Eagles recruit seen as a budding Flower
AFL Hall of Famer Doug Hawkins has compared West Coast's first-round draft pick Liam Duggan to former Melbourne champion Robert Flower.
Duggan was 14 when Hawkins first saw him. He knew then that Duggan would play at the top level. The Eagles last night chose the 17-year-old Victorian with pick 11 in the national draft, adding a midfielder with skill and athletic ability.
Duggan played for Bacchus Marsh as a youngster and had Hawkins as a coach.
The former Western Bulldogs games record holder said Duggan oozed talent from the moment he saw him play in the club's under 16s team despite being only 14.
"I said to his dad 'your boy is going to play league footy'," Hawkins told _The West Australian _.
"I declared him at 14-and-a-half. He's both sided, he's got great courage, he's got outstanding balance, a great vertical leap, he's great overhead and he's got the tank of a marathon runner.
"There's no negatives. He's a terrific young man and reminds me of the late Robbie Flower and that's a fair wrap. He was always going to be a league footballer.
"He's going to delight the West Coast Eagles fans with the way he plays his footy."
Duggan played a key role in Bacchus Marsh's dramatic 2011 grand final win just days after teammate Nathan Prince had died on the field.
Bacchus Marsh played on a large oval and Duggan said that made him ideally suited to playing in Perth.
"My main strength is on the outside," Duggan said.
"But something I've worked on this year is to improve my inside game and I think it has really come on in leaps and bounds.
"Finding that balance has been really nice, but probably on the outside is where I do my best work."
Duggan will also bring leadership to the Eagles along with his skills. A member of the AFL Academy, he won the Ben Mitchell Medal which is voted on by the other players.
He said being taught the expectations of AFL clubs from a young age had him ideally prepared for life as a professional athlete.
"We've been privileged to come through there and have been taught everything that needs to be taught," he said.
"It's run as a mini AFL club so we've got a taste of what it would be like. I'm so grateful."
West Coast recruiting manager Rohan O'Brien was thrilled the club had recruited Duggan.
"He's a player we have admired for a long time," O'Brien said.
"He's going to delight the West Coast Eagles fans with the way he plays his footy."" *Doug Hawkins * on Liam Duggan
