Liam Duggan is feeling empty at West Coast missing out on finals for the first time in his career, but the winged Eagle is confident the team will bounce back quickly.

Laid-up at home at the start of a lengthy recovery from last week’s knee operation, it is understandable that the end to 2021 wasn’t what Duggan would have hoped.

“Obviously the word that comes to mind is we’re all a bit flat, really,” Duggan told Sport FM as he reflected on the season.

“We’ve expected to play finals. We have played finals every year since I’ve been at the footy club.

“I just thought that was going to be the run all the way through to be honest, and there is that feeling of emptiness that we’re not there this year.

“Certainly one that I think our potential and what we’ve got within our four walls at the footy club, it’s something that’s not out of reach next year.

“I think it’s the disappointing part that we have the calibre of players and backing of what we’ve done in the past that we should have been playing finals this year.

“There’s that feeling, and then there’s that excitement as well with what some of our younger players have been able to produce.

“Even some of the footy we saw on the weekend against the Lions was pretty exciting and will hold us in good stead for future years.

“I don’t there’s going to be too much of a dip in the way we go.”

After battling through knee soreness, Duggan was sent for surgery last week before the final round and underwent a posterior cruciate ligament repair.

The 24-year-old is aiming to resume running late this year, around the time pre-season training begins.

“I’ll be in a brace for probably three-to-four months I think at this stage, and by the end of that time in the brace I’ll be pretty well up and moving and almost running in this brace as well,” Duggan said.

“(Upper body training) will be the way I get my exercise in at the moment, so a lot of my leg exercises at the moment are horizontal laying on my couch moving my legs around.

“But certainly I’ll be able to do cardio hit-ups and some upper body weights and making sure the knee is in the right position doing all of that.

“There’s certainly ways to keep fit and tomorrow I’ve got a bit of a session planned already to get a bit of a sweat on.”

Duggan also declared he would be staying at West Coast, with the Victorian set to recommit to a contract extension beyond this year.

“It still hasn’t been put on paper, but that’s the idea definitely,” Duggan said.

“That’s where my future lays and I want to be at the club next year, for sure.”