Fremantle sat the biggest exam of their season on Sunday and passed with flying colours, outlasting the Bulldogs to seal a long-awaited finals return.
24 hours later, superstar midfielder Andrew Brayshaw will face his own paper — a commerce test back at university.
One result carries a club’s September hopes, the other worth a modest 12.5% weighting.
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“I’ve got a uni test tomorrow that I’ll have to lock in for — no extension there! I’ll lock in for that tomorrow, so I’ll probably do some study on the flight back,” Brayshaw told foxfooty.com.au in the changerooms post-game.
“I’ve got two units to go, and then I graduate. This one’s just (worth) 12.5%, I should knock it over pretty easy.”
Much like Brayshaw’s commerce test, there were no extensions on Fremantle’s deadline heading into their blockbuster Round 24 clash.
The critics of the club and coach Justin Longmuir were at times deafening, but in some ways, it fuelled the Dockers for their do-or-die encounter that eventually broke their three-year finals drought.
“Everyone had written us off, which is good — we like being the underdogs,” Brayshaw said.
“We’ve actually travelled really well and played some really good away games, so internally we were really confident. We learned a lot from the Brisbane loss last week.
“Like I said, everyone said we were going to lose, so it was just good to come out here and outside the first quarter, play our style of footy.
“Everyone was saying that last week was Fyfey’s last home game. But up until the Brisbane loss, we had won 10 of our last 11, so it’s funny how quickly everyone can write you off.”
The Bulldogs, who will finish the home-and-away season with the most points for of any team in the competition, held the upper hand throughout the first quarter on Sunday afternoon.
Longmuir’s side looked a far cry from their best football, but a run of eight unanswered goals and a goalless second stanza from the Bulldogs flipped the game on its head in the Dockers’ favour.
“Our defence was a bit sloppy in the first quarter. They (the Bulldogs) sliced us up through the middle, so we made sure we tightened that up,” Brayshaw continued.
“It was us against everyone else … they had everything to play for as well, so we knew it was going to be a desperate and physical game.
“We’re starting to back ourselves with ball-in-hand as well … our ball movement takes care of itself. In that second quarter, we were super strong in the corridor, and then the exciting stuff happens after that.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of the boys, and now we get a home final which is f*cking awesome!”
Dockers down Dogs to book finals footy | 02:27
The co-vice-captain, who has the 10th-longest active streak in the AFL with 94 consecutive games, had a brief moment of concern when he dislocated his finger on the cusp of quarter time.
He went to the bench for several minutes for medical treatment before running out the game with heavy strapping.
“I’ve never dislocated a finger, until today. It was more just scary to look at, to be honest,” said the 25-year-old.
“The actual injury didn’t hurt too much, but when I looked down, I thought: ‘Wow, I haven’t seen my finger quite like that. But the doc popped it straight back in and strapped it up.
“It’ll be pretty sore on Monday I reckon.”
Pending Wednesday night’s home-and-away season finale, between Gold Coast and Essendon, the Dockers will play one of Hawthorn or the Suns at Optus Stadium.
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