A-League Grand Final 2025: Melbourne Victory, Jack Duncan reaction

In the aftermath of a painful night for Melbourne Victory as their rivals celebrated metres away, Jack Duncan fronted up to the media and provided an honest insight into “one of the lowest points in my whole career”.

It had nothing to do with Saturday night’s 1-0 Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final loss to Melbourne City at AAMI Park.

For Victory goalkeeper Duncan, it is a night that he will remember forever after a crowd of 29,902 fans – a record for a sporting event at AAMI Park – watched the first ever Melbourne Derby A-League Men Grand Final.

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“The noise when I went out to warm up tonight was something that will stay with me for forever,” he told reporters. “It was incredible experience.”

The raw honesty came upon his reflection of a season that had so many twists and turns for the 32-year-old.

Duncan started Victory’s first 13 games of the season before Socceroo Mitch Langerak arrived. It was always part of the plan. But when he appeared out of the team, an injury to the former Borussia Mönchengladbach shot-stopper opened the door for Duncan once more.

“It’s been a tough season in some aspects, but in others, an incredibly rewarding season,” Duncan said.

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“From where I was probably 12 months ago to where I am now. It’s been a big change, and I am proud of the season I’ve had.

“I knew the situation when I signed, and I just hoped that I could work every day to be there for the team in whatever capacity that was, I guess, at the start of the year, was playing every game, and then obviously, when Mitch came in, the coach made a decision to change.

“To be honest, that was one of the lowest points in my whole career, because I felt like I was at a real strong point in my own form, but I understood that the results weren’t coming and we needed to change something.

“That was something that they could change, and decided to do that. But then, obviously, football has a funny way of coming back around. I just worked every day to be there if the opportunity came again. And I thankfully did, for my own sake. I was able to experience incredible nights like tonight.”