Coaches at Perth’s West Coast Junior Football Club turn to each other late in a game and ask the question.

“Should we hit the Dan button?”

The team has rotated youngsters through various positions so is ready to unleash its foolproof plan to flip the match in its favour.

Put Dan Curtin in the ruck.

“We were trying to be generous with how we shared time in the midfield among others who weren’t quite as good … so Dan some games would be full-forward or back pocket,” Curtin’s junior coach Seb Morrison tells this masthead.

“He had the height and would essentially do what Luke Jackson does at the moment – ground ball, give it to a teammate, if they didn’t pick it up, he’d get it, take it out of the middle, put it in the forward line and away the boys went.

“He was just so athletic and so dominant at that age in 13s and 14s.”

Curtin is taking over games again this year as the Crows fly towards the finals and prepare for Saturday night’s Showdown.

Ruck is just about the only position he has not played for Adelaide.

Today, the former key defender, half-back, forward and inside midfielder is a 197cm wingman.

Champion Data rates the 20-year-old as the seventh-best player in the league over the past six weeks.

The company ahead of him includes stars of the competition like Marcus Bontempelli, Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera, Brodie Grundy and Kysaiah Pickett.

Curtin has received 16 coaches votes across the past four games.

He is also the Rising Star Award favourite with five rounds remaining.

What impresses Matthew Nicks most about the 2023 No. 8 draft pick is how he is standing up in big moments.

“It’s unique for such a young player to be able to do that,” the Adelaide coach says.

On one hand, Jordan Smith – Claremont’s talent manager when Curtin rose through its WAFL ranks – is surprised.

“You don’t expect a second-year player to do what he’s doing,” Smith says.

Smith remembers Curtin’s first league game for Claremont well.

The Tigers trusted him to play in defence on Cody Leggett, the leading goalkicker for eventual premiers East Fremantle, and he “made a statement … and won the match-up comprehensively”.

Nicks identified that Curtin had the maturity to handle the spotlight by debuting him in the round 8 Showdown last year.

The utility bided his time in the SANFL, playing the first four state-league games last season.

Curtin, an under-18 All-Australian centre half-back, was unveiled against the Power as a hybrid defender, only to be subbed off.

He was substituted again the next week in a draw with Brisbane, then was back in the SANFL for the next two-and-a-half months as a midfielder/forward.

By the time he re-emerged in the AFL side for the last five games of the year, Curtin was playing mostly in attack.

The versatile left-footer switched roles again to a wing during pre-season.

His height and aerial prowess against smaller opponents has helped him sit equal-14th in the competition for contested marks this year.

The names in front of him are all key forwards (Sam Darcy, Riley Thilthorpe, Josh Treacy, Mabior Chol, Charlie Curnow, Mitch Georgiades, Aaron Naughton, Jesse Hogan), ruckmen (Max Gawn, Darcy Cameron) or tall defenders (Sam Taylor, Harris Andrews, Rory Lobb).

Adelaide leads the league in contested marks.

Smith cannot not have imagined Curtin starring on a wing “because it was one of the only positions he hadn’t played” at Claremont or in the WA state junior program.

“It obviously suits his attributes – he’s got really strong running power for a player that size, some great aerial stuff,” he says.

At West Coast Junior Football Club, he would learn all sorts of roles.

“He’d play out on a wing, but the problem was other kids getting the ball to him,” Morrison says.

Curtin never had that problem with his teammates.

“One thing that stood out with Dan was – because of his personality, I think – he really tried to bring other kids into the game,” Morrison says.

“He was a pretty timid, not extroverted kid, but was always really generous.

“He was super understanding of what it meant to be part of a team.

“He wasn’t just focused on kicking goals and taking as much metreage as possible.

“So it’s not surprising seeing he’s been able to move into a wing role that requires a lot of thinking and processing.”

Curtin’s running power suits the position.

He has ranked in the top five for distance covered during games in seven of the past eight games and first in three of them.

“Dan’s got the size of a full-forward and moves like a small forward, which was really similar at juniors,” Morrison says.

“His athleticism has always stood out.”

Recognising Curtin’s talent from an early age, Morrison recalls “borderline begging him” and his dad, Russell, to stick with footy when the young gun almost followed his father into rugby for a year.

“I was trying to get him and Russ to understand that Dan’s not just good at footy, he’s really good,” he says.

“He was pretty close … and then who knows what would’ve happened.

“We kept him around and lucky we did because he’s a pretty special player.”

Curtin grew up a Fremantle supporter who idolised Dockers champion Matthew Pavlich.

Pavlich’s versatility was evidenced by him being named in All-Australian teams at full-back, half-forward, centre half-forward and full-forward.

Drafted from Adelaide to Perth, he was part of trade speculation with the Crows and Port for much of his career, but retired as a one-club player.

Curtin was seemingly linked with the WA teams from the moment the Crows selected and social media raised eyebrows at his restrained reaction with his family.

“I was on the table with him on the night,” Smith says.

“Adelaide was never really in the picture for him, so it was a reaction that might have had Adelaide fans scratching their heads a little bit going ‘gee, does this kid not want to play for us?’.

“But he was always going to be really happy to go anywhere.”

Curtin reinforced that by pledging his long-term future to the Crows with a year to run on his contract, re-signing in May until the end of 2029.

“I’m sure if West Coast got him on draft night he would have valued the opportunity to stay home … but he’s obviously settled in really well now and the club seem to have done a really good job supporting him,” Smith says.

Smith was not shocked Curtin slipped to pick 8, even though he was WA’s Most Valuable Player at the national titles, given injuries affected his bottom-age year and he had slow start to his draft campaign.

Some clubs doubted his best position.

West Coast, which took Victorian Harley Reid at No. 1, reportedly tried to trade up to get him with its next selection.

North Melbourne was understood to have interviewed Curtin at least four times – online, at the combine, then recruiting boss Will Thursfield and coach Alastair Clarkson interviewed him on separate trips to Perth.

Clarkson was said to love him, but the Kangaroos opted for Tasmanian half-back/midfielder Colby McKercher (No. 2) and Victorian forward Zane Duursma (No. 4) with their early calls.

Hawthorn considered Curtin when it chose Eastern Ranges goalsneak Nick Watson at No.5.

Adelaide ultimately secured Curtin by boldly trading picks 10, 14 and a future second-rounder to GWS for No. 8 and No. 17.

“It might sound ridiculous to say at pick 8 that he’s a steal, but he is a steal in this draft,” Fox Footy’s Mick Ablett said at the time.

Smith stays in touch with Curtin, who lives with teammates Hugh Bond and Zac Taylor.

The former Claremont talent manager – now in the same role at East Perth – says the Crows have got themselves an outstanding character.

Curtin helped coach the Tigers’ under-14 development squad during his draft year when he was playing league footy.

“It’s something we’ve always tried to do with role models in the pathway … and he didn’t need much encouragement,” Smith says.

“He was a natural and the boys loved him.

“They’re definitely following his progress and I’m sure they’ll remember he had a bit of a hand in their development.

“He was premiership captain of our colts team in his draft year.

“His ability to build connections with his teammates and staff, ability to show empathy, build relationships with senior boys when he went up and played league footy gives an indication he must have done a good job at building connections when he got to the Crows.”

Nicks sees resemblances between Curtin and Adelaide captain Jordan Dawson.

“They’re similar characters and have both got incredible belief in themselves,” Nicks says.

“They prioritise team.

If Curtin plays in a Crows flag this year or he wins the Rising Star Award, it will inspire youngsters back home, where his brother, 200cm key forward Cody, is a 2025 draft prospect.

“It’d give a nice, shiny head of golden hair for all the other boys to look up to at West Coast Junior Football Club,” Morrison says.

“They have Dan’s picture on the wall already, if I’m not mistaken.

“A number of boys from the team I coached are now playing with the West Coast amateur team right now and being so close to the beach, there’s a fleet of golden-haired Dan Curtin lookalikes running around at ammos level.”

You suspect there may also be plenty of No. 6 guernseys in the crowd at Adelaide Oval soon.

The jumper, famously worn by Crows star Tony Modra during the 1990s, was given to nine players before Curtin, none of whom featured more than 56 times for the club.

Curtin has not missed a match this year while having a huge influence in Adelaide’s rise from 15th last season to third in 2025.

“I love playing footy with him,” Dawson says.

“I’ve been really surprised and happy with his growth, especially over the last six weeks.”