Fremantle will have a fresh face among their leaders in 2021 with fourth-year midfielder Andrew Brayshaw joining the leadership group for the coming season.
Nat Fyfe will captain Fremantle for a fifth season with Brayshaw, David Mundy, Michael Walters, Alex Pearce and Reece Conca forming the full leadership group.
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While Fremantle have seen significant change in their playing ranks since Fyfe became captain in 2017, their leadership group remains stable with Mundy set for his 12th season as a leader, as well as a seventh for Fyfe, fifth for Walters, fourth for Pearce and third for Conca.
Drafted at no.2 in the 2017 NAB AFL National Draft, Brayshaw has played 56 games in three seasons and further highlighted his potential with an equal-third most votes in the 2020 Doig Medal.
He recently signed a four-year contract extension on top of the one-year remaining in his contract for 2021, which will see him at Fremantle until at least the end of the 2025 season.
While age and experience helps as a leader, the 21-year-old felt his relatively young age helped him earn the votes of his teammates.
“I’m very humbled. It’s a peer voted group, so I’m pretty stoked that the lads voted me in there,” Brayshaw said.
“We’ve got a pretty young group and I’ve spent a fair bit of time with them and I think their votes might have counted a bit.
“I feel I’m a good bridge between some of those older and more experienced boys and some of those younger guys coming through. I’m very happy to have been voted in.
“I think I’m in a very fortunate situation where I’ve had a fair bit of experience in my first three years at the club.
Brayshaw said he’s seen Fyfe continue to get better as a captain in his time at Fremantle.
“He keeps wanting to improve and has been taking a lot of young blokes under his wing and trying to help where he can,” Brayshaw said.
“I’m sure he’s going to build on that again and, hopefully, steer us in the right direction to some finals.”
Before the results of the leadership group vote were announced on Friday, Fremantle played an intraclub match with teams approximately split based on their age.
Playing for the younger ‘White’ team, Brayshaw said he was pleased to see his fellow young Dockers emerge victorious against the more experienced ‘Purple’ side.
“There was really good energy from both sides. The young boys got the job done and could have easily let it slip in that last quarter but they really put the foot to the throat and finished the job off,” Brayshaw said.
“It was a really good hitout, a lot of aggression and fight in there, which was great to see. It’s very promising going forward.”
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