CARLTON coach Michael Voss has described ex-Blue Charlie Curnow as a "$1.05 chance" for this year's Coleman Medal, saying he has not spoken to his former player since his bombshell trade to Sydney last October.

Speaking exclusively to AFL.com.au earlier this week, Voss said the club dealt Curnow to the Swans knowing his standing among the game's best players but had now moved on from the protracted drama that headlined last year's Trade Period.

Carlton will come up against Curnow's Sydney in the first game of the 2026 season, with the Thursday night blockbuster to begin Opening Round.

However, Voss said his focus was purely on coaching a new-look Blues forward line that now features recruits Will Hayward and Ben Ainsworth, as opposed to lingering on what once was with Curnow at the helm.

"No, we haven't had a lot of dialogue over that point in time," Voss told AFL.com.au.

"It's probably a strength and a weakness, (but) I move on pretty quickly. What was said needed to be said. We had some pretty long and some pretty honest conversations. He ends up choosing his direction and we choose ours. We're comfortable with where it landed.

"We're not lost on the player that Charlie is. Like, he's a good player. He's $1.05 chance of winning the Coleman Medal. We know that. But we obviously had to make the deal right. It had to suit both parties.

"He moves to Sydney and we move on, so that's what I've done as well. I coach the team that I've got, rather than the team I don't."

Curnow demanded a trade out of Carlton at the end of last season, despite four years remaining on his lucrative contract at Ikon Park, ultimately landing at Sydney in a deal that included three first-round picks and Hayward.

The high-profile move came following months of speculation surrounding Curnow's future – including a denial from the player himself that he wanted to be traded – before he ultimately requested to leave the club during his exit interview.

However, Voss said he hadn't contemplated his disappointment at Curnow's decision since the two-time Coleman Medal winner asked to be traded away from Ikon Park late last year.

"I haven't really given it much thought, beyond us having this conversation, since the day it happened," Voss said.

"I tend to move forward very, very quickly. I'm sure Charlie did as well. By all accounts, it looks like he's going well. But you're so busy coaching your own team, you're so busy locked in on trying to get your own team together, you move forward pretty fast.

"You've got to look at the strengths of your group. Obviously, with Charlie being in the team, he was a real strength for us. Our avenue towards goal, he was a very important piece of that.

"You've got to try and solve that problem, because we've now got to try and find other avenues to goal. We're hoping that we have a bit more diversity in the way that we go towards goal, but it's still way too early to tell exactly how all that lands."

Curnow's departure followed fellow Carlton players Tom De Koning and Jack Silvagni making free agency moves to St Kilda, part of a high-priced spending spree from the Saints.

De Koning left on a deal worth $1.8 million per season over eight years, with Voss saying he couldn't begrudge his former ruck from taking up the "once in a lifetime" offer.

However, rather than linger on the De Koning mega offer that lured him to the Saints, the Blues coach said the bid reflected the way the game was going as more sides try to seize an advantage in the market.

"I'm realistic," Voss said.

"Tom's not offering himself that. I had these conversations with him last year. Credit to him, how can you begrudge a godfather offer? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's not that he didn't want to stay, it just became too strong of a pull.

"That's just the way it's going to be until the AFL sits down and goes, 'Do we need to change the rules around the length of these contracts or even the size of the contracts that are happening?'

"We're looking for an advantage. We're looking to how we build our own team and how you acquire your players in the free agency market that's there. It's up to each club how much you want to pay for them. Until that changes, I think we're going to see more of the same to be honest."

Subscribe to the Your Coach podcast to listen to Riley Beveridge's full interview with Carlton coach Michael Voss in coming days.