First year West Coast Eagle Anthony Treacy opens up on footy life during COVID and goals for 2020 season

If adjusting to life as an AFL footballer is a mountain of a challenge, then for first-year players like Broome’s Anthony Treacy, the 2020 season has been like climbing Mt Everest. The West Coast Eagles forward went from settling in and getting his body to AFL standard to suddenly stuffing his club’s gym equipment into his car and being isolated from his new teammates as the league went into a COVID-19 lockdown just one round into the season. Fast forward a couple of months and the young athlete finds himself starting all over again on the training track and pushing his body to its limits to prove himself to his club. Add a dash of homesickness for the Kimberley boy more than 2000km from home and it could be a recipe for a tumultuous start to a promising career. But tricky beginnings have done little to faze a determined Treacy, who said he was loving every single second as an Eagle. “Getting my body fit and up to standard was challenging, it takes a lot of time and effort, big gym sessions and full days of training,” he said. “Then isolating was a bit of a setback, but nothing major because I was able to stay fit and strong and within two weeks of being back I already feel like I’m straight back to full fitness. “Some days you go home real tired, then you’re up early and you do it all over again, my body gets sore but I’m adapting, slowly getting used to this feeling all over again. “I still love it, regardless of everything that has gone on this year, I love being part of it all, its a really good experience and I’m really enjoying myself.” Treacy has racked up a long list of accomplishments, which included a best and fairest medal in the 2018 West Kimberley Football League and an impressive stint for the Claremont Tigers in the WAFL last season. The 23-year-old said his goal for 2020 was to remain fit and injury free to best set himself up for selection. “I want to make sure I’m available week in, week out,” he said. “I won’t be too down if I missed out on playing a game in my first year, even being a part of this team is a really good experience, I’m just happy to be a part of this.” Treacy said he was missing his friends, family and community in Broome, but had also well and truly settled in Perth. “I still talk to everyone up there all the time, I even get messages from random people in the Kimberley that I don’t even know,” he said. “They say congratulations to me ... I think it’s really cool and I appreciate all the support.”