After more than 12 months out of the game, there might have been a few who had forgot about Duryea.

But a lengthy stint out of the side had ‘Doc’ more than ready for the next episode.

He’ll be hoping there’s a few more games to play in 2020.

The 29-year-old knows a thing or two about playing footy at this time of year, and returned from a significant injury layoff to make an impact against his former side, Hawthorn, on Sunday afternoon.

Taylor Duryea settled into his customary role down back, finishing the day with 14 disposals and six tackles as the Bulldogs downed the Hawks by 36 points to keep their finals hopes alive.

“I felt a little bit rusty, I’m not going to lie,” Duryea told westernbulldogs.com.au.

“But it was just good to be back out there. I felt comfortable in the back line working with those boys, but I’ll continue to build my confidence as we go forward.

“First game for the club at AFL level in over a year, so I’m still finding my feet, but happy to get through it and feeling good.”

In his second year as a Bulldog, Duryea had been limited to just two scratch matches – over the previous fortnight – after 14 matches in 2019.

Off-season surgery, followed by a persistent quad injury in-season, had tested Duryea’s resilience.

“It was really difficult,” he said.

“Except for the hip fracture last year, I’ve never really had a long layoff.

“To have surgery last year and some hiccups along the way was definitely testing, and I just felt like I couldn’t impact the side how I wanted to on-field.”

But amidst a strange season on many fronts, the Bulldogs have given themselves a sniff of being in business at the pointy end of the year.

“We’ve galvanized together in the hub, we’ve made it as good as we can and we’ve still got an opportunity,” Duryea said.

“We can potentially make something of this 2020 season, so there’s still something to strive for.”