Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir says Nat Fyfe will need to play a full match in coming weeks

West Australian

5 hours ago

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says playing Nat Fyfe as a 'super sub' long term might be unsustainable and the veteran will probably need to play four quarters some time in the next few weeks.
The Dockers veteran was impressive when he was injected into Saturday night's win over North Melbourne. It was the second time in as many matches Longmuir has held off using the two-time Brownlow medallist until the final quarter.
Fyfe had nine disposals after being subbed into Saturday night's game during the final quarter and that followed his seven disposals as the sub against Gold Coast.
The substitute role is seen as a way the Dockers can get maximum impact out of their champion in the back-half of this season as they push towards the finals, but Longmuir said they would have to weigh up playing him for a full match.
Thursday night's primetime showdown with Essendon comes off a five-day break.
'We'll talk about that at selection, but he might be a permanent sub – he might be able to play til he's 45 and do that for the rest of his career,' Longmuir said, with a hint of tongue in cheek.
'It's definitely an option and that's what you look for as a sub, but probably (my) gut feel is you can only be a sub for for so long. We've had players who have been sub for three weeks in a row, and you probably feel like that is the max.
'So if he is sub for this week there is probably one more before we either have to get some game time at a lower level or we get him into the team.'
Former captain and now ABC commentator Peter Bell told The West Australian Fyfe's ability to win the ball in the wet when other players were tired made him a perfect sub in both games, but the veteran needed full matches at key points of the season.
'Longer term for Fremantle, I think they can really help Nat and he can help them by playing that role reasonably regularly,' he said.
'It's the big body, which is why in those greasy conditions he's particularly good and very clean. He does the right thing at the right time and has good game sense. The other part with Nat is the team love having him out there. They walk a bit taller.
'But I'm not sure it'll be the permanent sub for Nat, He's had a huge impact in both of the games but I also feel like those greasy, wet conditions are pretty good for him as well.
'He's definitely impacted in a big way in both games. But he'd want to play a full game at some stage and Fremantle would be pretty keen for that to happen as well to build his fitness. If he continues to play as the sub all the time and then they get an early injury, he'd have to come into the match being vulnerable to soft tissue injuries and ability to cover the ground.'
Fyfe missed the first half of the season following pre-season knee surgery and then a hamstring injury.
His workrate during his absence meant he could step straight into the AFL team when available.
Fyfe made a brief appearance at training on Tuesday as the Dockers weigh up whether to play him off a five-day break and risk an injury in Thursday night's clash with Essendon at Optus Stadium.
'He's achieved everything else. It's not about individual achievements. It's a team achievement that he's looking for. Hopefully the team continue to build and give themselves an opportunity to do that,' Bell said.
Meanwhile, Longmuir said the group addressed a low tackle count inside 50 against the Roos.
The Kangaroos had 12 more inside 50s and 29 tackles to Fremantle's seven in that zone.
'Field position was a bit of an issue for us all night. It felt like we turned the ball over too much between the arcs, which fed their inside 50s, which allowed them to set the ground up the way they wanted, which fuels your pressure,' Longmuir said.
'First half, we were bouncing out of our back half and scoring for stoppage and every time we sort of got it inside 50, we looked really dangerous, but didn't quite get the game set up the way we wanted to for long periods of time, and that sort of feeds the tackle stuff,' he said.
'It's an issue but that wasn't the biggest issue in the game.
'I thought clearance was the issue early and just dealing with field position. Like I said, We got stuck in our back half. It's hard to tackle inside 50 when the balls not there.
'Probably the first five to seven minutes in the last quarter where it felt like we just went to sleep, where our pressure could have been better, and our team D could have been better and it allowed them to get back in the game.
'We probably didn't set the ground up the way we wanted to on our forward 50 entries, which contributed to that factor. But there's probably more the field position that was our biggest focus.'
Longmuir said the Dockers would look to exploit Essendon's lack of talls, with a raft of players 190cm or taller on the injury list, but it wouldn't be a focus.
'At times, that can be a difficult one to exploit and it's probably circumstances and making sure that we work together well as a forward line, and trying to create isolation,' he said.
'If you end up talking about trying to exploit their lack of tall defenders, you end up bombing it into packs all the time and you don't really get the method you want.
'So largely, we just play our way. We spoke to the players about that and to understand that they've got a couple of things maybe you can exploit, or a couple of real strengths that we need to make sure we are across as well.'