Fremantle couldn’t have gotten more out of their players in the 2022 pre-season, earning praise from captain Nat Fyfe 11 days out from Freo’s round one clash against Adelaide on 20 March at Adelaide Oval.

While Fyfe said Freo’s two pre-season wins against West Coast were meaningless, he felt the determination of the group throughout the summer was more than enough proof they would be competitive in 2022.

“I think we’re a more professional outfit, our hardness in the contest has improved but pre-season games give you basically zero information, so we can’t take anything from our two games against West Coast,” Fyfe said.

“The standard of training we’ve seen from our players across pre-season indicates to me that we’re a more professional and harder outfit. The season proper will tell whether that’s actually true.

“We’re doing everything we can to ensure that we’re better than we were last year.”

The two-time Brownlow Medallist gave the best indication yet that he will be fit for round one despite not being ready to guarantee he will lead his team out against the Crows.

He was given the all clear to play some minutes in the AAMI Community Series on Sunday against West Coast, but it was decided to take a risk free approach.

“My shoulder had the all clear to go but we had a couple of good conversations at a round table and decided that it wasn’t quite worth risking playing (against West Coast),” Fyfe said.

“The upside really wasn’t there, and we decided a few more weeks of strength into my shoulder was only going to be better for it.

“I’ve had to push so hard over the past two months to get the rest of my body up to speed. We’re just waiting for it to consolidate and we’ve got to make sure there’s no soft tissue injury risks. The shoulder will be fine for round one, it’s just whether the rest of the body is ready to go.”

He said Freo's up and coming defenders were among those he expected to take the next step this year.

"I think Heath Chapman, Hayden Young, Brandon Walker...our half back line is in really good shape," Fyfe said.

"Our injury list at the moment is really thin and we’re hoping to keep it that way through some really considered measures to prevent and reduce our injury toll. We’ve got a couple of young players that should be set for big years."

Fyfe is hoping to play some match sim minutes this weekend but he will also be focused on his strength over the next fortnight.

“I’ve been doing some smothering work, some random tackle work and some overhead marking just to get my confidence up, and that’s basically been ticked off. It’s just some final strength measures,” Fyfe said.

Fyfe also joked about his pre-season look, recently shaving off the goatee he had since January.

"It was a bit ridiculous and it needed to go,” he said.

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