Local boy: Mitchell Duke goes high for the ball at a pre-season game against the Melbourne Victory.
AFTER years of juggling jobs and living off four hours of sleep, former Lurnea resident Mitchell Duke has become a soccer sensation.
The striker scored his first contract with the Central Coast Mariners in January 2012, after he spent two-years with the club's youth team.
The 22-year-old said the climb to the A-League hasn't been easy — sometimes balancing four jobs, training with the first graders, playing for the youth team and travelling from home to games.
"You reach a breaking point when you think, 'am I going to be able to make a living out of this'," he said.
"I had two good seasons and I was very confident in myself that I was going to make it. So I took the risk.
"I used to train with the first graders, then I'd go to the city for work and from there I'd go to my second job at Supercheap Auto. I was living off four hours of sleep at one stage."
The hard work paid off when Duke scored a goal on debut in February 2011. He has been a consistent for the Mariners this year.