WHILE most of us were opening presents, footy’s Brayshaw brothers were using Christmas Day to put themselves through a torture test.

Fremantle draftee Andrew Brayshaw and West Coast’s Hamish Brayshaw joined older brother Angus, who plays for Melbourne, in the AFL system last month.

But the festive season is no time to relax for the trio, who will continue their brutal family tradition of punishing themselves with 100 100m runs at a local park on Christmas Day.

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The Brayshaw brothers are adamant being in Vietnam on holiday won’t stop them.

“Dad always used to say the best players do their work while other people are sleeping or doing other things,” Hamish said.

“And we thought there wouldn’t be a single other bloke out there that’s putting in the work on Christmas Day. So that became our tradition, that every year we’d get down and run a hundred 100s on Christmas morning before lunch.”

media_camera The Brayshaw brothers; Andrew, Angus and Hamish. Picture: David Smith

Dad is Mark Brayshaw, a dual premiership player with Claremont who also played for North Melbourne.

The three AFL-listed Brayshaw siblings will be joined in their traditional running by oldest brother Will, an army lieutenant, and likely some friends.

The brothers give themselves 35 seconds to complete each 100m run and if they finish it sooner they get the remaining seconds to rest before going again.

“It just started off as a bit of fun. We’ve got lots more people coming and doing it with us every year. I think we had about eight blokes in the last couple of years, so it’s been really fun and it’s just something that everyone gets down and really enjoys,” Hamish said.

“We’re going to find a quiet place in Vietnam to map it out and then get it done. There’s no excuse for going overseas.”

The WA clubs have decided Andrew and Hamish will not live together next year, making separate arrangements for the pair.

Andrew Brayshaw, taken by Fremantle with their prized pick two, is set to live with Nat Fyfe, while Hamish has been placed with a host family.

The brothers grew up in Melbourne but have strong links to WA, where both sides of their family are from. They are grandsons of former State cricketer Ian Brayshaw, famous for his return of 10-44 in a Sheffield Shield match for WA against Victoria 50 years ago.

Originally published as Brayshaws’ Xmas torture tradition