West Australian draft prospect Cody Curtin has revealed some key advice his older brother and Adelaide wingman, Daniel Curtin shared with him ahead of the AFL National Draft. 

The Claremont product has cemented himself as one of Western Australia’s top prospects, just two years after Adelaide took his older brother Daniel with Pick 8 in 2023. 

Since then, the eldest of the two had a sensational season after pushing into the midfield and playing a crucial role on the wing, putting him in contention for Rising Star honours. 

Ahead of next Wednesday’s national draft, Curtin has unveiled the key piece of advice his brother has shared with him, which led to him having a breakout season. 

“His main advice has been to listen to your coaches,” he said. 

“He knew he had that mid-capability player in his under-18s year. Then he was named as a key defender and played the first half of his year as a key defender. Soon, they realised that he had the capacity to go through the midfield and play that wing role.

“The main thing for him was just listening to his coaches, making sure that he knew what they wanted to see from him. Then he went out and delivered that and got his chance to sort of prove himself.”  

Sitting at 200cm, Curtin established himself as a key position player at junior level with experience at both ends of the ground and has drawn comparisons to West Coast’s Jobe Shanahan, who was drafted last year. 

Curtin has primarily featured up forward, after his Scotch College and State coaches identified his potential for success in the position. 

This proved to be a master stroke, as Curtin kicked 32 goals across nine WAFL Colts games for Claremont – including five hauls of five or more goals, while using his contested marking abilities to dominate aerial play.  

Curtin says he is quite happy to make a name for himself in the AFL as a key position player, and leave the wing to his brother. 

“One of my strengths as a player would be my aerobic capacity,” he says. 

“I guess that sort of ties in well with my key position and the ability to run my opponents off their legs, that’s probably one of my strengths. 

“I definitely have the aerobic capacity, but I’ve got Dan covered by a few centimetres, so I’m probably not going to go into a wing role.”

The 18-year-old has made an early start, familiarising himself with the rigours and loads of being a player at the top level with other WA-interstate players from other clubs, including his brother. 

He was connected with the group of WA-interstate players through his brother Daniel, who also participated in some running, gym and touch sessions at an oval in Perth’s western suburbs, giving him a taster of what it’s like to match up against AFL-listed players.

Curtin has says it is a luxury to have a brother in the AFL, using his programs to guide his own strength and conditioning. 

“Over the last few weeks, he’s been back in Perth. He just went back on Saturday,” he said. 

“For the past four or five weeks, I’ve had the luxury just mirroring his program and copying his running. Then when we get to the gym, just doing more body maintenance and trying to lean up and those types of things.

“Running is the main thing for me, being able to copy his program, I think that’s going to hold me in good stead.”

IMAGE: FILE