Fremantle Dockers' key forward Josh Treacy has solidified his future with the Club by signing a four-year contract extension, ensuring he remains a pivotal part of the team until at least 2030.

The 21-year-old rising star, expressed his excitement, gratitude and eagerness to be part of the Fremantle Football Club’s story.

“I can happily say that I’ve extended on until 2030,” Treacy announced with a smile.

“The offer was there to hang on for a bit longer, and look, it was clearly a no-brainer with the situation the Club is in and the way that I feel it is going to go.”

Treacy's journey to AFL was anything but straightforward, emphasising the fact that he was eager to ‘pay back the Club’ for giving him his AFL opportunity.

“I feel like it’s a little bit of giving back to the Club after what they gave me a few years ago in an opportunity (to play AFL football),” Treacy said.

“I feel like I can do my best to help repay - not only the Club - but the fans and everyone involved.”

The young key forward has been a standout for Fremantle in 2024, currently sitting sixth in this year’s AFL Coleman Medal tally with 42 goals from 19 games, surpassing his previous total of 29 goals in his first 36 AFL games (across three seasons).

The 21-year-old also holds the best shot at goal accuracy (70%) out of the top 40 in the Coleman Medal race and is equal third in the top 10 for goal assists.

Despite the tall forward trio threat of Treacy, Luke Jackson and Jye Amiss playing less than 50 AFL games combined in the same attacking unit, Treacy emphasised the fact that having both Jackson and Amiss already committed to the Club until 2029 or beyond was a crucial consideration in his contract extension decision.

“I feel like we’re building every week and it’s not always going to click for us, but I feel like the more time we spend together, the better it’s going to be,” Treacy said.

The young key forward is no stranger to facing adversity. Overlooked in the initial 2020 National Draft after the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted some crucial time leading up to his draft year, Fremantle snared Treacy with pick seven in the 2020 Rookie Draft after noticing the physical beast's work ethic and determination to up his fitness level during Victoria’s lockdowns.

“I didn’t have to go to school (during lockdowns) so it was pretty much just training for footy every day to stay fit, knowing that restrictions may lift at some stage and an opportunity to train in front of recruiters might pop up,” Treacy said.

“It was uncertainty going into the draft and obviously heartbreak when the name didn’t get called, but pure excitement and joy the next day. It was a pretty quick turnaround, and that’s where the journey all started (getting drafted to Fremantle).”

This commitment caught the eye of Fremantle Head of Player Personnel David Walls and his recruiting team.

“We kept a close eye on him when he was playing TAC Cup with the Bendigo Pioneers,” Walls said.

“He was big and strong, a great contested mark and just super competitive for a young tall. We were actually in Bendigo watching him when the season was called off at the start of 2020 due to COVID.

“To his – and his family’s credit – he spent that time in shutdown going to work. His mum was putting cones out and creating running tracks. When we saw him again in October, we could see how much work he had done.

“Through his manager Matt Bain, we interviewed him a few times and Josh just won us over with his work ethic.”

Battling an injury-interrupted second season (2022) where Treacy only managed four games, his resilience and commitment to improve didn’t take long to shine through at through at Fremantle.

“A couple of injuries, a couple of lightbulb moments and figuring it all out at the same time. Having to work really hard in those situations to keep my body, get my mental state and my game to where I want it to be,” Treacy credited for his on-field success.

Treacy believes his best is still yet to come.

“It’s certainly been reward for effort, I feel, but it’s been a long process and I wouldn’t say it’s complete yet,” Treacy proclaimed.

Now committed to the Club until at least 2030, Treacy is driven by the pursuit of success but stays grounded knowing success comes in the form of day-by-day, week-by-week commitment to the process.

“Clearly we’re in an exciting position as a Club, and we’re obviously wary of that, but at the same time, we need to chip away one week at a time,” Treacy said.

“We’ve got a really big month ahead of us and hopefully we can go further, but if we can chip away a week at a time over the next few weeks and really put ourselves in a strong position to hopefully finish off the back half of the year.”

With his contract extension and 22nd birthday falling within a few days of each other, the young key forward looks to celebrate his time with the Club with his passion and determination for many years to come.

“To have a player - who’s creating interest from other clubs - committing long-term is huge for the Club,” Walls concluded.

“It means we have three pillars in attack with Josh, Luke Jackson (2029) and Jye Amiss (2029) all locked in for the long haul.

“Josh is just such a hard worker and that work ethic has come from his dad Kieran and mum Kirsten getting up at the crack of dawn to run a dairy farm in Cohuna (in country Victoria).

“His form is a credit to them and to his hard work. His leadership has gone through the roof and all the extras and hard work have elevated his game.”