Model citizen, respected teammate, universally admired.
Liam Duggan is as straightlaced as they come. As straight as the Nullarbor plain.
In a football sense those attributes are like gold dust. Coaches and teammates know exactly what they’re going to get from him with minimal variance between his best and worst.
He’s a stand-up person with a high level of integrity and on Sunday when he plays his 150th game for the West Coast Eagles he will become eligible for life membership. In a radio interview on Friday morning he said that from a personal perspective that was the only individual accolade he dreamed of achieving in the embryonic years of his senior career.
That also says a bit about this young bloke from Bacchus Marsh.
So does the fact that in researching some background for this article, the best anyone could offer as something out of the ordinary for this neat left footer was that in Year 12 when his school was heading away on a European excursion, he forgot his passport.
Duggan has never forgotten his roots and has retained a strong connection with childhood mates, so much so that some of them have relocated to WA, at least temporarily, and are playing community football here.
Others will make the trip west to celebrate his milestone on Sunday. One will even take the field in the red, black and white of St Kilda.
Small forward Dan Butler, a Richmond premiership player, hails from the same town and is another graduate from St Patrick’s, a prolific source of top line talent. Former Eagles Mitch Brown and Matt Rosa, St Kilda champion Danny Frawley and current players Matt and Brad Crouch, Daniel Rioli and Jacob Hopper graced its field.
So, too, did Drew Petrie, the North Melbourne champion who played his final season with the Eagles and is now wellbeing and player development manager. (There must be something in the water down that way because he is also a man of impeccable standing).
Since being drafted with the club’s first selection in the 2014 ballot (#11 overall) Duggan has been an integral piece of the West Coast fabric and has lived up to all of the hype that was thrown around before football’s equivalent of a lottery.
Doug Hawkins, without question the most famous football graduate from Bacchus Marsh, a picturesque town nestled about half-way between Melbourne and Geelong, labelled Duggan a future Eagles captain.
That effusive appraisal from Hawkins, a legend of Footscray Football Club (now the Western Bulldogs) may well be on the money. The leadership qualities that Hawkins, a 350-game legend of the AFL, saw in the teen he coached have evolved in unison with his career.
Whenever current skipper Luke Shuey steps aside from the role, Duggan will certainly be in the conversation as the incumbent. Their lockers sit side-by-side and their personal attributes are almost a mirror image.
If respect from teammates is the top layer in the list of prerequisites and performance is next both men emphatically tick the boxes.
Duggan made his debut in round 2, 2015 and while there have been a few bumps along the way – most notably with debilitating knee injuries – he has carved out an impressive career.
He missed the back end of the 2015 season – and subsequently was not available for the tilt that carried the club to the Grand Final – but he had taken the first definitive steps towards locking away a place in the Eagles team.
Three years later he achieved the ultimate as part of the West Coast Eagles fourth premiership.
Recruited as a midfielder Duggan has settled into a defensive role in the last few years although when called upon in recent times out of necessity he has shown he retains the qualities required in the engine room.
Significantly, he has finished in the top five in the Club Champion twice in the last three seasons and would be on track to feature prominently again this season. He will be one of the senior players looking to lead the response against the Saints.
His teammates should also look to mark Duggan’s milestone with a significantly improved performance. He deserves it.
