"Our team is very mature so it's really up to us young kids to start coming through," Duncan told afl.com.au.
"We've got to start thinking that we're AFL footballers and not VFL footballers. We've talked about that a lot within the club.
"It's not good enough to just go through the motions. We've got to put pressure on the senior guys so we can grab their positions and put them back in the VFL.
"We're all mates, but it's a competitive business and that's the way it has to be."
Duncan had a hip operation shortly after Geelong exited the 2010 premiership race and as a result, he’s had an interrupted pre-season to date.
"I've been doing a lot of cross-training with 'Pods' [James Podsiadly], because we both had hip surgery in late September, just after the Grand Final," he said.
"It was really good to have someone working with me and helping to push me along."
The 19-year-old recently stepped up his training load, and barring any mishaps will be fit to play in the NAB Cup.
"I still think about the hip a little bit, but I know that I've done all the rehab and there haven't been any hiccups, so that gives me confidence," he said.
"I've just got to keep training the way the coaches want me to train and make sure I've fully learned our new game-style.
"We're going to have a different balance between defending and attacking and hopefully it will be all good."
Having made his debut for the Cats in round one last year, Duncan produced a number of impressive performances before he was relegated to the VFL after fading in the second half of the season.
"I'm back to square-one really," he said. "Because we've got new coaches, and they've got their own ideas, the past doesn't have much to do with what will happen this time around."
Duncan says he's been impressed by Scott's ability to get his message through to the players and he's hoping he can emulate some of his new boss's trademark aggression on the field.
"He was a pretty tough player, so I might have to get a bit tougher in-and-under to impress him," Duncan joked.
