West Coast co-captain Liam Duggan hopes to add second premiership after change at Eagles

Co-captain Liam Duggan says West Coast are on the “right path” to regaining their status as an AFL powerhouse and push for a fifth premiership before his career comes to an end. Duggan and forward Oscar Allen are entering their second season as joint skippers of the Eagles, leading the club through it’s biggest ever rebuild. After only 10 wins in the past three seasons, there has been a change on and off the field at Lathlain under new coach Andrew McQualter and chief executive Don Pyke. This has also led to a rejuvenated hope amongst the supporters who are looking for the next generation to drive the Eagles forward. The change has several veterans including Duggan hoping they will be part of the next successful era at the Eagles before their time in football is up. Duggan, 28, won a premiership aged only 21 in 2018 and after re-signing last year until the end of 2028, said he hoped to add a second medal to his collection despite it seeming far away right now. “I sure hope so and obviously we’re not setting any limits or expectations on ourselves, but I think the way things are feeling around the club I think we’re on the right path to climbing back up the ladder and being competitive in all of our games going forward,” Duggan told The West Australian. “I really hope it’s a quicker build than what some might expect. I won’t give you a hard and fast answer on that one, but I really do hope that we’re competing (for a premiership) sooner rather than later.” Duggan said the confidence came from the “great energy” they were feeling at Mineral Resources Park. “With the tough couple of years that we’ve had performance-wise, we’ve got obviously Mini in with a fresh new look at things and a lot of new players through the door as well that have brought a different energy that a lot of us just haven’t had,” he said. “It’s just different which is always nicer, the change has been welcome and the boys are playing an exciting brand of footy at the moment, the way we’ve been training and competing against each other. “The AFL spoke about it to us last night (Sunday night), we’re all unbeaten at this stage of the year, start on a level playing field again. There’s a little bit of excitement about what we can potentially do.” A lot of excitement is also coming from the next generation of Eagles that have been drafted over the past few years. Reuben Ginbey has established himself as a strong footballer in his first 40 games and will cement himself a spot in the backline alongside Brady Hough. Elijah Hewett will return from a serious foot injury that kept him sidelined all of last year and has put together a strong pre-season, while top draftee Bo Allan is pushing for a round-one debut after looking like a ready-made AFL player. Add in the recruitment of Richmond premiership players Liam Baker and Jack Graham as well as Carlton small forward Matt Owies and the Eagles will look vastly different in 2024. Duggan said he would be confident in any of the youngsters pushing for a round one position when they take on North Melbourne in their final pre-season game in Bunbury on Saturday. “I’d be confident in them all, to be honest within reason in that they’ve been out there for us and got the minutes in,” he said. “I don’t know what they will go with (in round one), we’ve got another dress rehearsal this weekend which will be nice and more of that full-scale practice game and the full works which will be nice to go through that process. “There’s some boys like Bo Allan who has done really well and Jack Hutchinson has a full pre-season under his belt at the AFL level now and is doing some really good things for us. “I don’t think anyone will fall from the clouds for us but hopefully there’s some nice surprises in there for some of our young blokes.” The Kangaroos will likely have on familiar face in their ranks when they take on the Eagles with premiership spearhead Jack Darling a chance to take on his former side. “It will be interesting for sure, I was chatting to (North Melbourne captain) Jy Simpkin today and asking how Jack’s going and he’s apparently settled in really well and gelling with the boys over there,” Duggan said. “He is obviously a long-time friend and teammate of ours so it will be interesting all be it in a practice game but it will be good to see JD and I hope he goes well but doesn’t go too well on the weekend.”