The surprising Charlie Curnow stat that highlights his recent struggles

Of the 30 players in the competition who are targeted the most inside 50, Charlie Curnow is ranked 30th for turning those targets into a goal over the last six weeks.

This has left David King pondering whether the reigning Coleman Medallist is playing through injury.

It has been reported that Curnow rolled his ankle in the pre-game warm-up before his poor performance against GWS and he remains in some doubt to face the Western Bulldogs this weekend.

However, he was well beaten against Richmond as well the previous week.

Before the bye, Curnow kicked five goals against Geelong and kicked multiple goals in every game before last week – meaning if he is carrying a niggle, it’s likely been in the last fortnight.

King says the Blues should not risk their superstar if he is carrying an injury, saying they should get him cherry ripe for the final month of the season.

“How banged up is Charlie Curnow? The more of him I see the more I think it,” King told SEN Breakfast.

“Clearly players play with different levels of injury week on week and we can’t really assess them from the outside looking in. If they put themselves out there, they’re open to all sorts of scrutiny.

“Of the last six weeks, of the top 30 targets, he’s the worst target inside 50 in the competition.

“He’s converting a goal at 8% of the opportunities which are targeted his way, which is ranked 30th of the top 30.

“So it’s 57 targets and he’s kicked about four goals. That’s not the Charlie we’ve come to know.

“It’s a window where he’s been pretty poor. Is he injured? I don’t know, but we’re here to assess performance and they need him to get rolling again.

“And if he is injured, you can’t play him. You’ve got to rest him and have him ready to go come the runway into finals. If he’s injury impacted, get him out of the game.”

Kane Cornes agrees, saying Curnow is too happy to wrestle with his opponent at the moment and needs to get higher up the ground.

“Clearly there is something going on because I want to see him play with a bit more freedom,” he said.

“I think he’s such a beautiful kick and a powerful weapon outside 50. I’d love to see them explore that with Harry McKay deep if Charlie’s getting beaten.

“But right now, he just wants to wrestle a little bit too much.”

Curnow and the Blues face the Western Bulldogs on the weekend, a Dogs team that will be missing key defender Liam Jones.

Despite the last fortnight, the key forward remains the leader in this year's Coleman Medal race with 46 goals as he attempts to win his third in a row.