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West Australian
a day ago
- Sport
- West Australian
Ultimate career timeline as dual Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe announces retirement
With dual Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe announcing his retirement on Monday, The West Australian has put together his ultimate career timeline. September 18, 1991 Nat Fyfe is born in country town Lake Grace. June 14, 2009 Kicks four goals against Vic Metro playing for WA in Under 18 Championships. August 13, 2009 Led Claremont Colts to 116-point victory with eight goals and 34 disposals. November 26, 2009 Drafted with pick 20 to Fremantle Dockers. April 25, 2010 Makes debut against Richmond in annual Len Hall ANZAC Day game and collects 13 disposals to go with 1.4 in a 39-point win. May 22, 2010 Earns Rising Star nomination after 23 disposals in Fremantle's first win over Swans in Sydney since 1996. October 8, 2011 Finishes second in Doig Medal behind Matthew Pavlich. May 1, 2012 Has shoulder surgery after dislocating the joint at training while playing through pain. September 28, 2013 Plays in one and only AFL grand final but goes down despite an equal game-high 28 disposals. November 16, 2013 Wins first Doig Medal, beating David Mundy with 263 votes. June 2014 Signs second three-season deal to stave off trade rumours. September 9, 2014 Awarded the Leigh Matthews Trophy as the league's MVP ahead of Gary Ablett Jr. September 16, 2014 Earns first All-Australian blazer. November 15, 2014 Wins second Doig Medal. May 23, 2015 Plays 100th AFL and Fremantle game, collecting 37 disposals and 11 clearances in a 73-point win over North Melbourne. September 22, 2015 Earns second All-Australian blazer. September 28, 2015 Wins second Leigh Matthews Trophy before earning his maiden Brownlow Medal. April 29, 2016 Has surgery for a fractured leg sustained against Carlton and misses remainder of the season. February 2017 Named Fremantle Dockers skipper. July 16, 2017 Commits to being a Docker for life with six-year contract extension. November 2017 Wins the Jim Stynes Medal for Australia's best player in International Rules series against Ireland. June 16, 2018 Plays 150th match and kicks two goals to go with 30 disposals in 67-point win over Carlton. July 1, 2018 Sustains six-week hamstring injury in loss to Lions in Perth. 2018 Inducted as Dockers life member 28 August, 2019 Named in third All-Australian team as captain. September 23, 2019 Becomes the 15th dual Brownlow medallist with 33 votes to beat Patrick Dangerfield. October 5, 2019 Wins third Doig Medal. January, 2021 Undergoes knee arthroscopy. July 10, 2021 Plays game 200 in a 62-point victory on the road against Hawthorn. October 26, 2021 After fighting through one shoulder dislocation, a second forces Fyfe to have surgery, ending season. June 11, 2022 After nearly 12 months out of the game Fyfe makes AFL return against Hawthorn with 22 touches and a goal. August 30, 2022 Fyfe ruled out of finals with second hamstring injury. May 11, 2023 Suffers a foot injury. June 1, 2023 Signs final two-year contract extension. July 1, 2023 Re-injures foot having returned for six games, ending his campaign. February 2025 Suffers fresh soft tissue injury setback. June 29, 2025 Having finally made his return, Fyfe injures his calf during warm-ups against St Kilda. August 11, 2025 Just days after making his AFL return as sub, Fyfe announces he will retire at the end of the season.
West Australian
18-07-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
Ryan Daniels: Hayden Young is made for finals and returns to Fremantle Dockers' line-up at perfect time
A rusted on, beanie wearing, Freo die-hard, stumbles home from the Sail and Anchor, fresh from a night arguing if Anthony Morabito or Josh Simpson was the greater 'what if' Docker. He stops to water the Norfolk Pines of the esplanade, and spots something shiny in the bushes. A lamp — faded and antiquey — with a faint purple hue. He gives it a rub and out pops a genie, offering just one wish. He tries fixing the past. A new set of knees for Mora, straight kicking in the 2013 grand final and safer hands for Tom Sheridan. Alas, history cannot be rewritten. This particular genie is more of an in-season list manager type of genie — a blue, cartooned David Walls, if you will. What would our lubricated wharfie add to this team? It was obvious. A big bodied, elite-kicking midfielder — a left-footer ideally — who can go inside our out, depending on need and matchups. One you can be flexible with. Could they play forward and hit the scoreboard? Could they swing down back if needed? Hard, skilful, a little different to what you already have, maybe with long, luscious locks that could be cast in a Pantene Pro-V commercial. Wish, granted. Hayden Young ticks every box. Young's hamstring surgery and subsequent recovery is done. He'll return tomorrow against the Pies, likely on managed minutes, but still, he's back. The other eight finals contenders would kill for a looming inclusion such as Young's. A few do have one: Hawthorn have Will Day in the wings, the Pies have Jordan De Goey and GWS Sam Taylor. The calibre of player who can swing a final. Young's absence this season has been somewhat ignored by many. Don't forget this guy was last season's big improver, third in the Doig Medal and an All-Australian squad member. Young has the ability to be Freo's version of Jordan Dawson, given seasoning. His presence could not arrive at a better time. The Dockers face Collingwood at the MCG and as heavy underdogs, it's become somewhat of a free hit at the premiership favourites. Beat the Pies and, forget finals, the Dockers would be looking an outside chance for top four, or at worst a firm shot at hosting a home elimination final in week one. Lose, and no one should bat an eyelid. Either way, the noise can't become overpowering. Forget Flagmantle, grand statements, outside noise — the Dockers don't need to be anything in particular this next six weeks. They don't always need to be the next big thing, or a rabble, overachieving or underachieving. Every loss doesn't need to bring a spotlight on the coach, and every win come with declarations of inevitable shiny cups. They just need to be. We saw a stat this week emerge; Fremantle are an AFL-leading 5-2 against the league's top nine teams. The losses came against the Cats in round one and the Pies in round nine. The Crows and Hawks are both 3-5 against the AFL's best, while the Western Bulldogs were 1-7 before this weekend. Against the bottom nine teams, Freo are 6-4 (two of those losses came against the 10th placed Sydney), while Collingwood, the Bulldogs and Crows are an astonishing 9-0. The Hawks are 8-1. Translation: the Dockers are well equipped to take on the AFL's best teams, while the Crows, Hawks and Dogs are feasting on the carcasses of the weak. The Pies don't count, they're good at everything. Fremantle have had two disgraceful performances this season; that round one embarrassment against the Cats in Geelong, and the 'Marvel Massacre' — a round eight shellacking from the Saints — which was an abomination and possibly an aberration. Their other four losses are by a combined 38 points. We're about to see one of the all-time races to for finals spots. Thanks to a horde of rebuilding teams piling up losses, and a mid-table mess of mediocrity stumbling home, the AFL's better half are piling up the victories. The team which finishes ninth this year will likely be one of the unluckiest in footy history. We've never seen a team miss the eight with 14 wins. That's in play in 2025. In fact, in the 30 years of the top eight system, no team has missed with 13 wins and only five times has 12 wins not been enough. One of those were the Dockers last season. The next six weekends will be a wild roller-coaster for a bunch of supporters, of a bunch of clubs. Freo are no different to the others. Having Hayden Young along for the ride, will mean the Dockers add a wildcard wish, a weapon unfired in 2025 and it might just be enough to get them to September.
West Australian
01-07-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
Nat Fyfe: Injured Fremantle Dockers veteran ‘disappointed' but not done with yet, says coach Justin Longmuir
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says he feels for a 'disappointed' Nat Fyfe, but maintains hope that the two-time Brownlow medallist can fix his injury issues in time for the business end of the season. Fyfe failed to take to the field in last weekend's win over St Kilda, with the Dockers substitute suffering what was later confirmed as a moderate-grade calf injury in the half-time warm-up. The club estimate the veteran's return date as two-to-four weeks. It marked the latest in a frustrating year for the 33-year-old, who had an interrupted pre-season due to knee surgery before being set back by a hamstring strain at WAFL level. 'He's disappointed,' Longmuir said of Fyfe on Seven. 'It wasn't ideal for anyone on the weekend. 'I feel for him and what he's gone through, being disrupted again by injury this year.' Longmuir said the latest injury blow would have no bearing on the future of the three-time Doig Medal winner, who is out of contract at season's end. 'We'll make those decisions later in the year,' Longmuir said. 'I'm really conscious of living in the moment. I really want to get Fyfey to rehab it as best he can and as quick as he can and get back to putting his hand up for selection again.' Fyfe is yet to play in a finals match since winning the first of his Brownlow Medals in 2015, with the former skipper desperate to return as the Dockers eye September action. Longmuir hailed the impact of his much-discussed ruck duo in the win over the Saints, with Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy pivotal in helping Freo overcome a 14-point deficit in the final term to help extend the club's winning streak to six. 'I thought Sean's ruck work returned to some of his better work, and his aerial (presence) around the ground was strong as well,' Longmuir said. 'They were both strong contributors.'
Perth Now
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
Fyfe ‘disappointed' but not done with yet, says coach
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says he feels for a 'disappointed' Nat Fyfe, but maintains hope that the two-time Brownlow medallist can fix his injury issues in time for the business end of the season. Fyfe failed to take to the field in last weekend's win over St Kilda, with the Dockers substitute suffering what was later confirmed as a moderate-grade calf injury in the half-time warm-up. The club estimate the veteran's return date as two-to-four weeks. It marked the latest in a frustrating year for the 33-year-old, who had an interrupted pre-season due to knee surgery before being set back by a hamstring strain at WAFL level. 'He's disappointed,' Longmuir said of Fyfe on Seven. 'It wasn't ideal for anyone on the weekend. 'I feel for him and what he's gone through, being disrupted again by injury this year.' Longmuir said the latest injury blow would have no bearing on the future of the three-time Doig Medal winner, who is out of contract at season's end. 'We'll make those decisions later in the year,' Longmuir said. 'I'm really conscious of living in the moment. I really want to get Fyfey to rehab it as best he can and as quick as he can and get back to putting his hand up for selection again.' Fyfe is yet to play in a finals match since winning the first of his Brownlow Medals in 2015, with the former skipper desperate to return as the Dockers eye September action. Longmuir hailed the impact of his much-discussed ruck duo in the win over the Saints, with Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy pivotal in helping Freo overcome a 14-point deficit in the final term to help extend the club's winning streak to six. 'I thought Sean's ruck work returned to some of his better work, and his aerial (presence) around the ground was strong as well,' Longmuir said. 'They were both strong contributors.'
West Australian
28-05-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
Hayden Young: Injured Fremantle Dockers star felt better than he was expecting in return to on-field running
Fremantle star Hayden Young says his body feels better than expected after returning to on-field running in a significant milestone in his bid to get back into the AFL side in the lead-in to finals. Young hit the training track for a jog on Tuesday for the first time since undergoing surgery on his right hamstring earlier this month. It was a key marker for the gun midfielder as he eyes a late-season comeback, with the club listing his estimated return date as 8-9 weeks away. That would put the 24-year-old in the frame to potentially feature in the final month of the home-and-away campaign. Young said he was buoyed by how he had pulled up after ticking off the box to get back moving. 'I felt really good,' Young said on 96FM. 'It's a good little progression, and hopefully, from now we can just get moving a bit quicker. 'It actually felt better than I was expecting, so I'm really pleased.' Young reached a speed of just under 15 km/h - close to half of his maximum running pace of 30 km/h - during his session at Cockburn. Last year's third-place Doig Medal finisher said he was firmly focused on remaining diligent in his rehab and not pushing the boundaries in a patient approach to getting back to full health in the wake of multiple hamstring setbacks this year. 'You do get to a certain speed where you're like, 'Oh, yeah, I can feel my hammy a little bit now',' he said. 'You sort of work within that zone where you want to push it a little bit, but you don't want to be feeling any pain or discomfort.' Young will again watch from the sidelines as Fremantle eye a third straight win this week, with the high-flying Suns awaiting in a testing road assignment at People First Stadium. Gold Coast are unbeaten in home fixtures this year, comprised of two matches at their Carrara base and two at their home-away-from-home at Darwin's TIO Stadium. 'They're hard to beat up there on the Gold Coast,' Young said. 'The conditions are sometimes tricky and they play well at home and it's a big travel trip for us. 'But two weeks ago, we went to GWS and won at a place where we'd never won before, so we can take a bit of confidence from that. 'We're up up for the challenge leading into the bye. You always want to have good win leading into the bye, so we're fired up and ready to go and hopefully we can come home with four points.'
