In a fascinating cross-code collaboration, newly appointed West Coast Eagles assistant coach Mitch Duncan has been given exclusive access to the Australian cricket team's inner sanctum, just one day out from the highly anticipated first Ashes Test.
A Footy Man in the Nets
Dressed in official Cricket Australia gear, the recently retired Geelong Cats champion was spotted observing the Australian squad's final preparations in the nets at Perth's Optus Stadium on Thursday. The session was the team's last major hit-out before the series commences at the same venue on Friday.
Duncan, who was drafted from East Fremantle in 2009, boasts an impressive AFL pedigree. He played 305 games for the Geelong Cats and was a key part of their premiership-winning sides in 2011 and 2022. Following his retirement this year, he returned to Western Australia and signed on with the West Coast Eagles as their backline coach.
A History of Cross-Code Connections
This is not the first time the Australian cricket team has opened its doors to a football coach. The move mirrors the 2023 Ashes in England, where Stuart Dew joined the camp shortly after his departure from the Gold Coast Suns.
The connection between Duncan and the national team is facilitated by Australian coach Andrew McDonald, who serves as a board member at Duncan's former club, Geelong.
In a recent interview with The West Australian, Duncan revealed his existing relationship with West Coast senior coach Andrew McQualter, which blossomed during the 2020 COVID-19 hub in Queensland.
"Our daughters were the same age at the same time, so we spent plenty of time at the park together," Duncan said. "We've just been in contact ever since so when the opportunity started to arise towards the end of the season, I weighed up a few things and thought it would be a great opportunity to start my coaching career over here."
A New Challenge in the West
Duncan expressed his enthusiasm for learning from McQualter and facing the challenge of rebuilding at the Eagles, a stark contrast to the sustained success he experienced at Geelong.
"I'm really interested to see and hear Mini's philosophy of what he's learned over his journey and hopefully I can follow in a similar path over time," he stated. "I've been lucky to be at a successful club over 16 years so coming into a club that has won one game is going to be a bit foreign to me, but I'm really looking forward to learning and seeing how everything stacks up from there."
This unique embedding of a high-profile AFL figure into the cricket camp highlights the growing trend of knowledge sharing between sporting codes, providing Duncan with invaluable insights as he embarks on his own coaching journey.
