions who occupy fourth spot on the back of four straight victories.
Curnow admits the competition’s third highest scorers will be a tricky attack to keep quiet while expecting a significant battle between two quality midfield groups.
“They’ve got some big forwards and some small forwards that are really dangerous,” Curnow said of the 5-2 Lions.
“So it’s going to be a handful for our backline who have been unreal all year.
“Then their midfield group is as strong as anyone and I think ours is going well. So it’s probably the perfect time to have a really strong game against another top eight side.”
The success-starved Carlton fans will be no doubt be expectant yet again as the Blues strive to establish themselves in the top eight at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.