Geelong midfielder Mitch Duncan is ready to embrace his role as the ‘Fourth Beatle’ in 2018

PATRICK Dangerfield, Gary Ablett and Joel Selwood. It has a nice ring to it. But don’t forget about the Cats’ other star midfielder, Mitch Duncan, who is ready to fly well under the radar in 2018.

“RINGO Starr? Nup.”

Mitch Duncan is too young to know the iconic British musician and drummer.

But when we elaborate on the man widely-recognised as the “Fourth Beatle”, the Geelong midfielder is on to us as quickly as a bouncing ball on the Kardinia Park wing.

Where Ringo had Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, Duncan has Dangerfield, Ablett and Selwood.

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But to suggest Duncan will only provide the background beat for his three celebrated teammates would be to sell him short.

The 26-year-old is coming off a career-best season in which he accumulated nearly 698 disposals — the eighth-most in the AFL — with a kicking efficiency among the best in the league.

Mitch Duncan won’t have to worry about a tag in 2018. Picture: AAP Images

For all the hype Ablett’s return has generated, the prospect of Duncan cutting teams apart without defensive attention is a tantalising one for Cats fans.

“To even be able to play with those three guys is an honour in itself really,” Duncan said.

“They are three of the champions of the game, not just the footy club. I’ve been lucky enough to play with so many over my career, with the Cats having a bit of success and quite a bit of star power and it’s been a great learning source.

“You continue to tap into them as much as possible to improve your game, which I think is starting to show a little bit. Just having that continuity of playing and training over the last two years has given me a great base to keep going.”

The Cats’ quartet evokes comparisons with the Brisbane Lions’ Fab Four — Voss, Black, Lappin, Akermanis — and the revered West Coast trio of Judd, Cousins, Kerr.

Few things build hype like a talent-laden midfield, but nothing builds hype at Geelong like the name, Ablett.

Duncan doesn’t pretend the players aren’t aware of the bulging outside expectation, nor that city’s excitement hasn’t seeped into the corridors of Kardinia Park.

But at the same time, as a member of a side that’s soured two solid home-and-away seasons with consecutive preliminary final beltings, he knows nothing is even close to being achieved.

“It would be great to get to the end of the season and we’ve won a flag and one of the boys has maybe won a Brownlow or something. Then it would be pretty special,” Duncan said.

Gary Ablett’s return has Geelong fans buzzing. Picture: Mike Dugdale

“But together we haven’t done anything yet. It’s hard to talk too much about it, but I can understand why everyone gets so excited.”

Duncan knows, because away from the prying eyes of the media and fans, he’s been living it at training for three months.

“It’s pretty cool to be honest. When you’re on the same side as those guys, you just can’t see him (Ablett) doing anything wrong, really,” he said.

“It’s a great buzz. Sometimes you feel sorry for the opposition team that has to wear the other jumpers in the training drills. It’s great, but at the same time they’re very humble people who continually drive the standards of the club and pass on their knowledge, which is what we expect from every player — to help and care for each other.”

The City of Geelong is abuzz. Membership has soared to 50,000 in the fastest time in the club’s 159-year history and if you’ve driven around the Geelong Ring Road recently you wouldn’t have missed the big “welcome home Gaz” lettering on an adjacent paddock — the town’s answer to the Hollywood hills.

“It’s been great for the whole community,” Duncan said.

“It’s definitely buzzing now that footy’s back and with the squad we’ve got, there’s a lot of expectation there on how we perform, which is the way we like it. We’re an organisation that wants to succeed and has succeeded for quite a while.”

Duncan enters 2018 in the prime of his career, fresh off a season in which he racked up 30 disposals or more 12 times, while doubling his clearance numbers and increasing his contested ball output.

Fatherhood has suited him, with daughter Scarlet now seven months old, and Dangerfield this month named him the standout pre-season performer.

“I don’t think I’ve missed a session, which has got me into a good position for a good season,” Duncan said.

“The defensive side of my game — the pressure and tackling — is something I work really hard on because it doesn’t come naturally to me. But the attacking side is my more natural strength and I try to keep that at a high level.

“Physically and mentally I feel really good. As you get older you definitely appreciate how much the pre-season sets you up.”

Gary Ablett, Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield at training together. Picture: Alan Barber

Geelong has seemed well set in each of the past two seasons, finishing the regular season in second place before meek preliminary final exits to Adelaide (2017) and Sydney (2016).

The level is high when you’re playing one of the three best sides left in the premiership race. But Duncan acknowledged it was the nature of the defeats that had stung a club that’s featured in September in 10 of the past 11 seasons.

“It’s not so much losing, it’s how we’ve lost that’s really been disappointing,” he said.

“But that’s not something we’re thinking about now. We just want to put ourselves in that position again where we can rectify it. Our focus is on the first half of the year to set us up for a good tilt at the back end and go for a top-four position again.

“That’s our first aim and then we reassess and, I suppose, review our program over those last four weeks and try and change a few things to see if it can work.”

The retirements of Tom Lonergan and Andrew Mackie will be felt, but the Cats hope offset by Ablett’s arrival and a reinforced front half.

Recruit Stewart Crameri has impressed in match simulation as a hard-running lead-up target. Cory Gregson is back training well, and with Nakia Cockatoo and a fit-again Lincoln McCarthy, will add the speed and defensive pressure the Cats’ forward 50m missed last year.

With that support cast and a midfield the envy of the competition, Duncan will be hoping to get by with a little help from his friends.