Andrew Brayshaw has loved every moment of his eight-game AFL career so far, with the first-year draftee midfielder building on his aim to finish the season as an even more complete player.
Senior coach Ross Lyon highlighted Brayshaw’s performance in Fremantle’s 30-point win against St Kilda as his best of the season, with the 18-year-old collecting 16 disposals and taking five marks at Optus Stadium.
Brayshaw also laid six tackles to take his season tally to 59 – 11 more than any other Freo player.
“I thought it was a good game and a good team game,” Brayshaw said.
“If Ross is saying that about me then I guess I can be pretty happy about it.
“I’m just trying to grow and take something out of every game and build on it.
“Hopefully, by the end of the year I’ll be a half-decent player.”
Feeling more accustomed to the rigours of game day and travel, Brayshaw feels he can put more focus towards delivering on the field.
“I’m starting to build confidence with every game,” Brayshaw said.
“Now the nerves are out of the way I’m just trying to play footy, tackle hard and as we try and get as many wins as we can.
“I’m loving every game and I just want to keep playing more and more.”
Brayshaw will travel with the team on Thursday afternoon for Freo’s clash with Sydney on Saturday night.
The game will be Brayshaw’s first appearance at the SCG, with the no.2 draft pick training this week at Victor George Kailis Oval with the dimensions adjusted to the small confines of the SCG.
“I think especially for the defenders kicking, it helps having the pockets closed in a little bit for the SCG,” Brayshaw said.
“I think anything we can do to get that advantage we’ll try and do it.
“It’s been good, coming off St Kilda, we’ve tweaked a few things and we’re looking forward to facing Sydney.
“There were also a lot of good things to come out of the game, we had a lot of entries and our back six held up really well. We’ll definitely try and follow on from that, score a bit more and keep putting our foot down.”
