Likening his own trajectory to that of the team as a whole, Duke - in his own estimation, still only 70 per cent fit after knee surgery - believes the refashioned Wanderers are on course to erase three years of mediocrity.
Buoyed by the signing of former Bundesliga front-runner Nicolai Muller to replace Pole-axed Radoslaw Majewski, and a 2-1 opening round win over Central Coast, Duke sees a renaissance around the corner.
“We’ve lost our playmaker for the season (in Majewski) and important players like Kwame Yeboah and Bruce Kamau (hamstrings) haven’t been fit yet,” he said.
“But we battled it out to beat the Mariners and I think by round five you’ll see a completely different team.
“We’re going to cause sides havoc this season - we have the depth and quality to really hurt teams and get results.
“The club deserves to be back where they started as that big intimidating team that was winning trophies.”
As captain, Duke, 28, is leading from the front, quite literally, with his two goals against the Mariners taking his tally to six in 12 appearances since returning to the A-League from a four-year stint with J1 side Shimizu S-Pulse.
Whilst used in a multitude of deeper-lying roles in Japan where goals were few and far between, he’s flourishing up top under Babbel, making runs in behind and terrorising defenders.
“In Japan I was never there as an out-and-out goalscorer, playing as a wing-back or winger trying to put the crosses in,” Duke reflected.
“People will say ‘he played 100-plus games and only got five goals’.
“It might not look pretty on the stats but I’ve come home to prove I’ve still got it as an attacker and can be the difference in a game.
“Our next two games against Victory and then the derby against Sydney are huge matches, if we take maximum points we can cruise off that through the season and just keep getting better.”
Back on the Socceroos radar with an impressive comeback performance in the 1-0 friendly loss to Korea Republic in June, a pre-season meniscus injury which required surgery proved a setback.
But Duke is determined to force himself into the forefront of Graham Arnold’s formulations in the coming months.
“I think I did myself no harm in Korea but the injury intervened and put me out of contention for the last two national team camps,” he said.
“I’d love to have been involved because there have been a lot of goals scored.”
Duke says he’s still “underdone fitness wise” and expects to look even sharper as the season progresses.
“I think the knee’s about 70 per cent at the moment and so there’s improvement to come there,” he added.
“I’m still battling a bit of swelling and I’m nowhere near the level I was back in June.
“We’ve also got (defender) Patrick Ziegler to come back from his knee injury and that will also improve us and create extra competition.
“We’ve got a lot of quality out of the team at the moment and when they’re back we’re going to be even more of a threat. It’s exciting for us.”
