Despite boasting more than 150 senior appearances, collated across four different countries, Melbourne Victory’s Jack Duncan was – until Saturday night – a penalty shootout novice, not that he let on.
The experienced goalkeeper produced a three-save sequence to put the Boys in Blue into the Hahn Australia Cup Quarter-Finals at the expense of interstate rivals and A-League counterparts Western Sydney Wanderers.
Dylan Scicluna, Awan Lual and Alexander Gersbach were each foiled, bewitched by Duncan’s kidology, which, coupled with confident penalty conversions from Louis D’Arrigo, Harry Sawyer and Mikey Ghossaini, hauled the tie in the visiting team’s favour.
At the home of Marconi Stallions, who the 33-year-old had represented in junior football, he turned back the clock. This was not muscle memory, though, as he instead leaned on recollections of yesteryear.
Speaking to MelbourneVictory.com.au, Duncan unwittingly drew attention to the scale of his penalty heroics in New South Wales.
“It was actually my first [penalty shootout] in senior football. It’s been quite a while. I was actually, funnily enough, playing for Marconi Stallions. I was playing for them in my junior years for a couple of years, so that was the last one I was involved in.
“I really enjoyed it. I felt really confident and just had a good feeling going into the penalty shootout. And said to Jordan Holmes, ‘Let’s have some fun.’ And thankfully it paid off for me.”
The game, in normal time, ebbed but did not flow, although it came close to being settled before the 90 had elapsed when Aydan Hammond set his sights on the top corner. Duncan had other ideas, flinging himself left, simultaneously stretching his tentacles to keep the scores level.
He would be beaten in extra-time by a frightening Nicolas Milanovic free kick, but not before Sawyer tucked away his first competitive goal to put Victory ahead on the road.
These moments ignited the contest, as both teams, penalties looming, belatedly found some flow on a lively playing surface. Duncan, however, had felt a sharpness to his game from the first whistle, and presented this when the stakes were highest.
“It’s not often this early in pre-season you get that sense of confidence within a game. It wasn’t the best game of football, the prettiest game of football by any means, but sometimes when you’re just thinking of keeping things simple, it simplifies your game, and then I’m just focused on the little things, and the boys in front of me did really well with nullifying a lot of their threats. But I also felt like if anything did come my way, that I was in full control of the situation.
“Milanovic scored a really good free kick, and you never want to concede a goal, but if you are going to concede [make it] something like that. The save from Aydan Hammond definitely gave me a lot of confidence heading into the rest of the game, so I was in a really good space.”
That was plainly displayed in what followed, and without the histrionics of some of his stablemates when wits are locked in battle from the penalty mark, the Australian was cool, calm, and collected three saves.
“I don’t necessarily have the personality or the characteristics of an Emi Martinez, but watching what he does in shootouts and reading the analysis that goes on – you’re just trying to do something that puts you in control of the situation. I’m just there looking for those little one percenters as well.
“In the Cup, you know that there’s a chance that it could go to a shootout, so we try to do that work in the week, so that when we come to the moment, I’m fully prepared and nothing is left to the last minute. Then it’s just about zoning in, and the boys gave me some encouragement and nice words, and Mitch [Langerak] and I just spoke a little bit about a couple of things.”
Langerak, an eight-time Socceroo and former Victory ‘keeper at either end of his career, the latter being in competition with Duncan, was named A-League Men’s Goalkeeper Coach during the off-season.
It creates an interesting dynamic, a lineage of glovemen. Sparring partners during the week, their biggest support on match day, with Duncan now vying for game time with Jack Warshawsky.
“I had a great relationship with Mitch when he joined the club a few years ago as a player. Even though we were fighting for the same spot, we had a really good relationship and were pushing each other on the field.
“Now he’s come back in with some really good ideas. The fact that he has played with me, or at least trained with me, and seeing my game from that side of things, he could implement a few of his own ideas on how to improve myself, and the training sessions so far have been really good, really enjoyable.
“The goalkeeping department, with Jack and Daniel, is really good. We’re working hard, we’re pushing each other, and we’re in a really good space as a group, and hoping to keep that going because it’s really enjoyable at the moment.”
The triumph over Wanderers was a third under the stewardship of A-League Men’s Head Coach, Giovanni Savarese, following the Round of 32 success against NPL Tasmania outfit Kingborough Lions United and a healthy hitout against Caroline Springs George Cross during his first week in Melbourne.
Now with boots on the ground in Victoria for a month, the Venezuelan is clearly making his mark, bringing an unfiltered lens, without preconceptions, according to Duncan.
“It’s been really good. He’s brought a lot of positivity, some fresh ideas, fresh concepts, and I think not really having any prior experience in the A-League has been a really good thing because it’s meant he’s just coming in with a clean slate and bringing in a lot of his own experience and concepts from his own career, both as a player and as a coach.
“The group’s responded really, really well to that. The vibe every day in training’s really good. We’re pushing each other. We’re working really hard, and we’re all striving to have success on the pitch. Hopefully that ultimately leads to some trophies this year.”
That chase for silverware is poised to continue in the Australia Cup against the winner of APIA Leichhardt and Sydney United 58 later this month, by which point Victory will also know their opponents for the AFC Champions League Two Group Stage – the Club’s first appearance in that particular competition.
These matches will see the Club traverse the Asian continent, but it is of special significance for Duncan that he will be doing this sporting Victory colours, having re-signed in a city he has been thrilled to call home since July 2024.
“Throughout my career, I’ve moved around quite a lot, both within Australia and overseas a couple of times, and now that I am a dad and have a young family of two boys and my wife, it does come into your consideration, those factors, and it’s not easy just to uproot your whole life now to move around your career, and you know, it’s not just Melbourne; it’s the Club as well.
“I’ve absolutely loved every minute of being here so far, and I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I really wanted to stay here because my relationship with everyone at the Club and the fans as well has been fantastic. So that was a major factor in me wanting to stay, and thankfully we could make it work. I’m hoping that I can stay in Melbourne at Victory for a number of years to come.”
