[2][3] The club was a founding member of the Western Australian Football Association in 1885.
[4] In the inaugural season, Fremantle finished third out of three teams, behind Rovers, Victorians and a High School team which dropped out of the competition two rounds into the season.
The next season, 1886, the team finished first in the league to claim the premiership.
[5] The club recorded large victories over most of the competition, including 6–2 against both Rovers and Unions and 4–1 against Victorians.
The club's most notable player during this period was the captain Bill Bateman, an inaugural inductee of the West Australian Football Hall of Fame.