Geelong teammates and coaches reflect on what separates Mitch Duncan from the rest ahead of game 300
He has never won a best and fairest or been an All-Australian, but Mitch Duncan’s impact has been widely felt at the Cats. Ahead of his 300th game, Duncan’s teammates and coaches reflect on his journey and what lies ahead.
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Mitch Duncan is many things to countless people at Geelong; dependable, versatile, level-headed, durable, underrated, loyal, and a coach in a player’s body.
Duncan, 33, will become just the seventh Cat to play 300 games in Thursday night’s blockbuster against the Western Bulldogs, joining a prestigious club that includes his close mate Tom Hawkins.
“Mitch Duncan is the backbone of the operation in a lot of ways, did some great things, and we should be forever grateful that we’ve had Mitch on our list,” Hawkins told this masthead.
“It’s not just the player that he is on the weekend, he’s a great connector of all ages, and that’s something that professionally that I’ve really admired about him and his journey.”
The selfless utility has thrived in just about every position on the ground at the Cats and while he has never won a Carji Greeves Medal or earnt an All-Australian blazer, his consistency has been a constant through their successful era.
Duncan has celebrated 204 wins with Chris Scott – the second most of any coach and player pairing – but it was one of their most heartbreaking losses that sticks in the mind of Scott.
The master tactician was shattered after their crushing 2020 grand final defeat to Richmond, and a conversation between the pair summed up why he has reached the 300-game milestone — and may well see him become a coach himself in the future.
“We got back to the hotel after that loss, and I was just talking to Mitch and just felt so flat,” Scott recalled.
“Mitch as always a pragmatist is like ‘We’ll be right, just get back on the horse’.
“That was what I should have been saying to him, and yet it was him sort of making me feel a bit better about the world.
“If you ask me the one thing that I remember about Mitch, it’s strange, but it is kind of that conversation. And there’s been a number of times where he’s kind of straightened me up.”
Scott has long sought for advice from Duncan about the game and viewed him on a level playing field.
“But more than any player, almost I can remember in my 30 odd years in footy, Mitch was an old head in terms of his footy nous. He was already a smart coachable player, and that’s kind of the way I describe our relationship over the years,” Scott said.
“I’ve always felt like Mitch was more a peer than a young player and coach relationship, and that’s sort of where we are now.
“Mitch has always been an on field coach. It didn’t take 200 or 250 games for him to become that, I felt like he was that after 10 games.”
In terms of teammates, it is fitting Hawkins has shared more victories than any other player with Duncan – 186 to be exact – given the tight bond they shared have shared on and off the field.
Geelong’s games record holder was one of many Cats stars to benefit from Duncan’s calmness, composure and phenomenal game sense.
“He’s often the guy when I got frustrated out there that I would selfishly be able to take my anger out on and he would just have this beautiful calm way of controlling your emotion, talking through the process and then and then getting you back on track,” Hawkins said with a
“Probably can’t forget selfishly how many times Mitch Duncan found my chest and kicked the ball to me. At times it became a little bit unfair.
“He certainly knew where I was going to be sometimes before I did, so an incredible reader of the game.
“He’s never been a best-and-fairest winner he hasn’t been an All-Australian player but you know he has been incredibly consistent and played at such a high level.
“One of those very much that you look back in periods of time in Geelong long and I feel like – I’m biased – but he is always a very much underrated player.”
Andrew Mackie has shared a connection with Duncan for the best part of two decades, first as a teammate and now as an administrator of the club.
Mackie his highlighted Duncan’s ability to bring other teammates into the game and his flexibility, which has been central to the Cats’ brand.
“There’s moments in games or individual performance where it’s not always flowing, but to have a player like Mitch where you can almost help those players out through his ability to be clean and hit targets over the years has been to a really high level,” Mackie said.
“Consistent player, reliable, flexible, someone who’s embodied what our coaching group has really thrived in.
“You want to give to the coaches as many players that you can move the magnets around and pull some levers, Mitch has been that for 16 years.”
James Kelly has seen the love and care that Duncan shows Cats players of all ages as his teammate and now his defensive line coach.
“He is a pretty vanilla guy, he’s not the funniest person in the room, he isn’t the loudest person in the room or anything, but he’s just always been a really good teammate,” Kelly said.
“He’s always around, he always cares for people, he always invests in his teammates, invests his own game and all that stuff, just a great level headed person to have around.”
Premiership teammate Harry Taylor said Duncan’s impact goes beyond the football field.
“He is front and centre with the values of the footy club, front and centre in terms of how the Geelong culture is portrayed. He’s been a key driver in not only shaping it but also in sort of promoting it and living it,” Taylor said.
EARLY YEARS
Things have appeared to come easy for Duncan across his career.
Playing in a premiership in his 29th game – coming on as the substitute and kicking a memorable goal against Collingwood and continuing to impact despite an MCL injury, finals appearances just about every year and a 70 per cent win rate across his career.
“Sometimes with all these great qualities and traits that he’s developed, we lose sight of the fact that it takes a lot of hard work,” Hawkins said.
“He sees the game incredibly well as good as anyone that I have seen in my time in the game. That’s certainly his strength, but he’s had to work bloody hard on other parts of his game to be able to play each week and be selected.
“I’m just proud of him for how hard he’s had to work to get to this milestone throughout the many years he’s adapted and changed and evolved with the game.”
This dedication was there for all to see at his junior club of Carine some 3300 kilometres away in Eastern Perth.
Geoff Counsel, Duncan’s Carine coach through the ranks, said his desire to improve was unmatched.
“What really set him apart, he was very driven, even from a really young age. He wanted to. improve all the time, he was a real hard worker, still enjoyed being there with all his mates,” Counsel said.
“But as soon as the footies came out, he was the one that was on the job concentrating and always wanting to get better.
“Right from those early days, you could tell that his goal was to be a professional footballer playing in the AFL. And he certainly managed to achieve that!”
Experienced Geelong recruiter Stephen Wells recalls the versatility, marking ability and athletic traits of Duncan running around for East Perth, Western Australia and the AFL Academy during his draft year.
And most of all, his consistency.
“Mitch was a very, very consistent player (at junior level),” Wells said
“Over the course of the time we were watching him develop, he displayed all the skills and all his running ability at various times. He wasn’t necessarily the best player on the ground all the time, but he just showed those capabilities that he’s used so brilliantly now for such a long time.
“When we’re drafting players, we’re not thinking about them playing 300 games. But we did have great optimism that he would be able to add to our team for a long time.”
It was ruckman Shane Mumford’s trade to Sydney that ultimately allowed the Cats to take the blond-haired Duncan with pick 28 in the 2009 AFL Draft.
“He was a bit of a cowboy, Mitch Duncan, with his peroxided blond hair and certainly brought a lot of Western Australia in him – relaxed, laid back,” Hawkins chuckled.
Kelly remembers Duncan making an impact from the day he walked in the door.
“I remember when he first came in he was still just always smart, just knew how to find the footy, knew how to impact the game,” Kelly said.
Taylor noticed Duncan’s thirst for knowledge and his ability to connect with teammates of all ages.
“Early on you could tell Mitch was the sort of guy who was really keen to listen and learn,” Taylor said.
“And always someone who’s comfortable being around people a bit older and it just felt like he was always the person who was there wanting to get better, wanting to listen, wanting to understand things so that he could apply in his own way.”
‘DON’T KNOW HOW LONG I’LL BE HERE’
Duncan has been fiercely loyal, remaining at the club for 16 seasons on the opposite side of the country.
After two months at Kardinia Park, it seemed only a matter of time until he was back in Western Australia.
Counsel recalled speaking with Mitch over the Christmas break in 2009.
“I said, ‘how is it there Mitch’? And he shook his head and you could tell he was unsure about moving over the other side of the country. I think it was a hell of a lot colder than Perth,” Counsel said with a laugh.
“Then I said, ‘How long are you going to last over there Mitch?’ Because I was disappointed he wasn’t drafted by a Perth team.
“And he said, ‘I’m going to give it my best, but I don’t know how long I’ll be here’. So still at that early age, you could tell he hadn’t settled into the club.
Just 18 months later, Duncan was up on the premiership dais as part of Geelong’s 2011 premiership side.
“I was watching it and when he got up on the stage to grab it, it was a pretty proud moment. I had a tear in my eye,” Counsel said.
“I tell you what, he has made the right decision staying there.”
It was Duncan with a tear in his eye on Wednesday as he spoke about his loving wife Demi and their family, including his four children Scarlett, Ollie, Archie and Parker, who watched on at his press conference proudly.
“I was lucky enough to have a really good host family when I first came to the footy club. They certainly made life a lot easier, and then obviously meeting Demi it made me feel like home definitely, having another family here…” Duncan said with a pause, choking up with emotion. “Was obviously really important too. My mother and father in law obviously played a big role there as well, so I thank them.”
“And just the footy club in general, it does wonderful things to people, and I suppose they’re like a second family as well. I couldn’t, couldn’t have done it without them, that’s for sure.”
Hawkins said it is a testament to his loyalty that he didn’t head back to Perth.
“Perth’s often beautiful weather and you’re on the on the beach and Geelong is too, no doubt, but it can get pretty cold and miserable as we know,” Hawkins said.
“I’d imagine that the Western Australian clubs every year Mitch Duncan’s been out of contract or leading into it, has asked the question, ‘Can we get him back?’
“They’re culturally different places as well so there’s always that risk that you run, but I felt like he’s always been embedded in the Geelong football club and he’s certainly been very loyal.”
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
Duncan’s selfless nature came to light once again when he was forced to play in the VFL to start the season, coming into the season just four games shy of his milestone.
The ageing star said his VFL stint was handled “first class from all ends”, but Scott was quick to point out it was all Duncan.
“A lot of players say the right words, and Mitch has alluded to it over the years. It’s kind of something to the effect of, ‘I’ll play wherever you need me’. But he really meant that,” Scott said.
“And through this pre season and the early parts of this season when Mitch said, ‘I’ll just do what’s required of me, and I’ll give myself every chance, and if I play in the VFL, I’ll embrace that, and I’ll help coach the younger guys’.
“I can’t think of anyone who’s done it as well as Mitch, and he just played and trained so well that our intention was to prioritise a few younger players early in the year, but he just hasn’t missed a beat. This is not a situation where we’re finding a spot for Mitch in the team, he’s just been performing too well to not have him in the team.”
Out of contract at the end of the season, Duncan said on Wednesday he is eager to pursue coaching once he hangs up the boots.
“I actually really enjoyed playing VFL this year. You get back to basics, and I suppose for the next period of my life, I want to kind of go down that coaching element, and to be able to do that with the young kids here, it’s a great opportunity,” Duncan said.
Kelly believes a career in coaching beckons for Duncan.
“He could do it tomorrow,” Kelly said.
“The best thing about Mitch is he actually amplifies the coaching group really well because he understands the game, he understands how it works, so you can sort of talk to Mitch about concepts and what we want to do and he becomes another coach within the playing group.”
You only have to look at Geelong’s current coaching staff to see he may well follow in the footsteps of former Cats players Kelly, Steven King and James Rahilly.
“Coaching is definitely a path that Mitch could excel at, but footy is a bit broader than just the coaching bit, so I think our intention is kind of to explore those areas and find the best fit over time,” Scott said.
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