Fremantle star Andrew Brayshaw says he’s “taken a lot of pride” in external voices backing him in as the club’s next captain, but insists there are plenty of candidates for the open position.
Nat Fyfe announced this week he had stepped down from the role after six years at the helm, with the dual Brownlow medallist focused on getting his body right after injury-riddled campaigns in recent years.
Many pundits, including past players, have endorsed Brayshaw as a likely successor, which the 23-year-old himself is flattered by.
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“I’ve definitely taken a lot of pride in the fact people have been suggesting I could potentially fill that role,” he told foxfooty.com.au.
“We’ve got a lot of leaders that have stepped up over the past year when Fyfey has been injured. There’s been opportunities for blokes like myself, Caleb (Serong) and Alex Pearce to step up and really lead the club.
“I think we’ll have a process over the next couple of weeks, I’m sure whoever does get in will do a really good job.”
The Dockers’ captaincy process involves input from a combination of both player input and key club personnel.
It’s a process that has gone through some change over the journey, but it’s far from the most notable change in the side’s most recent off-season.
Already a different look with the retirement of the club’s games record holder David Mundy, the Dockers parted ways with eight other players, with five of them traded to new homes.
While the likes of Rory Lobb, Griffin Logue and Blake Acres won’t be there in 2023, there is comfort in the side’s trade acquisitions, led by Luke Jackson and Jaeger O’Meara.
Both are similar in that they were traded to the Dockers, but the likeness ends there.
“They’ve both been putting on a show through training pretty much. They’ll both bring different, exciting looks to the club,” Brayshaw said of forward/ruck Jackson and midfielder O’Meara.
“They’re very different. Jaeger is more experienced, cool, calm and collected operator, Luke Jackson has much more youthful exuberance about him, very funny, very relaxed when it comes to off-field but then when it comes to on-field he’s also a beast.
“They’ve both been training really well.”
While the Brodie Grundy and Max Gawn tag-team is arguably the most intriguing in the game heading into 2023, Jackson and Sean Darcy are a fascinating combination of their own.
So far, in Brayshaw’s eyes, the formula is a winning one.’
“Sean will be predominantly ruck, Luke will start more forward and whenever they can feel like they want to switch it up they can just flip,” he said.
“They’ve been doing that a fair bit in training. Sean also loves coming down and kicking goals, Luke also loves coming up and tapping the ball and being another midfielder. I think it’ll work really well.”
Another difference between Jackson and O’Meara is that, while the former’s arrival at the Dockers was inevitable from some way out, the latter’s was mightily late in the piece.
The 28-year-old sealed a return to his hometown of West Australia in the dying minutes of the trade period, with Brayshaw having to process the news along with most of the football world.
“I only found out about Jaeger when the whole world did,” he laughed.
“I had no idea, I hadn’t heard anything about it, whereas I’d heard whispers about Luke for a little bit, I had a pretty good feeling he was coming to us.”
O’Meara is set to bolster a midfield brigade that has remained largely intact barring the departure of Adam Cerra last year, with Brayshaw and Caleb Serong coming into their own.
The arrival of the former Hawk and Sun is another reason Brayshaw is excited about Fremantle’s 2023 prospects.
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“I’m stoked. Wasn’t expecting it at all, but I’m over the moon,” he said.
“I remember watching him when I was going through the process of trying to get drafted and also the first five years of my career.
“He’s been someone who’s been really dominant and really professional, I’m really stoked to have him at the club.”
Brayshaw will be hoping the change off-field leads to change on it, with the Dockers having won just one final since 2016.
“You can never tell until you play against other sides, but we’re definitely looking to take another step forward,” he said.
“I think we showed signs of our best footy last year and if we’re able to piece together a four-quarter performance we’ll be a really good side.
“Whilst there have been a lot of guys that have gone out of the side, I’m really excited by the talent we’ve brought in.”
