Duncan’s up for the challenge
IT was time to stand up and be counted for Mitch Duncan.
Seemingly living in the shadow of the famed Dangerwood combination, Duncan marked 2017 as the season to bridge the gap.
No longer did he want to be considered a passenger in the Geelong midfield train.
“I’ve been in the system for a long period of time now and I’ve got to take responsibility for the team,” Duncan said on the eve of his 150th game.
“I’ve still got a lot of good footy left in me. I’m only 26 and I hope I can sign a few more contracts yet.
“I definitely think I can keep improving and help take the team to success.”
It has been a coming of age — of sorts — for Duncan, who is in career best form. Averaging 28 disposals through 14 rounds, Duncan has eclipsed his numbers of last year, in which he averaged 22 touches.
While he continues to live in the shadow of high-profile stars Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood, Duncan is just as important to the inner workings of the Cats’ engine room.
“The boys deserve all the credit they can get,” Duncan said. “They’re elite players of the competition, not just at our club. They will probably go down as legends of the game.
“I think the consistency across the board has improved a lot this year. You saw last week we had three debutants and we all played our role.
“It just shows that you don’t need all the talent in the world to get you places. The depth of the team is really important to take the burden off those boys and I think we’ve gone a long way to bridge the gap.”
Duncan credits reigning Brownlow medallist Dangerfield and skipper Selwood for his rise to prominence, saying the pair had played a significant role in his development.
“It’s just the work they do outside of footy,” Duncan said.
“That’s probably why they’re the players they are. They’re really professional in the way they go about it, and they obviously have a lot of talent and that can get them places, but they work extremely hard and to be led by those two guys, not just on field but off field, you continue to learn as a person and a player.
“They teach you heaps of stuff at training. I can’t really think of some of the things that they teach you because there’s so many things that they’re knowledgeable on, and they’re good people as well.
“The game’s changed a lot. It’s a real contested battle, so they’ve educated me more about the contested side of the game. That’s helped me this year, especially being in there.
“Last year I probably didn’t grasp it as well as this year. It’s really held me in good stead for this year, that’s for sure.”
After spending much of last season on the wing, Duncan has found his groove in midfield, effectively assuming the role of Cam Guthrie.
“They (Dangerfield and Selwood) take a lot of the pressure off with the match-ups, it’s another burden for them, and it sometimes lets me off the hook a little bit because I can worry about my own game and not worry too much about opposition attention,” he said.
Continuity has played a big part in Duncan’s progression to the AFL’s elite — he’s played in 38 successive games with the Cats.
Maturity has also played a big part, and he’s becoming a dad next month.
“As you mature as a person you tend to understand footy a lot more and what it involves to be successful as a player and a team,” he said. “I’m trying to contribute . . . in any way I can and I’m learning more and more about the footy club and coming out a better person for life after footy.
“A lot of different people come through the walls. I counted that I’ve played with 75 different blokes in seven years . . . you come across a lot of different personalities and meet coaches who have great resources … a lot of them have played at the highest level and have been really successful.
“They’re always great people to learn off, people like Hock (Steve Hocking), who have good values and help set the club culture.”