Football analysts Gerard Whateley and David King both believe Fremantle are genuine finals contenders after their 5-1 start to the season, but the team’s ceiling is dependent on how they fare against Geelong on Saturday.

In a segment on SEN, Whateley said Fremantle had done as well as could be hoped against the teams they have faced so far this season, but didn’t want to pass judgement on Freo’s potential until they took on the AFL’s top four contenders.

“They’ve built their profile handling teams that I suspect are below them, so their profile looks awesome,” Whateley said on SEN.

“5-1 is a great position to attack from, but I want to see them against the set of teams that I think are around them. The rest of the teams at 5-1 are a good start in Brisbane, Sydney and Geelong.

“They played Carlton, who were in the mix with them at 4-1, and they handled that really well, below that is Collingwood and Hawthorn. I think they’re in the conversation between two and six, but what I want to know is do they have preliminary finals integrity?

“I think they are better than all the teams they have been occupying the ladder alongside in the past two to three years.”

King credited Fremantle for their unique game style, saying teams can’t rise to the top trying to emulate others.

“I keep saying that ‘different wins premierships’, you can’t play someone else’s game and be better than them at it,” King said.

“Right now, they’re a real mystery to me (but) I love how they play, this is the Fremantle Football Club arriving to say we are a finalists. Lock them in for the finals, because it’s so different, but how far can it go?”

King analysed Fremantle’s game plan, saying the team exhibited a mix of safe and adventurous football.

“They’ve only coughed up 85 points from defensive half turnover. They are as safe, as safe in the back half. Bringing the ball out is done with a level of control until they get to a point where they explode at speed when it’s safe to do so. 85 points is 15 goals less than the AFL average across six weeks, they’ve saved 15 goals on the AFL average by just playing composed and sensible football. Statistically, that’s brilliant.”

While King said this brand of football can work against most teams, he was sceptical about how it would hold up against the best in the AFL.

“We’ve seen safe football before, we saw Richmond play safe football in 2016 and it gets to a finals series and it doesn’t work (come finals), same with Geelong,” King said.

“The new fashion in football is to take the contest, take the territory. Fremantle are doing it different. Let’s respect that it’s different.

“Will this work against the big boys is always the question, this week they’ve got Geelong in Geelong.”

The return of Nat Fyfe from a back injury will be crucial for Fremantle to challenge the AFL’s best sides, according to King.

Fyfe is currently four to six weeks away from playing, meaning the captain could be back in time for Fremantle’s clashes against Melbourne and Brisbane in rounds 11 and 12.

“The ball use down back worries me, because as soon as you play slow against a seriously good team, they’ll lock you in, then it becomes a tough game,” King said.

“Let’s respect what they’ve done without Nathan Fyfe. He’s a territory maker, Nathan Fyfe. He gets the ball in traffic and gets it forward.”

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