His Bacchus Marsh under-16.5 premiership coach and Western Bulldogs legend Doug Hawkins and triumphant St Patrick’s College coach Howard Clark both speak volumes of the footballer Duggan is, but even more so of the person.

At just 21, Duggan has established himself in the best 22 of one the top sides in the country and will run out onto the MCG for the West Coast Eagles in Saturday’s AFL grand final.

“I remember watching young Liam Duggan in the first week or two of training, I thought gee, has this kid got all the boxes ticked,” Hawkins told The Courier.

“He always had AFL stamped on him from the beginning.

“At the end of the day, a kid like him, all you’ve got to do is try and steer them. I used to say ‘Liam, go play footy’...he knows what he’s doing.

“They’re (the Duggan family) great people. He’s got good people around him and he had good people at Bacchus Marsh footy club, good coaches all the way through.”

Meanwhile, Clark recalled a lunch he shared with Duggan and St Pat’s boy and premiership Tiger Dan Butler last year, following Butler’s grand final success. Duggan and Butler are close friends and Clark, a proud coach of the two impressive men.

A throwaway comment over lunch is now one win away from a reality, a reality that would make Clark, along with the school and their respective junior programs, immensely proud.

“I said (to Liam), who knows mate, this could be you in 12 months time. Not thinking much of it, and now he’s got the opportunity...potentially they could both be premiership players within a 12-month period, it’s quite amazing – and it couldn’t happen to two better young men,” Clark said.

“He’s an incredibly humble young man and the strength of person is directly proportional to the strength of his parents...they are just the most beautiful people.

“Everyone is just so excited for him. First and foremost his family, but the Western Jets and everyone at the school.”

Clark said Duggan, who captain St Patrick’s College’s senior team to the Herald Sun Shield premiership, showed his quality of character at a young age. Underlining this was the fact that in year 12 Duggan opted to withdraw his application for the college captaincy due to feeling he could not fully give the role what it required with his TAC Cup commitments – a decision not many young men would come to.

“That’s the person he is...he’s a remarkable young man.”

Hawkins added that the Ballarat Football League under-16.5 premiership for the Cobras was his “greatest moment” in football, given the tragic circumstances that surrounded the season with the passing of player Nathan Prince following a football incident.

“It’s my greatest moment of my footy career. What they did on that grand final day, with the tragic passing of Nathan...it was the greatest moment and Liam Duggan was a big part of it.”