Cohuna’s Josh Treacy made his AFL debut on Sunday, wearing the number 35 jersey for the Fremantle Dockers. For the 18-year-old, who was drafted to the Dockers in December, it was a surprise end to a few uncertain weeks. Having been told he would not play, Josh called a meeting on Friday morning with coach, Justin Longmuir, seeking advice on what he could do to get onto the team. “He sprung it on me and said there’s nothing, because you’ll be playing on the weekend,” Josh said.

After a loss last week, Fremantle won their game by 15 points against a strong Hawthorn side, 13.18.96 to 12.9.81, with Josh having 10 disposals, 8 kicks, 5 marks and 3 tackles.

In a post-match interview, Josh said, “It’s pretty awesome – even just to play, even if the result didn’t go that way. It was even better that all the boys pulled together and bounced back from last week and we were able to get the four points, that was really good.” The full post-match interview can be viewed on the Fremantle Dockers website.

Parents, Keiran and Kirsten, and younger brother, Mitch, were excited to fly to Fremantle and watch Josh play in his first AFL match. “It was a bit of a surreal experience. He’s put in a lot of hard work to get to where he has. It’s a great achievement for him. We’re happy for him. It’s a huge achievement to play at any high-level sport,” said Keiran.

“It’s surreal. You watch football on TV for years and you don’t expect your son to be running around there. He’s worked hard to get to it.”

Kirsten received a message from Josh on Friday morning telling them to book flights. Speaking from Fremantle, Keiran explained, “The coach had a press conference on Wednesday and he and another guy weren’t in the picture to play, then they both did play. So, it was a little bit of a surprise. Being dairy farmers it’s a little bit hard to try and coordinate things to get over here. We had some good friends help out with the farm at home and made it all possible to get here.”

Keiran said the family was made to feel very welcome at the Dockers, being given access to the change rooms, watching Josh presented with his jersey and watching the game in style. “Fremantle Football Club is very accommodating. We had a suite to ourselves and a couple of Josh’s mates came over as well.”

Keiran praises the club for taking care of Josh since his move across the country to his new home and lifestyle. “How Josh has been looked after by the football club is absolutely tremendous. Obviously, a long way from home, the welfare of the players is number one these days. He’s with a terrific host family. We can’t ask for any more from a club perspective in looking after our son. He was the only interstate boy who was drafted. With the interstate kids they try to put them with a host family to try and make it a little bit easier. It’s a really big life change, going from the training loads of what they were doing, to being a professional athlete. They want to make sure that they’re cared for outside of their football training hours.”

Josh began his football career with Cohuna Kangas and has played in the Central Murray Football Academy, the V/Line Cup and the Bendigo Pioneers. He joins the ranks of a handful of other local lads who have gone on to achieve AFL stardom, proof that growing up in the country is no hindrance to reaching goals.