AFL draft 2023: Claremont swingman Daniel Curtin to train with Fremantle Dockers as part of AFL Academy

Highly-rated Claremont swingman Daniel Curtin will get the chance to train with Fremantle for a second straight year as part of his AFL Academy commitments.

Curtin, who is expected to be one of the first West Aussies called out in the national draft in November, will spend a week at Cockburn later in the month.

The 196cm key-position player was the only bottom-aged WA talent in the AFL Academy last year and one of four 2023 hopefuls this year.

The 17-year-old spoke glowingly about his first stint at the Dockers, the club he’s supported all of his life.

“Lloyd Meek (now at Hawthorn) was a great person to meet and Fyfey (captain Nat Fyfe) and (Andrew) Brayshaw were great as well,” Curtin said in November after his AFL Academy selection.

“I go for Freo and Fyfe is someone that I’ve looked up to for ages so it was pretty cool meeting him.”

Curtin was barely sighted last season due to a nasty finger tendon injury, but finished the year with a best-afield performance in the annual AFL grand final curtain-raiser at the MCG to emerge as a top-10 chance.

The Scotch College and West Coast JFC product has played mainly as a key defender to date, but Claremont and the State 18s both plan in giving him a go in attack.

“We’re probably going to look to develop him forward and if that doesn’t work out, we can always send him back,” WAFC State talent manager Adam Jones revealed on Hard Ball Gets.

“He’s a big boy and he hasn’t done a great deal in the gym just yet so his size is natural and once he gets the strength to go with his size, he’s frightening.”

It comes as fellow WA draft prospect, Subiaco utility Koltyn Tholstrup, has been locked in for a pre-season training block at West Coast next week.

Peel Thunder ruck Mitch Edwards is likely to train at Fremantle because of the alignment and his Next Generation Academy involvement, while hard-running Swan Districts midfielder Riley Hardeman will also get a stint at one of the WA clubs.