Player Watch Daniel Curtin

[1970crow]

Round 7-9 with no match fitness and conditioning.

He won't have much of an impact on the 2026 season unfortunately. Next man up but any other option doesn't even come close to what a fully fit and firing Curtin will have to offer. Big shame but 2027 Brownlow year sounds nice

I never know exactly what they mean with the longer injury layoffs. When it's a 2 week hammy, we know that they'll be back and raring to go in 1-4 weeks. When it's 12 weeks, is that 6 weeks off and then 6 weeks training and them being raring to go, or is that them being available for a game in the local u15 league.

 

[1970crow]

I doubt he'll play SANFL

I expect he'll play a half a game in the SANFL and then come into the 1s and play 40%-50% game time.

 

[Tex Danger]

The good thing with Dan is hes flexible in the positions he can play. You can ease him in as a deep forward/mid/bench rotation easily enough with a 5 man bench.

Playing him back in the 2s is a waste of time IMO. Now if he'd done his knee early in the pre season and missed the bulk of the conditioning work then yeah sure give him a week or 2.

But he hasn't.

I agree but it’s also the point I’m making is the trade off

We can definitely ease him in on low TOG in versatile roles

But the fattest way to injecting him as a primary mud may be to bring him back as that at the lower level

There’s arguements both ways

 

[cmndstab]

Only just catching up with the news. It really sucks to lose Curtin for half a season, that's going to be a massive dent in our plans to put everything in the "rely on organic growth" basket.

For now, the main concern is that he is able to come back at 100%.

 

[mcleod at 50 lines it up]

Kneecap? I don't remember a player having a good run with them, get the feeling might plague his career

 

[GreyCrow]

Didn't think bringing Curtin back into the senior side on a 5 man bench would illicit such a negative response.

Some people dont understand you dont play your very best back in the 2s

Its a fair argument but using Rankine really shot yourself in the foot

The issue I see is its a leg injury so running is off the cards until the doctors give him the all clear . Yes he will be doing weights on his legs to build them back up but running fitness is different

I note your comment around the 5 man bench and thats possible but I'm a conservative when it comes to LTIs and would like 1 tune up game in the SANFL

 

[FR0GGY]

Not many players come straight back in after a 3 month lay off!

The odds are he plays sanfl.

We do need a decent key back for the sanfl side

 

[FR0GGY]

But the fattest way to injecting him as a primary mud may be to bring him back as that at the lower level

How very sanfl of you!

 

[Slippery Pete]

View attachment 2514114

Post of the year and it’s only January.

 

[AFC979810]

It'll take him a few weeks to get going but to suggest he won't have much impact on this season is fairly hyperbolic.

I don't think it's hyperbolic at all. It's a kid that has 32 games to his name and really only 2 full preseasons at AFL level. This isn't some 150 game hardened AFL player.

Curtin a great season last year considering his development, but only really had a stretch of 6 weeks where he really impacted games (and 3 of those 5 were 70+ wins).

Curtin was already becoming a little overhyped on here about his impact on 2026 (myself included). The sky is the limit for him if he stays healthy and I really believe he is a unicorn.

The reality is that he is going under the knife and isn't expected to be able to play AFL until Round 9 - thats 108 days away. Thats a lot of time away from football in which a lot can go wrong.

Are there any examples of players missing the first half of the year and playing really good footy in the 2nd half? I think Tex had a pretty solid comeback in 2014 after his season debut came in Rd 9 (but he had 7 preseasons and 70 games to his name at that stage).

 

[Crowtel]

Post of the year and it’s only January.

Has anyone seen me and Samcro in the same room before because I had this one ready to go before I caught up to previous posts

 

[AFC979810]

Has anyone seen me and Samcro in the same room before because I had this one ready to go before I caught up to previous posts

Slippery Pete imagining there are two Samcro's.

 

[Slippery Pete]

Slippery Pete imagining there are two Samcro's.

One is a full-time job, no way I’d have time for two

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Has anyone seen me and Samcro in the same room before because I had this one ready to go before I caught up to previous posts

View attachment 2514388

What purpose does the bugler serve in this image?

 

[AFC979810]

What purpose does the bugler serve in this image?

Not much of Anzac Day ceremony without him.

 

[JPetro83]

If you were a betting man would you say Dan makes his comeback AFL game against Port in the showdown, Richmond at the G or North Melb at home?
Showdown will be 15 weeks since he had the op

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

Not much of Anzac Day ceremony without him.

The post is about AI, what does Anzac Day have to with AI?

 

[cleanhands]

The post is about AI, what does Anzac Day have to with AI?

Reference to radiojack who posted a few years ago about playing the last post early in the morning disrupting his nap,
It’s a great post by Samcro

 

[Samcro24]

Reference to radiojack who posted a few years ago about playing the last post early in the morning disrupting his nap,
It’s a great post by Samcro

 

[Slippery Pete]

The post is about AI, what does Anzac Day have to with AI?

Why does RadioShack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?

 

[WaynesWorld19]

Why does RadioShack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?

I think Radioshack's gone bust .....damn Amazon

 

[Mr_Moogle]

I am looking forward to the AI part of the docos about the great depression 2.0.

 

[Soggy2112]

It'll take him a few weeks to get going but to suggest he won't have much impact on this season is fairly hyperbolic.

Agreed. However, it will almost certainly mean that he won’t have the tank for the midfield role we were hoping he’d move into.

 

[Soggy2112]

I never know exactly what they mean with the longer injury layoffs. When it's a 2 week hammy, we know that they'll be back and raring to go in 1-4 weeks. When it's 12 weeks, is that 6 weeks off and then 6 weeks training and them being raring to go, or is that them being available for a game in the local u15 league.

I think the reality is that no one knows.

With a short term soft tissue injury, players aren’t going to lose a whole lot of conditioning. They just need to heal that injury and they’re generally good to go.

There’s so many more potential complications with a long layoff, and that gets magnified with a young player whose body has not fully matured.

The club is actually pretty good at providing really clear and specific updates with this stuff though, hopefully that’s still the same without Burgess as he was the one who would normally make the statements.

 

[Cromulant]

Agreed. However, it will almost certainly mean that he won’t have the tank for the midfield role we were hoping he’d move into.

Throw him in for 5 minutes a quarter to begin with, and by the time we get to the finals (assuming we are there) he'll have more of an impact.