Fremantle Dockers forward coach on Josh Treacy, partnership with Jye Amiss and more

Fremantle assistant coach Jaymie Graham says Josh Treacy’s explosion onto the AFL scene has been years in the making as the “Big Cohuna” makes a splash.

Treacy, 21, is coming off a career-best performance against Port Adelaide, kicking three goals on a low-scoring night to lead from the front.

Graham has nothing but praise for Treacy, who arrived at the club in 2021 as pick No. 7 in the rookie draft.

“He came to the club as a big solid key forward who could crash a pack and bring one effort, but he’s really worked hard on his fitness, and you can see his body shape has completely changed,” Graham said.

“He’s also built on his mental side of the game, and we saw it all come to the fore on the weekend with one of his better performances for the club.”

The key to his upward trajectory lies in his partnership with fellow forward Jye Amiss, and despite having only played 22 games together the duo are already becoming a force.

“It’s really important for not only the forward line, but the future of the club to have two young key forwards coming through and starting to show some really good signs,” Graham said.

“Any partnership takes a little bit of time to form the connection and to understand each other’s strengths, but they are working really hard off the field to get to know each other and connecting.

“They’ve both got different strengths, JT is really physical in the way he goes about it and Jye has got real footy smarts and craft, but they are connecting really well.”

Graham highlighted the importance of consistency and growth as the young forward’s career progresses.

“Ideally, he (Treacy) just keeps growing and building his game like we saw on the weekend,” Graham said.

“They’re not always going to be standout games where he kicks three and takes five or six contested marks, but we are starting to see real consistency.

“His teammates and us as coaches know what we are going to get from JT every week.”