Bulldogs grounding helps Duffield earn 150 AFL games

IT TOOK almost five years of strong WAFL football with South Fremantle for Paul Duffield to prove that he could be a regular AFL player but he now certainly has done that as he prepares for game No. 150 with the Dockers this Saturday against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

Duffield grew up in West Arthur before making the move for high school where he went to Aquinas and found his footballing feet before lobbing at the Bulldogs and ending up making his league debut in 2004 in his first year on Fremantle's rookie-list.

He played 14 matches that season with the Bulldogs including the first semi-final loss to Swan Districts and remained a key player in South Fremantle's team across half-back in the 2005 premiership winning side.

He found himself delisted but then rookie-listed again at the end of 2005 and got his first taste of AFL football in Round 5, 2006 in what became the famous 'siren gate' game with St Kilda that eventually Fremantle received the four points for.

However, Duffield couldn't quite cement himself in Fremantle's team playing seven matches in 2006, six in 2007 and 11 in 2008.

In between those AFL appearances, he remained a big part of South Fremantle's team that continued to play finals each year and he ended up spending significant time as a ball-winning midfielder throughout 2007 and 2008.

He had clearly developed into an elite WAFL footballer and since 2009 has been a permanent member of Fremantle's team that played in last year's grand final, is currently second on the ladder and he will play his 150th match this Saturday against St Kilda.

"To me it is really significant and very important and something that I have not only looked forward to but will really cherish for the rest of my time. It can't be taken away," Duffield said.

"There has been a lot of hard effort and work put in by a lot of people and I have a lot of people to thank just to get to this point in time.

"At the moment it's like another game of football that I really want to win and am looking forward to playing but probably down the track it will be something I will look back on more significantly. It is a great thing to have achieved and I am really honoured."

Looking back on his development, the now 29-year-old veteran of 149 AFL matches has no doubt that his long apprenticeship in the WAFL which has seen him amass 77 games with South Fremantle including the 2005 premiership made him appreciate every chance that has come his way.

"I was lucky enough to be involved early in my career in that premiership and it was really significant," Duffield said.

"I think it’s really taught me about, at that stage in time it was the biggest game that I’d played in, so I think it’s given me some good structure and coping mechanisms when you do get to really big games and how you handle them and handle the stressful pressure and those sorts of things.

"I hope going forward we get an opportunity to play in obviously some more finals and if you get back to the biggest stage that will be fantastic, but just to continue to evolve and improve with this group at the moment is something that is really special to me, regardless of the result at the end."

Duffield has fond, albeit it wasn’t always easy, memories of his grounding in school football at Aquinas under WAFL legend Peter Spencer and alongside some players who went on to become stars in the AFL, and a premiership teammate of his at South Fremantle Craig White.

To be coached by Spencer and then four-time WAFL premiership coach John Dimmer at South Fremantle is something that Duffield has no doubt has helped his development now into a 150-game AFL player, and 227-game senior footballer enormously.

"I remember getting yelled at a bit in the early days. He was very hard but he (Spencer) was fair. I was lucky enough to play with Daniel Kerr and Quinten Lynch, and Peter Bell and Robbie Haddrill and Nathan Fyfe now came out of that same system. I've probably missed some others," he said.

"It was the whole school environment about being good people and then also putting a lot of time and effort and energy into your sport as well as your schooling.

"Football is a really big part of that at that school and I'm very proud we had a really strong side and it was great to be a part of from where I was from.

"We barely had enough kids to put the team together let alone coming up to Perth and being involved with a strong footy team and a strong culture and a strong school. It was something I really cherished and enjoyed."

Duffield's kicking skills have always been elite and perhaps the great strength of his game, and he puts that down to the fact that he simply had to hit his targets when practicing on the farm growing up.

"Well, I only really had myself to kick to down on the farm so I had to make sure I kicked it well. To be honest, my old man is very skilful, he always was, right and left side, and that was something I remember from very early on, just practicing kicking the ball." Duffield said.

"I still think I could improve a lot in that area but it’s something that I thought was my biggest attribute when I first got picked up. Trying to make it a strength going forward has always been a focus."

Duffield had become a good AFL footballer under Mark Harvey as coach, but when Ross Lyon arrived in 2012 he had to earn his stripes and found himself back in the WAFL with South Fremantle for three matches.

However, he was immediately back into the Fremantle team and has remained there ever since as one of the best set-up players off half-back in the AFL.

"It was preparation to make sure that how I went about training and preparing day in day out to be a professional footballer. I think people say it all the time, I wish I could back five or six years and take what I know now into a younger body," Duffield said.

"That was one thing Ross came along with straight away, was a really professional attitude to everything you do. Be smart with the way you manage your time.

"That's been significant with me learning to be a more professional footballer and just try and improve on the little things day in day out and don't ever stop striving to improve."