LACHIE Schultz was the vocal barometer for Fremantle in 2023, a feisty forward whose voice could always be heard by teammates on the track and in games as he screamed direction and encouragement.  

His good mate, Josh Treacy, was softly spoken in comparison. A talented and determined forward from country Victoria emerging quickly but still trying to find his voice in the AFL system.

Schultz's trade to Collingwood at the end of 2023 opened an opportunity for Treacy, however, that may be the critical moment so far in his recent rise from promising youngster to genuine star of the competition. 

The 22-year-old had been a vocal leader as a junior player with the Bendigo Pioneers and he saw the chance to replace the role Schultz had filled and fast-track his own growth. 

He spoke to his coaches about taking the leap and looks back on it now as a key part of the reason for his breakout 2024, becoming the Dockers' leading goalkicker, arguably their most important player, and now a member of the leadership group. 

"It was something I'd been trying to figure out ever since I've been here because I felt like I had it before I was on an AFL list," Treacy told AFL.com.au on the eve of the season.

"But through your first few years as a young fella, you're trying to find your place within the team and within the club, so I think I struggled with that.

"The more I got comfortable with the level though and everyone started backing me in, it made me feel comfortable and feel like I could have those conversations and be a presence on field.

"I sat down with 'JG' (forwards coach Jaymie Graham) and spoke about it with him, and the coaches encourage that voice because that's what we need. It's a big pillar of my performance now."

'Ferocious' and 'relentless' are two words used to describe the way Treacy trains and leads, but they could just as easily be used to define the way he played in 2024 in a 45-goal season that put him in All-Australian contention before a late knee injury when his form was peaking.

A brilliant set shot kick from long range, he converted at an elite 71.4 per cent and led the Dockers for contested marks and marks inside 50. When it came to pushing up the ground and setting up teammates, there is an argument that only Hayden Young was a better kick going inside 50.

Driving all that improvement behind the scenes were sacrifices like not drinking alcohol for the season, which he'll repeat in 2025, and starting every day of pre-season at the club at 6.15am.

"It allows me to just have a bit of quiet space," Treacy said of his early starts, often beating senior coach Justin Longmuir into the club.

"No one can annoy me, and I can do a bit of movement prep and just wander around the gym for an hour connecting with how I feel and seeing if I need to do anything different or if I'm going to need a longer warm-up."

On main training day, Treacy's early starts have now drawn a crowd as the Dockers' key forwards and key defenders get together for aerial work with assistant coaches Graham and Jade Rawlings.

It's an example of why Treacy was voted into the leadership group this season and why Longmuir describes him as a role model for his teammates.

"He sets a great example with how you sacrifice to become an AFL footballer," Longmuir told AFL.com.au.

"I don't think that was the case early in his career and he's been able to make some sacrifices to get his body in the physical shape to be able to compete week in, week out, and then do the reps.

"I think every one of his teammates look at him and go, 'That's something I want to do'.

"That's then given him the confidence to go to the next level with his leadership because he's doing the work and setting a great example and using his experiences to help others."

Treacy puts a lot of his work ethic and commitment down to the way he was raised on the family farm in Cohuna in country Victoria, but there are traits that were also shaped by a difficult, COVID-impacted Draft year.

Entering the 2020 season as co-captain of the Bendigo Pioneers, Treacy was left without football for much of the year as the pandemic shut down junior competitions in Victoria, forcing the young forward to train on his own.

His manager Matt Bain says most AFL recruiters at that point would have seen Treacy as a "heavy centre half-forward that wasn't moving that well", with the opportunity to change their minds mostly taken away.

Fremantle list boss David Walls and ex-Essendon list manager Adrian Dodoro were two scouts that maintained an interest, however, as Treacy started working with a dietician and a personal trainer.

He ran laps on a gravel road around the farm, and his parents Kieran and Kirsten and younger brother Mitch would roll groundballs to him on the front lawn.

"His drive to improve is one of the best I've ever seen. He was meticulous and I don't think people expected it from him," Bain told AFL.com.au. 

"He kept asking questions about what the better players in the competition do, how much training he could do, and what else he could do to make it. He was just hungry for information.

"He couldn't prove himself that year with his footy, but getting his body right was one of the main concerns for the next level. 

"So if he could shed weight and present at the end of the year at a Draft Combine or a training session and his body shape had significantly changed, it was going to give him a big chance."

That training session arrived towards the end of the year at the Calder Cannons' home ground in Craigieburn, with Bain speaking to Walls on the sidelines about the amount of training Treacy had done and the competitive spirit he had for a key forward.

The teenager put in a good showing and competed aerially with eventual No.1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan, but he was overlooked by every club at the Draft until Fremantle called his name at pick No.7 in the next day's Rookie Draft.

"I was standing at the front door of our house, because it's the only place you can get service for the phone, and Mum was watching on the computer," Treacy said.

"As I heard Mum scream, the phone rang and I still don't know to this day who actually rang me from the club. I think it was 'Belly' (Peter Bell).

"Those memories now are the emotion of the family and the community support when you finally get to live out all I had worked for as a kid."

There were signs that Treacy would be a leader from his very first season because of the things that he valued as a key forward.

In one of the best games of his debut year, against Hawthorn at York Park, Treacy booted two goals in a 62-point win but was buzzing in the rooms afterwards because the team had laid 14 tackles inside 50, smashing its target of six (Treacy laid a game-high six himself).

"He'd played probably his best AFL game at that stage," said Jason Dover, who helps support Treacy from Perth as part of the TGI Sport management team. "I went to say congrats and he was so pumped after coming out of the team meeting because he saw himself contributing to the team's goal.

"I thought, 'This kid is going to get it' because he had put all this pressure on and helped the team hit one of its KPIs and he was buzzing like he had kicked a bag.

"He had the right focus points, the right character, and that was a day where I knew he was coming."

Another game later in the year was memorable for Treacy for a different reason after he was challenged by a star defender at a rival club in a moment that still motivates the powerful forward.

"I was a little bit chunky in my first few years and he grabbed a little bit of fat on my tummy and just reminded me of that. I will never forget that," Treacy said.

"I understand it's part of the game, and it's all a bit of fun and an older player trying to intimidate a younger kid, but it's something that's just always stuck with me.

"Not personally, just more of like what can I do to prove myself to the AFL world with what I've been through and what I've done training wise."

Treacy's focus over this pre-season was to get over the PCL injury that ended his 2024, then build his fitness and strength to set up for another big year. Everything he produced in training and intraclub games suggests that is on track.

His ambition for the year ahead is simple: "Step up and grow to be a bigger part of this footy club and the AFL and really take this team forward to achieve the ultimate success".

 Treacy may be as important as anyone in helping Fremantle achieve its maiden premiership, both through his performances, the role he plays as a powerful key forward, and now as an official leader.

In the last of those roles, there is a real contrast between his caring and thoughtful off-field personality and his on-field brutality, but for Treacy they are two sides of the same coin as he pushes Fremantle to deliver on its own expectations this year.

"I feel like it's the same, I probably just deliver my message in a different way on the field," he said.

"I feel like my role is a bit more of an on-field role and a bit more vocal and leading by example, so that's where I feel like I can pick up my end of the bargain.

"I've got the same care and love on and off the field, but it's just delivered in a more ferocious way on the field because I love winning so much and I just want the best for everyone and for us."