\n Announcement\n <\/p>\n
\n One of greatest players in the history of the Geelong Football Club, Mitch Duncan has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2025 AFL season\n <\/p>\n
Two-time Premiership Cat Mitch Duncan has announced he will retire at the end of the Cats\u2019 2025 AFL campaign.<\/p>\n
Duncan, 34, informed his teammates of his decision at training on Friday morning, as the Cats prepare to enter their 14th Finals series in his career.<\/p>\n
Renowned as a highly skilful player whose versatility saw him slot seamlessly into various roles over the years \u2013 including as a midfielder, forward and running defender \u2013 Duncan enjoyed premiership success early in his career, playing a role in the Cats\u2019 2011 triumph as the youngest member in the team in just his second season of AFL.<\/p>\n
Starting the day as the substitute, he came on for an injured James Podsiadly during the second quarter and collected 10 disposals, as well as kicking an important goal.<\/p>\n
He played a significant role as the Cats saluted again in 2022, collecting 27 disposals, 13 marks and a goal in Geelong\u2019s big win over Sydney.<\/p>\n
Recruited out of Carine and East Perth in Western Australia with pick 28 in the 2009 national draft, Duncan has played 305 games to date with Geelong and kicked 185 goals since making his debut in Round 1 of the 2010 season.<\/p>\n
He was awarded Geelong Cats Life Membership in 2017 and received AFL Life Membership earlier this year, and celebrated his 300th game in Round 11 this year, becoming just the seventh player in Geelong Football Club history to do so.<\/p>\n
Duncan has been a valuable member of Geelong\u2019s AFL program on and off the field for the past 16 years. He was a member of the Cats\u2019 player leadership group across seven seasons and has had seven top-10 finishes in the Carji Greeves Medal count, including a runner-up finish in 2017 and a third placing in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter 16 years at AFL level, I feel now is the right time to hang up the boots,\u201d Duncan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day I thank Stephen Wells for calling out my name on draft night in 2009. I\u2019m grateful to have been part of this Club, a Club filled with so many great people past and present, who have not only taught me about football, but have also helped mould me into the person I am.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of our season I will sit back and reflect more, however I know that I couldn’t have enjoyed the career I have if it wasn’t for my wife, children and immediate family for always supporting and giving me the best opportunity to have success in my career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I\u2019m making this decision now, over the next month I\u2019m focused on doing everything I can to help the Cats win its next premiership, whether that\u2019s on or off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
GEELONG, AUSTRALIA – MAY 22: Mitch Duncan of the Cats is chaired from the field after his 300th match by teammates Mark Blicavs (left) and Jeremy Cameron (right) as children Archie, Ollie and Scarlet look on during the 2025 AFL Round 11 match between the Geelong Cats and the Western Bulldogs at GMHBA Stadium on May 22, 2025 in Geelong, Australia. (Photo by Michael Willson\/AFL Photos)<\/p>\n
Geelong Cats Executive General Manager of Football Andrew Mackie, who played alongside Duncan from 2011-2017, congratulated Duncan on his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cMitch has been an outstanding person and footballer to have at our Club over the past 16 years,\u201d Mackie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA trademark over Mitch\u2019s 305 games to date has been his skill and high football IQ, allowing him to play with such flexibility for whatever the team has required, and continues to be a true team-first player.<\/p>\n
\u201cMitch\u2019s value has not been just with how he plays the game, but with how he has shared his knowledge and experience with the younger generations of Cats players who have come through the ranks over his career and he will continue to play an important part within our squad over this coming Finals campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile there will be a time to celebrate Mitch\u2019s career at Geelong at the end of our season, we thank Mitch, Demi, Scarlett, Ollie, Archie and Parker for their contribution to the Club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mitch Duncan AFL career at a glance<\/p>\n
2x Premiership Player (2011, 2022)
305 games*
185 goals*
AFL Life Member
Geelong Cats Life Member
Seventh player to play 300 games for Geelong Cats
Seven top-10 finishes in Carji Greeves Medal Count + runner-up finish in 2017
28 Finals appearances across 13 Cats\u2019 Finals campaigns to date
Geelong Cats Leadership group member 2014, 2016-2021<\/p>\n
*To date<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Announcement One of greatest players in the history of the Geelong Football Club, Mitch Duncan has announced that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85,83],"class_list":["post-103379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports","tag-text"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}