AT 31, and with 259 games on the odometer, Mitch Duncan knows he will need to tweak future pre-season programs after running into trouble again at the end of this summer, but the two-time premiership Cat quickly reminded the AFL on Easter Monday that he still has plenty of petrol left in the tank.
Duncan was forced to watch on from afar as the reigning premiers became the first defending champions since North Melbourne in 1976 to drop the first three rounds, after dealing with a lingering calf issue that derailed his pre-season in February and prevented him from playing both practice matches.
After making his debut in round one of 2010 and featuring in the season opener in each of his first ten seasons in the AFL, Duncan hasn’t started on the grid for the past three years due to a similar calf injury that has arrived late in the pre-season.
While Jeremy Cameron was the star of the show in the 82-point win over Hawthorn, kicking seven goals to move two goals clear of Charlie Curnow in the Coleman Medal race, Duncan made a seamless return at a time when the Cats needed the West Australian’s poise and class.
“It does get frustrating, obviously, but it’s probably the most I’ve missed through a soft tissue, if I’m being honest. It is usually only one, so this was a bit different,” Duncan told AFL.com.au after the win on Easter Monday.
“I’ll probably have to look at doing things a bit different next year; I can’t just stroll in and do the same things I’ve done in the past; I can’t keep up with these young kids anymore.
“I am getting a little bit older; it is about managing myself. How we do that, I’m not 100 per cent sure just yet, but we’ll work it out.
“It is tough, if I’m being honest, on family because your moods change and you get frustrated. But I’ve got a great support network, great people at the footy club. Fingers crossed we stay on the park now.”
Duncan amassed a game-high 31 disposals at 80.6 per cent efficient and 14 marks at the MCG on Monday, finishing with 439m gained from just 70 per cent game time in a polished performance to open his account for 2023.
“To be honest, I was pretty nervous before the match. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty nervous. I wasn’t sure how I was going to go,” Duncan said.
“Even round one every year you get a bit nervous because you’re not sure how you’re going to perform, even as a group or individually. I had a few butterflies, but I think that’s a good thing; it means you care. I was probably a bit rusty early, but we ground out a win, which is the main thing.”
The Cats sent Duncan to Adelaide on the eve of the season to undergo an intensive training block under the watch of renowned physiotherapist Dr Steve Saunders, who is a consultant for Geelong’s high performance department.
Duncan had everything he needed inside GMHBA Stadium, but after a long pre-season in Geelong, the change of scenery was just as important as working with the man he went to see in South Australia.
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“It was just a matter of changing up the environment. The boys had just had time away after their second pre-season game in Brisbane. I was training and we just flipped my program a little bit. I went over there to get treatment and train one on one,” he said.
“There wasn’t too much footy involved, it was more a change of scenery for myself. It was nice to get away from the hectic life of three kids at home, although I probably put my wife under a bit of stress. Sometimes things like that have to happen if we want to go forward.”
With three kids under six at home, Duncan and his wife Demi have plenty on their plate. But unlike Geelong’s opponents in round four – Hawthorn has only one parent on the entire list – the Cats are the new family club. There are now 11 parents at the Cats, with Cameron welcoming the latest addition, taking the tally to 24 children and counting at Kardinia Park.
Duncan credited the environment the club has nurtured to allow great flexibility for an older demographic – Geelong has the oldest and most experienced list in 2023 – to help the Cats strike a work-life balance that allows them to perform on weekends.
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“I think back to Tim Kelly who had three and was away from his family and you can’t blame him for going home with those reasons. It has its challenges, but we make it work,” he said.
“The program is really flexible with Scotty; he really understands that sometimes you can’t come to training because you have other commitments. As long as you’re getting the work in, that’s all that matters.
“If you want to play your best footy you’ve got to feel happy and feel like your life is in check. To be able to that, you’ve got to be able to have that flexibility. Sometimes you might be five minutes late because you’re dropping the kids at school and there is a bit of traffic, so it takes the pressure off the person. We’re very lucky, but at the same time we’ve got to do the work and start winning more games of footy.”
If the alarm bells weren’t ringing down on the Surf Coast and Bellarine Peninsula after the loss to Gold Coast in round three, they were howling at half-time of Monday’s game against Hawthorn. The Cats were flat in the first half and should have been further behind than just nine points at the main break.
But after a 10-goal to no score onslaught in the third quarter at the MCG, on the back of 22 inside 50s to just a single Hawthorn entry, Geelong has flicked the switch again, ahead of a clash against West Coast at Adelaide Oval in Gather Round.
“There wasn’t anything really said (at half-time), we just had to double down in the way we wanted to play football. We haven’t managed to do that in the first three rounds, or for long periods anyway,” he said.
“It was a credit to the boys. It just shows that we can do it still. We’ll get a little bit of confidence out of it, but I always had confidence in the group that we would be able to turn it around at some stage. It was just a matter of when we would.”
Geelong is back in business. And so is the veteran from Perth who is still purring.