Player Watch Daniel Curtin - Debut

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Lol, interesting back track. You are still speculating on something incorrect, don't use what others think as your shield.

Who would love to be drafted away from their hometown? Name one player.

Things may change on his end, especially if Nicks keeps leaving him out to dry.
Brett Chalmers.

Theres been loads of players who specifically want to play interstate.
 
Curtin will be fine. Not worried about having a bad second game.

But man, this club. He’s a defender. Just look at where we are playing him. At 1.97 meter, do we really expect him to play midfield?

The spin on draft night that he could play midfield was just to calm the mob that for the 6th year straight we have failed to draft a midfielder. Every year is Groundhog Day.

And now we’re talking about bringing in Petty and Hayward.

Why does our list manager hate midfielders and can’t see what every person in Australia can?
 

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Curtin will be fine. Not worried about having a bad second game.

But man, this club. He’s a defender. Just look at where we are playing him. At 1.97 meter, do we really expect him to play midfield?

The spin on draft night that he could play midfield was just to calm the mob that for the 6th year straight we have failed to draft a midfielder. Every year is Groundhog Day.

And now we’re talking about bringing in Petty and Hayward.

Why does our list manager hate midfielders and can’t see what every person in Australia can?


Patrick Cripps at 195 cm says hello.
 
The exception, not the rule. And even the exception of the tallest successful midfielder going around, is still shorter than Curtin.


Most midfielders are taller these days. The game is evolving with taller midfielders. We are allowed to disagree.
 
No issue with the idea that Curtin might be a tall midfielder one day, fine to speculate about that and I think the club should try him there in the coming years, but I think it's very weird to just assume that's where he's going to play, or act like it's a left field call to not play him there. He's played most of his football last year as a defender, he calls himself a defender, his draft profiles call him a defender, the club talks about him as a defender and he's played in SANFL and AFL as a defender. Fair to imagine he's probably a defender for the time being.

It's crazy to me that people here, beyond speculating that he might have potential as a mid, are actually saying he IS a mid and playing him in defence is playing him out of position. Just trying to imagine your way to the player you want (the tallest midfielder in AFL history) rather than the player you have.

Remember that Fogarty's draft profiles also said he played some midfield and might be an option in that position. It doesn't usually work out that way, and if it does it will be after he's an established AFL player.
 
Curtin will be fine. Not worried about having a bad second game.

But man, this club. He’s a defender. Just look at where we are playing him. At 1.97 meter, do we really expect him to play midfield?

The spin on draft night that he could play midfield was just to calm the mob that for the 6th year straight we have failed to draft a midfielder. Every year is Groundhog Day.

And now we’re talking about bringing in Petty and Hayward.

Why does our list manager hate midfielders and can’t see what every person in Australia can?
Blicavs 198cm
Nash 198cm
Cripps 195cm
Bont 194cm

Current pick 1 favourite Josh Smillie is a 195cm midfielder. Game’s getting taller, definitely not outlandish to see Curtin’s final role as a midfielder.
 
No issue with the idea that Curtin might be a tall midfielder one day, fine to speculate about that and I think the club should try him there in the coming years, but I think it's very weird to just assume that's where he's going to play, or act like it's a left field call to not play him there. He's played most of his football last year as a defender, he calls himself a defender, his draft profiles call him a defender, the club talks about him as a defender and he's played in SANFL and AFL as a defender. Fair to imagine he's probably a defender for the time being.

It's crazy to me that people here, beyond speculating that he might have potential as a mid, are actually saying he IS a mid and playing him in defence is playing him out of position. Just trying to imagine your way to the player you want (the tallest midfielder in AFL history) rather than the player you have.

Remember that Fogarty's draft profiles also said he played some midfield and might be an option in that position. It doesn't usually work out that way, and if it does it will be after he's an established AFL player.
And yet there are posters on here stating he will be a mid and this is just his introduction to the AFL.

I’m stating we don’t see him as a mid and if that’s the case we should not have used another top 10 pick on a defender. If that was our intention to draft a defender, we should have stuck with our picks and drafted Wilson and Goad.

The question would be, would Wilson have be playing SANFL or AFL?
 

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When Nicks was asked if the club had concerns over Curtin's fitness (seemed to be moving better in the early presseason), was his reply interesting?

I interpreted it as a little sheepish.




The man answers a question without a clue.
 
Did Curtin cost us a few goals? Sure. Was he played in his best position? No. Are we achieving anything significant this year? If not, does bringing Will Hamill back in, or continuing to back Brodie Smith provide more long term benefit than playing Dan Curtin in a more offensive, less accountable role in defence (ie Smith’s role).

The club can’t afford to give the season up already. So I their view 100% it’s about winning now and trying to do that each week

I’m terms of the less accountable role - when standing a role player and a 2 game rookie how less accountable does a role get? He wasn’t standing Charlie like Max was.. or one of the KPF’s


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The issue with Curtin is we’ve drafted a defender who struggles to defend.

We don’t see him as a mid that’s why we haven’t even given him 5 mins of midfield time in the SANFL.

He should be playing half forward or developing as a mid/wing in the SANFL.

If we play him solely in defence we’ve used another top 10 pick on a defender when we need mids.

Maybe the reason other clubs overlooked him despite the hype is they didn’t want to use a high pick on a defender who struggles to defend….and dont see where he would have fitted.

Nailed it. I don’t think we know where to play him at this stage. There is zero chance of him getting midfield minutes - the wing may be his best option


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Blicavs 198cm
Nash 198cm
Cripps 195cm
Bont 194cm

Current pick 1 favourite Josh Smillie is a 195cm midfielder. Game’s getting taller, definitely not outlandish to see Curtin’s final role as a midfielder.

I’ve always thought Curtin was more a Blicavs clone perhaps without the extreme athletic traits, even when people were comparing him to other players from around the league when drafted so it’s interesting to look back on what Geelong did with Blicavs. Blicavs obviously came from ridiculously further back in terms of having played little to no football but when he was more AFL ready he struggled early too with them not sure where to play him and was tried as a ruck, a forward and finally as a winger where he showed promise. He then started to prove to be a point of difference player when he changed positions again and began playing that hybrid mid/2nd half ruck role, sure he was moved to play full-back out of a desperate Geelong need which he did pretty well too but that was only after he’d spent years in the AFL system and also built up his body.

Shows the difference between a well run organisation and top coach and whatever goes on at the Crows, they have a player with those characteristics and they will push, teach, experiment and try things to eventually find a way to get the best out of the player for the team.
 
I’ve always thought Curtin was more a Blicavs clone perhaps without the extreme athletic traits, even when people were comparing him to other players from around the league when drafted so it’s interesting to look back on what Geelong did with Blicavs. Blicavs obviously came from ridiculously further back in terms of having played little to no football but when he was more AFL ready he struggled early too with them not sure where to play him and was tried as a ruck, a forward and finally as a winger where he showed promise. He then started to prove to be a point of difference player when he changed positions again and began playing that hybrid mid/2nd half ruck role, sure he was moved to play full-back out of a desperate Geelong need which he did pretty well too but that was only after he’d spent years in the AFL system and also built up his body.

Shows the difference between a well run organisation and top coach and whatever goes on at the Crows, they have a player with those characteristics and they will push, teach, experiment and try things to eventually find a way to get the best out of the player for the team.
So you are comparing Blicavs constant positional changes and Scott not knowing where to play him hence the large media debates about his role chopping and changing so often (and him also been pretty crap for a lot of his first few years) and comparing that favourably to your projected worse outcome for Curtin with our club?

If so, this board never ceases to amaze me. I almost need to seek Psychological help upon departing the forum each day.
 
So you are comparing Blicavs constant positional changes and Scott not knowing where to play him hence the large media debates about his role chopping and changing so often (and him also been pretty crap for a lot of his first few years) and comparing that favourably to your projected worse outcome for Curtin with our club?

If so, this board never ceases to amaze me. I almost need to seek Psychological help upon departing the forum each day.
I never said it was 100% like for like, no player is, especially as Blicavs issues early can be more attributed to his unique background, I was comparing on how Curtin can become the more complete Blicavs product as his unique characteristics lend it self to be used more uniquely than most and that you shouldn’t be afraid to discover those possibilities in a player by experimenting with their use on field especially if it proves to be a point of difference to a team.
 
Nailed it. I don’t think we know where to play him at this stage. There is zero chance of him getting midfield minutes - the wing may be his best option


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If we weren't so defensive minded, you could put him on a HBF. There were some plays were he was creative with his run and ball movement during the Brisbane game. Where he struggled was the pure 1:1 defensive positioning. The club is at a cross roads. Do we concentrate on building his body and defensive techniques to become that big bodied KPD player which Nicks has basically got him marked for or do we use his strengths with which we drafted him for which is run. He is kid who is going to bulk up and could become a monster, which will kill his run and carry game. But will make him a hard defender to beat 1:1. Whereas if we build his running game, we can use him all over the ground.

I don't think Sanfl footy is going to teach him anything. In AFL he is not going to be the tallest on the ground and there will be multiple opponents just as big and tall as he is and bigger. In the Sanfl, aside from the Rucks, I doubt there will be many around his height at all. So the tests wont be there and he will just use his height as an advantage. Which wont teach him the lessons he needs to be taught.

Personally, the coaching staff should have a good look at why he wasn't a good defender in those 1:1 positions and have a rethink about what they want to do. If they have swing man / utility in mind play him a few games on the wing and on the ball to build his running game in the Sanfl. Then bring him back to AFL level, the wing position will allow him to swing into defence and into the forward lines to either help defend or attack and he wont have absolute 1:1 accountability. As his experience at AFL level grows then start swinging him into defence when needed as a third tall etc.
 
The club can’t afford to give the season up already. So I their view 100% it’s about winning now and trying to do that each week

I’m terms of the less accountable role - when standing a role player and a 2 game rookie how less accountable does a role get? He wasn’t standing Charlie like Max was.. or one of the KPF’s


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Role becomes quite accountable when you’re deep in defensive 50 often alone. It was clearly tactical by Fagan to exploit Curtin in isolated 1 on 1s and we opted for subbing him out instead of tinkering with the gameplan. My issue is that I don’t think the club is at a point where the preferred option should be to sub him out than try him elsewhere, even if at the expense of the result (at least early as half time).

I can understand the club focusing on winning now, but we still don’t actually know if Curtin in his best role could help us win now because he’s barely been tried there at any level. Frankly, it would not be difficult for him to provide more in that half back position than Will Hamill or the 2024 version of Brodie Smith. We won’t see it now because he’s either getting dropped or going into Worrell’s spot, but I feel we could have managed his first two games better, for both his own development, and figuring out exactly what he can provide for us in the short term.
 
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Role becomes quite accountable when you’re deep in defensive 50 often alone. It was clearly tactical by Fagan to exploit Curtin in isolated 1 on 1s and we opted for subbing him out instead of tinkering with the gameplan. My issue is that I don’t think the club is at a point where the preferred option should be to sub him out than try him elsewhere, even if at the expense of the result (at least early as half time).

I can understand the club focusing on winning now, but we still don’t actually know if Curtin in his best role could help us win now because he’s barely been tried there at any level. Frankly, it would not be difficult for him to provide more in that half back position than Will Hamill or the 2024 version of Brodie Smith. We won’t see it now because he’s either getting dropped or going into Worrell’s spot, but I feel we could have managed his first two games better, for both his own development, and figuring out exactly what he can provide for us in the short term.
But he could have been playing wing and pulled to the full back line and been exploited?

Surely not giving him either of the KPF (Daniher or Hipwood), the 3rd tall interceptor role (Worrell has owned it) and not playing on the most dangerous small forward (CC), we have avoided the 4 hardest match ups. We have hidden or protected him as much as possible - at some stage the player also needs to perform surely and we can attribute some responsibility to the player and not always Nicks. Peripheral role players kicked 4 on him in a half last weekend - not the real guns in their forward line and also they are missing a chunk of other good half forwards currently like Mc Carthy and Bailey who are clearly better players.
 

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