Up there, Charlie: Curnow marks over Tom Langdon.
Photo: Wayne Ludbey
Carlton star Charlie Curnows grab over Tom Langdon might have evoked memories of Alex Jesaulenkos iconic screamer from the 1970 grand final, but it was not even rated in the best three marks of the weekend.
An earlier Curnow pack-busting mark made the best three of the round along with Taylor Duryeas spring-heeled pack mark. Luke Hodge was the third nominee as he proved he could still get off the ground and take a hanger.
But remarkably there was no room for Curnows other speccy over the Magpies Langdon.
Andrew Walker could sympathise. The former Blue was runner-up for mark of the year in 2011 when he stood on Jake Carlisles head for a stunning grab that was shown around the world, judged behind Andrew Krakouers pack mark.
At the end of the day that was similar to mine in that its just someones opinion. Its just unfortunate to see. I would have nominated him for both his marks, Walker said.
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If you watch his first one it probably is the better mark of the two in my opinion. He had Jeremy Howe trying to spoil and you think of how high Jeremy Howe can jump to mark and spoil, and he is over his shoulder trying to spoil. That was a great mark. The Duryea mark was a good mark, too.
The mark of the year competition drew controversy last year when Howe was overlooked for the end-of-year gong in favour of Joe Daniher because the voting for the final was based on a poll of AFL website readers. Those rules were changed this year. The nominations for each round are done by a panel of AFL people.
Walker likened Curnow to Nick Riewoldt as an player of incredible athleticism.
I played on Nick Riewoldt a bit and he was so hard to defend because he had stamina and was quick. I think Charlie is quicker and has more of a leap but Nick was so good because he marked the ball at his highest point when he was at speed.
"I think the club showed a heap of faith in Charlie early days to pick him up. I loved seeing him put pen to paper. To show that loyalty to the club means heaps to me."
Michael Gleeson is a senior AFL football writer and Fairfax Media's athletics writer. He also covers tennis, cricket and other sports. He won the AFL Players Association Grant Hattam Trophy for excellence in journalism for the second time in 2014 and was a finalist in the 2014 Quill Awards for best sports feature writer. He was also a finalist in the 2014 Australian Sports Commission awards for his work on Boots for Kids. He is a winner of the AFL Media Association award for best news reporter and a two-time winner of Cricket Victorias cricket writer of the year award. Michael has covered multiple Olympics, Commonwealth Games and world championships and 15 seasons of AFL, He has also written seven books – five sports books and two true crime books.
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