Kyle Dunkley has provided unwavering support for his older brother Josh's successful AFL career, from his time at the Western Bulldogs through to the Brisbane Lions. As his number 1 fan, Kyle's pride and admiration for Josh's achievements highlight the deep bond that these footballing brothers share.
Supportive family and shared pride
As a professional AFL player in the 1990s, the odds were pretty high that Andrew Dunkley’s sons would inherit his passion for the game and his athletic ability. This is exactly what happened with his sons, Josh and Kyle.
Josh is currently a key player for the Brisbane Lions, while Kyle represented the Melbourne Football Club at the top level. As fate would dictate, the brothers played against each other in Round 17 of the 2019 AFL season, when Josh was representing the Western Bulldogs and Kyle the Melbourne Football Club.
“It was one of the proudest days of my life to play against you,” Josh tells Kyle. “The only thing that would top that is playing together. It was probably one of my most nervous pre-games,” he adds. “I was so nervous playing against you.”
“I agree,” Kyle replies. “I'll tell you what, I've never seen a bloke dominating a game of footy more than that. That was incredible – a great experience!”
Making the match more memorable for the brothers and their family was the fact that Kyle kicked his first AFL goal, and Josh had an outstanding game, with 39 disposals, 15 tackles and two goals, which helped lead the Western Bulldogs to victory.
Football immersion shaped sporting destiny
While you might expect that Andrew Dunkley pushed his sons to achieve success in AFL, they agree that he was quite relaxed in his approach. “Dad got us to play footy at a young age,” says Kyle, “but there was no pressure. It was more that we grew up around it and spent a lot of time doing it.
“Having a big backyard on the farm probably helped, where we could get out there and compete a fair bit, with our sister Lara as well. Dad was obviously very helpful on our journey, but there was no pressure there at all,” he adds.
There was one exception that both Josh and Kyle remember well. It was when they were playing in an under-12 team. “We got beaten by about 140 points in our first ever game of serious footy in Yarram,” Josh recalls. “I remember walking away from that thinking, ‘geez, this is not good for us. We're going to get smashed’.
“And the next week we got beaten again by about 80 odd, and that was when Dad got us out in the driveway for a beep test.”
“I remember getting in the car after that game thinking, ‘oh, here we go,’” adds Kyle. “Dad didn't tear shreds off us, but he gave us a bit of a talking to. When we pulled into the driveway, he said, ‘righto, you're doing the beep test.’ We’d just played a game of footy and he pulled the beep test on us when we got home,” he laughs. “Mum probably felt bad, so she came and joined us!”
Josh adds, “I think we all got to about 10 or 11, and we were cooked. But I reckon those little things help you realise how far you can push yourself – not only in footy or fitness, but also with work and life outside of footy.”
Siblings enjoy each other’s company
The Dunkley family are tight-knit. “We were very close as kids,” says Josh. “Being a country family, you spend a lot of hours in the car together. Lara played netball and basketball, we played footy, basketball and badminton – the list goes on.
“Mum and Dad sacrificed so much for us. To be able to give back to them a little bit and make them proud of us is definitely something we all say is very important to us,” he adds.
This closeness was demonstrated when Kyle moved to Melbourne for boarding school in Years 11 and 12. “I moved to Melbourne Grammar and was boarding there,” he explains. “Luckily, Josh and Lara were living in Melbourne at the time, so it made the transition pretty easy for me.
“I boarded Monday to Friday and would go and live with them for the weekends. That was a pretty easy, but very different, experience. I'm very glad I did it because I learned a lot from it.
“It was good, but we would obviously bicker at times,” he adds. “We had a lot of fun.” The siblings went through the Covid lockdown together, where they pulled up the back deck and redid the backyard.
“It was sort of back to the good old days where we'd wake up and train together in the morning, come back for a coffee and then get stuck into some gym, which was good.”
Josh adds: “I loved it. We grew up together, and we're so close that living together was no real change for us, other than Mum and Dad not being there. There were times when we did clash a little bit, but at the same time, it was always a bit of a laugh, and we'd move on pretty quickly and enjoy each other's company.”
Josh and Kyle moved to Brisbane to join the Brisbane Lions at the end of 2022, where they joined their sister Lara, who was already living in Brisbane, playing netball for the Queensland Firebirds. The three siblings lived together again under the same roof from early 2023.
‘Josh has to be number one’
Kyle describes Josh as competitive when he was young. “He wouldn’t give up and didn’t like losing,” he says. “Anything we did in the backyard or on the farm, Josh just had to be the number one!”
“Sometimes Kyle was very competitive too,” adds Josh. “Being brothers, we both wanted to win. We had motorbike and go-kart tracks.” He describes how, once, the brothers were racing motorbikes, and Kyle tried to beat Josh and ploughed through the fence. “Next minute, the ambulance is at our house!” he says.
“You look back and realise as kids we were pretty lucky, in that we had a fair bit of space and in the way that Mum and Dad brought us up. I would almost be prepared to go back there and do it all over again!”
Kyle adds that Josh was always very mature in his attitude, even when he was young. “Once Josh got to the point where he knew what he wanted to do, he had mapped it all and didn't really take a step wrong. He was very driven, and once he knew he wanted to play AFL, it was tunnel vision – he did everything he could to get there.”
Kyle admires Josh’s competitiveness and work ethic. “You will never see Josh give up a chase or not defend. He never gives up, no matter how late it is in the game. There aren’t many people who will chase the whole way through – Josh is one of those blokes,” he says.
Proudest moments as number 1 fan
As his brother’s number 1 fan, Kyle says one of his proudest moments was when Josh won the AFL premiership in his debut season in 2016 as the youngest member of the Western Bulldogs team.
Josh’s second premiership win in 2024 also stands out for Kyle. “That was a very proud moment that brought tears to all of our eyes, to see how hard he’d worked over his journey”, he adds. “For Josh to have won two premierships already is pretty impressive.”
Josh recalls his Grand Final moment: “I remember the siren going – it’s a moment that you’ll never forget,” explains Josh. Afterwards, he walked into the change rooms and Kyle was the first person he saw. “He gave me a massive high five and hug. The emotion was just insane,” he explains.
“It is very rewarding to be able to experience it as Josh’s brother,” says Kyle. “You think back to all the little moments and times where you work together on stuff. To see him win the ultimate, the premiership, is very rewarding.”
Josh adds, “I'm a product of the people around me. I'm the product of what Kyle has given me as my brother. My sister, my partner, Mum and Dad, players, coaches – it goes on. I can't do what I do without them. I'll be forever in their debt for that,” he says.
