A Northern Football League premiership fancy is set to hand the keys to former Avenel playing coach Kasey Duncan for seasons 2025 and 2026.
The ex-Swan will drive Northern Heidelberg Sporting Club forward following Duncan’s impressive 18 months at the Bulldogs.
Duncan packed up his talents and delivered them to North Heidelberg’s doorstep in 2023.
From there, he was thrust onto the senior coaching panel.
And, while knee problems stymied his impact on the field, his impetus off it was an instant hit, leading to his appointment as successor to NFL coaching legend Jason Heatley.
But how Duncan ended up at North Heidelberg is as classic a footy story as they come.
“When I finished up at Avenel, I pretty much knew my time playing-wise was done as my knees were shot and I was barely getting through games as it was,” he said.
“Living in Melbourne, I was pretty keen to stop travelling up the Hume and I had connections through family friends who are actually the Gleeson boys at Euroa.
“Their father David is in the Team of the Century at North Heidelberg; they’re very good mates of mine and they connected me to the club and I went from there.”
Duncan knew the Gleesons from his time at Euroa during the early 2010s.
From there, he went on to join Avenel full-time in 2014 and, bar a season returning to the Goulburn Valley League with Seymour the following year, Duncan stayed a Swan until 2022.
He mentored the side from 2019-22 and even served as interleague coach of the Kyabram District League on multiple occasions.
Yes, Duncan has played plenty of country footy — but how well did he fit into a team within a league that topped the 2020 WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community Championship rankings?
“They’re a funny bunch of boys actually,” he said.
“For a Melbourne club, it’s still got the community, country kind of feel to it.
“It’s a working class kind of club, and the coach Jason Heatley, he’s a superstar — he’s pretty well regarded as one of the best local coaches who has been around over the last 10, 15, 20 years.
“So to come down and do my apprenticeship after my five years at Avenel, I’ve learned a lot.
“I’m very excited and ready to take on the challenge that is being the head coach of a division one club in what is regarded as one of the stronger leagues in Victoria.”
Currently, North Heidelberg sits second on the ladder, and it’s no accident that Duncan has been tapped to be the club’s succession plan.
During his tenure at the Bulldogs, he’s helped lure Ben and Adam Giobbi from Euroa and Tom Wallis from Essendon Doutta Stars, and his toe has dipped firmly into the club’s coaching well.
As for pressure and expectations for the next two seasons?
In Duncan’s eyes, pressure is for tyres, and expectations are only what you make them.
“I won’t take it as expectation; I love winning, that’s why I’m in the caper and also the development of kids and people,” he said.
“Being around the football environment still is just something that I love.”
And though the bright lights of the city league beckoned, Duncan’s love for footy remains tethered to the towns where he crafted his status.
“I keep an eye on Euroa, I keep an eye on Seymour ... I definitely do watch for the scores and I went up and watched Avenel and Longwood and Euroa and Seymour this year,” he said.
“I still love my country footy.”