Duffy’s honour for Iggy
AS honoured as Tom Duffy was to receive the Michael Morgan Medal, still the memories of his one misstep remain etched in his mind.
But as his early university offer to study engineering would suggest, the teenage halfback is an analytical thinker. Instead of wallowing, he has taken his last appearance in Ignatius Park colours as a learning curve set to thrust him into NRL reckoning.
Duffy was presented with the award for the Aaron Payne Cup’s player of the competition by the medal’s namesake himself. After a dominant campaign in the lead up to finals, the soon-to-be Cowboys Young Gun admits he did not live up to his own expectations in the semi-final defeat to St Brendan’s College.
But Duffy said he took far more away from each loss than he did a victory. And already he had set about using the defeat as a tool to take his game to a new level.
“I felt like I was in control of everything and like I was moving the team around really nicely,” Duffy said. “But I didn’t really step up in the final. That’s footy sometimes, I’ve watched the game back and learnt a couple of things.
“I was just making rash decisions, they put scoreboard pressure on us and I fell into the trap of having to make wrong decisions and didn’t play what was in front of me.
“That’s not what I do, so I need to try get back to what I normally do.”
Duffy will take his first steps towards an NRL debut with the Cowboys Young Guns program next year, hoping to follow in the footsteps of inaugural Michael Morgan Medal winner, Jeremiah Nanai.
Having been forced to medically retire from the NRL this year, Morgan said it was humbling to know his name would forever be attached to Townsville rugby league.
Now to see another local junior taking strides towards the levels he reached, he said the recognition epitomised what the Cowboys were all about.
“It’s pretty cool to see really, it’s a bit of an honour to be honest to have an award like this named after me,” Morgan said. “I grew up in Townsville and that’s why the Cowboys were brought into the competition — to give local kids an opportunity.
“I didn’t get to see much school footy (from Duffy) this year unfortunately, but I’ve heard plenty. That’s when you know someone is going well, when you hear about them without having seen them play too much.”