TAYLOR Duryea was running up and down the boundary line, urging his coach to put him on the ground. It was the under-15 country trials, and Duryea was stuck on the bench for the first two-and-a-half quarters.

 

Greg Meredith, Caulfield Grammar's football coach, was there to watch Duryea, who lived in Corowa on the New South Wales bank of the Murray River. He had applied to attend the private school on a scholarship, and this was Meredith's first opportunity to see him play.

 

With 10 minutes to go in the third quarter, Duryea took off his jacket, ran on the field and kicked two goals before three-quarter time. Then he kicked five in the last quarter to finish with seven in 30 minutes of footy.

 

"Needless to say, I was won over," Meredith remembers. "He later told me he had a hamstring injury, but his athleticism and explosiveness was just extraordinary."

 

Duryea joined Caulfield as a year 10 student in 2007, living in the boarding house. Jack Ziebell arrived at the same time, via Wodonga.

 

While Ziebell dominated games, Duryea also quickly fitted in, taking big marks, jumping high, and kicking well on his left side. Within a couple of games he had earned the nickname of 'Bulldog' for burrowing into packs, grabbing the ball and then bolting off.

 

On Saturday, Duryea will play in the Grand Final for Hawthorn against the Sydney Swans. Meredith, football director Barry Rowlings, and everyone at Caulfield Grammar and the Morcom boarding house will be barracking for the 23-year-old, having closely followed his long road to the top.

 

As a schoolboy, Duryea could play anyway. One game, in year 12, with Caulfield down he was moved to centre-half forward in the wet against Wesley College. Duryea took some big pack marks, kicked a couple of goals, and dragged his side over the line.

 

"No one else on the ground could have done it," Meredith said. "In those days nobody knew where he played best. He used to say at the time 'I'm a better backman than forward' and I used to say 'You might be, but I need you in the forward line and midfield'."

 

The Hawks saw the same qualities. Duryea arrived at the club, via pick 69 in the 2009 draft, earmarked for a small forward's role. He and the Hawks tried it for a year-and-a-half, but struggled through a rut.

 

When he didn't get an early touch he started stressing about it, thinking too much about the end result rather than the process. When he did get a shot at goal, he would worry himself out of kicking it straight.

 

Duryea was sent back to the VFL reserves in the middle of 2011, and moved into defence, a change that has helped him kickstart his AFL career.

 

"At the time Taylor was frustrated, and he told me he thought he'd go better in the backline. He went there for Box Hill, and it all fell into place," Meredith said. 

"He had almost the classic Hawthorn apprenticeship. Because he had to go back and learn his craft, he could play another 150 games."

 

After another year-and-a-half in the backline, moulding his game on Hawks' small defender Brent Guerra, Duryea finally made his AFL debut in round three last year. He played 18 games, but was dropped on the eve of the finals.

 

Disappointed but not discouraged, Duryea went back to the VFL to play a key role in the Box Hill Hawks' flag, his eyes opened to football at the top level and what's required.

 

After 20 games in this year's home and away season, Duryea has approached this finals series trying to do the things he's good at: stopping his man, being aggressive in the air, and having confidence with the ball. He's tried not to doubt his instincts but follow them.

 

Last week, when he jumped over a marking contest and punched the ball out of bounds in the Hawks' preliminary final over Port Adelaide, it brought back memories of his school days for Rowlings.

 

"He's a good listener, he's a quiet sort of kid and he just goes about his job," said Rowlings, who spent the week hoping Duryea would be selected for his first Grand Final.

 

"At school he was a great role model for all of the kids coming through. This is his fifth year at Hawthorn, but he's persevered, and the Hawks saw the upside in him. He's got a bit going for him."