West Australian Dan Curtin has shut down any speculation he is home sick and wants out of Adelaide in a post on social media on Sunday.
Speculation has been rife in the past week that the Adelaide defender wasn’t happy at his new home, having been recruited out of Claremont with pick No.8 last season.
Curtin, 19, addressed the unconfirmed reports on Instagram, posting several photos in his Crows colours captioned with “Loving my start here”.
The 197cm defender made his debut in the round eight Showdown upset against Port Adelaide but was subbed out early in the Crows draw with Brisbane a week later before being axed.
Curtin has since yet to return to the AFL side despite strong performances for their SANFL side in recent weeks.
The teenager is averaging 18 disposals in seven games for the Crows’ reserves but has put together several strong outings in the past few weeks including 21 touches against West Adelaide.
It comes amid unfounded speculation that Curtin wanted out of the Crows to return to his home state of WA to play for either West Coast or Fremantle.
Herald Sun journalist Jay Clark addressed the Curtin rumours during the week, saying there wasn’t “a huge threat at this moment”.
“I don’t think Adelaide are panicking just at this stage,” Clark said.
“I think they were eyes open that this sort of talk would come out, there could be homesickness issues.
“I think Harley Reid even said something similar.
“So, I don’t think there’s a huge threat at this moment.”
The speculation comes amid a torrid time for the Crows, who were beaten by Richmond in their must-win clash on Thursday night which has seen them slip to 15th and almost certainly out of finals contention.
Curtin is one of a host of WA-bred players linked to a return to the State.
Richmond stars Shai Bolton and Liam Baker have both been linked to Fremantle, as have Sydney pair Chad Warner and Logan McDonald.