{"id":720681,"date":"2026-06-07T08:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/720681\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T08:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:40:16","slug":"fremantle-dockers-star-andrew-brayshaw-says-footy-is-fun-amid-a-barnstorming-first-half-of-the-afl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/720681\/","title":{"rendered":"Fremantle Dockers star Andrew Brayshaw says footy is fun amid a barnstorming first half of the AFL season"},"content":{"rendered":"

A beaming Fremantle vice-captain Andrew Brayshaw has declared his team\u2019s dominant run of record-breaking footy is so much fun to be part of.<\/p>\n

The Dockers completed an incredible first half of the season which sees them sitting on top of the ladder with 12 wins from 13 games by thrashing North Melbourne by a club record 124 points in Bunbury on Saturday. Fremantle also broke their record for the most goals in a row by piling on 19 unanswered majors from midway through the second quarter.<\/p>\n

Players now hit the bye and get several days off before returning to the club on Thursday, leaving them a week to prepare for a blockbuster round 15 clash with Geelong at Optus Stadium.<\/p>\n

Their win on Saturday came in front of 13,331 fans and what felt like a festival atmosphere in Bunbury. Despite it being a home game for the Roos, the WA crowd revelled in the Dockers\u2019 blistering performance.<\/p>\n

And Brayshaw said players felt the same way on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot of fun to be a part of a game like that,\u201d he told The West Australian.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started at the contest. We were really physical from the first bounce to pretty much the final siren. We were just hungry and desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even coach Justin Longmuir, who is working hard to keep a lid on the hype with his players, was pulled into the team song to celebrate his 300th game as a player or coach.<\/p>\n

Longmuir gave Dockers fans permission to embrace the hype and said they have \u201cevery right to get ahead of themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Dockers have transformed themselves into the premiership favourite with extraordinary brilliance all around the ground.<\/p>\n

Luke Jackson\u2019s dominance in the ruck helped Fremantle to kick 12 goals from stoppages. He was unstoppable with 19 disposals and three goals.<\/p>\n

\"NeilCamera IconNeil Erasmus and Andrew Brayshaw celebrate Credit: Travis Hayto\/AFL Photos\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The key forwards again produced massive performances. Pat Voss and Josh Treacy kicked four goals each and Jye Amiss booted two.<\/p>\n

Hayden Young returned from concussion to have 23 possessions, seven clearances and kick two goals.<\/p>\n

And the backline refused to give North Melbourne any space all day.<\/p>\n

Brayshaw said the players were taking enormous pleasure from pushing each other to constantly rise to another level.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wants to improve week to week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewCamera IconAndrew Brayshaw and Michael Frederick Credit: Travis Hayto\/AFL Photos\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cCompetition for spots in the team is really strong. Guys are pushing each other to be the best skillfully they can be and the best physically they can be in the gym.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a really nice place to be at a club, where everyone\u2019s pushing each other and driving each other to be better every day. So it\u2019s a lot of fun to be a part of the footy club at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

But while the Dockers are on top of the ladder, Brayshaw hasn\u2019t forgotten about their only loss this season.<\/p>\n

\"IsaiahCamera IconIsaiah Dudley celebrates with fans. Credit: Travis Hayto\/AFL Photos\/AFL Photos via Getty Images<\/p>\n

They gave up a 35-point lead to Geelong in round one and lost by 10 points. Now they have a bye before facing the Cats at Optus Stadium in a Thursday night blockbuster on June 18.<\/p>\n

The players will enjoy a break before returning to the club until Thursday. But Brayshaw said the Cats will be on his mind throughout his time off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave us a good clip in the first round, so the challenge really is to try and block out the noise, because it\u2019s definitely going to be hyped up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to keep valuing our week to week routine.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A beaming Fremantle vice-captain Andrew Brayshaw has declared his team\u2019s dominant run of record-breaking footy is so much…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,10124,588,85],"class_list":["post-720681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-fremantle-dockers","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}