Kirstin Nicholson, The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper
Cohuna’s Josh Treacy has been signed on to the Fremantle Dockers for another two seasons.
Josh played his first AFL game for the Dockers in round four of the 2021 season in April against the Hawks and now has seven games under his belt, citing the win against Sydney as the best game he has ever played in and been a part of.
It was at the Sydney game that he kicked his first goal. He has kicked six goals, five of those in the past two games, and had 60 disposals and 27 marks in his AFL football career to date.
“The next two years, it’s going to be really exciting and it’s good to have just a bit of security,” Josh said of the new contract.
“Coming in you feel the pressure that you need to perform and need to be playing. To have that locked away halfway through the season is really good, and I can settle now and still get to work and keep working hard.”
He goes on to say, “I want to be a very team orientated player. I like to bring others into the game and work others in. If I’m not impacting on the scoreboard or possessions wise, that doesn’t overly bother me as long as I can contribute in other ways.
“It’s bringing the ball to ground or laying a tackle, things like that. Getting in the way of Lobby’s opponent or Tabs’ opponent so they can get a good look. That’s something that I pride myself on.”
David Walls, Fremantle’s head of player personnel has great things to say about Josh. “In the past three or four weeks, he’s really got used to the tempo and we’re starting to see what he can do with his contested marking, getting to contest and getting it to ground.
“He has strong hands on the lead and is a beautiful set shot for goal and we’ve seen that he can kick them from outside 50. Key forward is a tough position for any young player to come into. For Josh to do what he’s done so far in that role as an 18-year-old is outstanding,” Walls said.
“It’s really exciting for the club long term where he can develop. He’s got Taberner and Lobb around him who take a lot of heat and he can contribute a lot as that third tall.
“But as we’ve seen with Tabs going down for the past couple weeks, it’s created some opportunity, a bit more ball came Josh’s way and he really stood up.”
‘The Big Cohuna’ or ‘The Cyclone’ as he has been dubbed by the football community, spoke with the Fremantle Football Club’s ‘Final Siren’ podcast crew following the match against the Gold Coast Suns on June 12, where he talked about his drafting (Mum, Kirsten gets a mention), his experience so far with the AFL and of course, fondly about our little Cohuna. The full podcast can be viewed on the Fremantle Football Club website.
Josh will play in his eighth match this weekend when the Fremantle Dockers line up against the Collingwood Magpies.
This article appeared in The Koondrook and Barham Bridge Newspaper, 24 June 2021.
