IT WAS classic Ed Curnow for his Tuesday morning press conference ahead of his 200th game. 

It's been some journey for Curnow, who provided his usual laughs and serious answers in equal measure when looking back on his decade at IKON Park.

Of course, it wasn't just his time at Carlton that has defined his football journey: here's what Curnow had to say.

On being delisted by Adelaide after one season:

It has been a lot of fun. Early days it was pretty disappointing, and I was cursing Neil Craig for a few years until he came to the Carlton footy club. It worked out in the end: I think if I hung around Adelaide any longer I would have had a much shorter career.

On moving to Box Hill:

At the end of 2008, I met with a few VFL clubs to come back to Victoria. That was when Brendon Bolton was starting out as coach at Box Hill and I met with those guys. It seemed like a great program. They had guys like Adem Yze and Luke Ablett as older players there.

It was really a competitive environment and I’d enrolled at RMIT in Melbourne: I was living a fun uni life and then going to footy and being as competitive as I could be. After a couple of years, it panned out.

I was always passionate to be an AFL player and I was still really disappointed that Adelaide didn’t give me that chance. That drove me.

In my first year at Box Hill, I didn’t get drafted and I probably didn’t play that well but I still thought then that I should’ve been drafted. I can remember being really disappointed and thinking of going overseas like other guys my age. I stuck at it one more year and it really paid off, I couldn’t thank Box Hill enough.

On nearly becoming a Hawk:

In that moment I was disappointed [after breaking his leg in the VFL], but afterwards I spoke with ‘Bolts’ and a few other guys and came up with a plan to start throwing my name around with coaches.

I remember I got one of the analysts to come up with a CD of my highlights, it was a CD back then. I wrote a letter to ‘Clarko’ and I was going to hand it out to other clubs, but Hawthorn gave me great confidence that they’d pick me up.

After a bit of wallowing in the hospital after surgery, I felt pretty good after a while. I was still uncertain and I didn’t go until the rookie draft that year, but I got to the Blues a pick before the Hawks.

On having to go through the process:

The way it has panned out, I wasn’t ready to play AFL until I was 21 turning 22. That’s when I played my first game with Carlton. That lead-in, that first three years was just me growing into my body, putting more weight on, playing against older guys, staying away from injury and learning how to not get injured.

In terms of developing a bit of power, I left school as an 18-year-old kid that was lightly framed. I was always a really good runner and I knew that because I’d put the work in, but I couldn’t even kick a footy over 40 metres. It just took a while for me to develop.

On breaking through in 2011:

We were a pretty strong side at that time. I had guys around me like Heath Scotland and Kade Simpson on the wings, we had Judd, Carrazzo, Murphy and Gibbs all playing really strong footy through the midfield and guys like myself, Mitch Robinson and Dave Ellard who were just trying to have a crack and play our role.

It was a pretty competitive group and it made it easy to come into. That first little period felt good, and then I hurt my shoulder and I found it really hard to hit that same form again that year. Ever since, you realise how difficult this game is and it’s hard to be consistent.

On preaching patience to the Club’s youngsters:

I do a little bit, but I don’t really believe in that approach. You’ve got to be in a hurry. I think if I could have done it differently, but I don’t think I would have. You’ve got to push yourself and you’ve got to try and make it as quick as you can. You’ve got to push coaches and work as hard as you possibly can to be a better player every single day of every week, and to beat guys that are in front of you.

On the other token, you do have to acknowledge that it doesn’t happen straight away. I do let them know that ‘boys, it didn’t work out for me until I was 22 or 23’, but by the same token I want to see them pushing themselves all the time. I feel like that’s what is going to make you a good player and give yourself a career.

His approach to training:

With my recovery, I love the doing and the action parts of footy. I love training, so I’ve always put a premium on being out there. No matter if you’re sore or not, you should be out there and I hold a high standard for myself in that area. I do that with others too, which I have to temper sometimes — I’ve learnt that over the time!

I love the ocean and I love the outdoors, so recovery for me is about doing things other than football. That keeps you sane in the pressure environment that is the AFL and it keeps me going.

On playing alongside Charlie:

It’s really exciting. It’s been two years for Charlie: he looked great on the weekend. He’s done a good six weeks of training with the group. I don’t think he’s going to quite make it for the game this weekend, I know he was trying to convince the coaches he was ready to go.

We certainly need him out there, an extra tall in the forward line would help Jack and Harry. It’s exciting that we’ll be playing again together. When he was drafted at the end of 2015, I thought we’d be playing a lot more footy together: as it’s turned out, I had that weird injury with the voice box and then he’s had the two years out with the knee. He looks fit and he looks great, I’m excited for him.

On the future:

I’ll keep playing until they kick me out and when they do, I’ll go happily! They’ve been a fantastic Club. I’ve said ‘Teaguey’ a few times that if he’s getting sick of me, let me know, it’s all good. I’ve had a great time. I’ve got to start a family and develop outside of footy and you meet great people in footy. When it ends, it’ll end. At the moment, I’ll just go out and train as hard as I can and try and be a better player for next year and next week and make it harder for players to kick me out of the side. I’m not really too stressed about that, I’m pretty grateful for what I’ve had so far.

On Sam Walsh’s training standards… and who the better runner is:

I think it’s pretty basic:  he goes out with purpose and he tries to beat people. He’s a great runner so he’s got that in his arsenal. I’m a bit biased towards running, but it certainly helps your longevity in football and for Sam, that’s a strength that he’s got that other people don’t. That helps in game days to outrun his opponents. He’s a No.1 pick that has come into the Club and backs it up as the No.1 worker. It’s great to have someone like that at the Club.

His game-day stuff is beating me at the moment. It hurts me to think about it: him and Cottrell are probably the guys. I still do beat them, I’ve got my moments… I don’t want to talk about it!