How a sibling rivalry is still driving combative WA draft prospect

MOST mornings for the past month, draft prospect Cody Curtin has had the good fortune of training with a group of WA-bred AFL players, include Adelaide star and brother Dan.

The group, which also includes young players from Melbourne, Collingwood and St Kilda, has been making an early start and completing running, gym and touch sessions in Perth's western suburbs, giving the younger Curtin an early chance to measure himself against AFL talent.

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A combative key forward/ruck who has also played as a key defender, Curtin has held his own in the morning sessions, mirroring Dan's off-season program as the brothers push each other and fall back into their hyper-competitive ways.

Curtin is hopeful the work will pay off if his AFL dream is realised later this month, with the imposing 18-year-old coming off a terrific season that saw him kick 45 goals across 17 games at club and representative level.

"I've got the luxury of having a brother who plays in the AFL and as soon as I finished the Combine Dan was starting his off-season program, so I've been able to work with him and copy most of his running program and then work with him in the gym as well," Cody Curtin told AFL.com.au.

"I've had Dan there to guide me, and it's been a good experience for me, being someone who's hoping to get drafted, to do touch with eight other AFL players.

"The sessions are pretty heavy, and then running alongside Dan, we push each other to our limit, so it's been a really good experience."

Joining the Curtin boys this off-season have been Melbourne pair Koltyn Tholstrup and Jacob van Rooyen, Collingwood trio Ed Allan, Will Hayes and the recently traded Jack Buller, and St Kilda's Hugh Boxshall and Jack Carroll.

Hayes and Boxshall were Claremont and WA teammates with the younger Curtin in 2024 when he was a key defender for the majority of his underage year.

The 200cm aerialist has been a different player this year, however, using his contested marking strengths as a key forward to boot 32.9 across nine WAFL colts games with Claremont.

The shift was instigated by Scotch College coach and former West Coast captain Steve Malaxos, with Curtin's representative coaches then seeing the potential for Curtin to dominate ahead of the ball.

"I played forward for Scotch for the last few games of last year, and then the Claremont talent manager came down and saw that I was playing forward and played a couple of good games," Curtin said.

"'Webby' (WA coach Marc Webb) saw those games as well and said we'll try to build on that and see where it goes, and then just throughout the year, I think my craft and those types of things took off.

"I would have been just as happy if they said we're going to put you down back this year, so I haven't ruled any position out. I think it just adds an extra string to my bow.

"Hopefully come draft time, if I'm lucky enough to hear my name get called out, then we'll see what a coach says and where he wants to play me, because I'm happy to go wherever."

Curtin enters this year's draft in a similar position to Jobe Shanahan 12 months ago and the exciting key-position player was drafted to West Coast as a versatile tall who could play at either end of the ground.

Shanahan started as a key defender before moving forward and enjoying a terrific finish to the year, with Curtin watching with interest after matching up on the young gun during the 2024 Marsh AFL National Under-18 Boys Championships.

Fremantle powerhouse Josh Treacy is another key forward the teenager has watched closely, with his WA coaches seeing similarities between the pair's combative styles.

"I got to train with Fremantle and see a lot of Josh Treacy and he's the sort of a player that I watch a lot of with his aerial presence and leading patterns," Curtin said.

"I'd say my hunger for the ball and hunger for the contest is definitely something that holds me in good stead in a game.

"If I'm playing as a forward or a back, I just sort go out there and line up on my opponent and just start thinking hopefully I can ruin your day."

That competitive streak is well known to the Curtin family, with Cody and Dan regularly turning friendly basketball or football games into long-running arguments when they were kids.

This off-season has proved that some things never change, with the brothers' will to win any competition taking over again.

"Playing king of the pack out the front with Dad as kids, me and Dan would end up rolling on the floor fighting for the ball and all of a sudden it would end with someone throwing a punch and Dad trying to break us up," Curtin said.

"Then playing basketball, we would head to the park for a shooting challenge and it would end with us playing one-on-one and arguing for the entire night about whether the ball was out of bounds when someone hit the winning shot.

"We still end up in those same positions. There's a basketball hoop at Claremont where we’ve been doing some gym sessions, and the other day we had a similar situation, arguing about whether it was out of bounds.

"It could drag on for days, but those things gave me the competitive spirit I have today."

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