Where the WA-bred Dockers stars have come from

Nearly half of Fremantle’s 41-player squad started their footy journey in Western Australia, including All-Australian trio Shai Bolton, Luke Jackson and Jordan Clark and several more first-choices players like Matthew Johnson, Heath Chapman and Neil Erasmus.

From Albany, Bunbury and Busselton in the south to Broome in the north, Dongara and Geraldton in the Mid West, the Perth hills and all parts of the metropolitan area, there’s a strong WA flavour at the Dockers heading into just their second AFL Grand Final against Brisbane at the MCG on Saturday.

Nine of the 20 West Aussies in the Dockers squad are from regional WA, while the other 11 played their junior football in and around Perth.

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Sharpshooter Jye Amiss played at Busselton alongside current Brisbane Lion James Tunstill, with the pair regularly commuting to Perth together for East Perth Colts training before both realised their AFL dreams at the end of 2021.

Amiss, who ended up getting the nickname ‘Nev’ because of his sharpshooting ways (Nev-Amiss aka never miss) booted a staggering 51.15 in his final Colts season at the Royals, while also featuring for the WA under-19s which was his first taste of representative action since under-12s because of a horror run of injuries.

Midfield teammates Neil Erasmus and Matthew Johnson played in a Colts flag together at Subiaco, with Erasmus booting four goals in a breakout performance up forward and Johnson also among the Lions’ best in the upset Grand Final victory over Subiaco at Fremantle Community Bank Oval back in 2020.

The majority featured in the AAMI WA Football talent pathways including WA under-16s, under-18s and under-19s during the COVID-affected year back in 2021.

Ruckman Luke Jackson, wingman Nathan O’Driscoll and midfielder Jeremy Sharp are among those to taste title success for the Black Swans, with the trio featuring in both the National Under-16s title in 2007 and National Under-18s triumph two years later.

Take a look at where each of the WA Dockers are from below

The WA Dockers