When Nat Fyfe returns to football in round one of the 2017 season, he’ll come up against some of the best midfielders in the game.
And it’s clear he couldn’t be happier.
Fremantle’s round one Starlight Purple Haze fixture pits Fyfe against fellow Brownlow Medallist Patrick Dangerfield as Freo host Geelong on Sunday 26 March at Domain Stadium.
“It will be a fierce game,” Fyfe said.
“The Cats had some pretty good form across the JLT Community Series, and we were building our form into the last game of the pre-season.
“We’re expecting a capacity crowd, it should be a good game.”
While the attention in the lead-up will likely focus on a ‘rivalry’ between the AFL’s most recent Brownlow winners, Fyfe says he’s expecting a lot of fireworks from everyone on both sides in the midfield.
“(Fyfe v Dangerfield) is sort of a side plot to the bigger picture that’s going on,” Fyfe said.
“The Geelong midfield has a lot of class players in (Joel) Selwood, (Sam) Menegola, Cam Gurtherie…and our midfield runs deep as well with (David) Mundy, (Lachie) Neale and Stephen Hill and Bradley Hill.
“It will be exciting either way.”
After almost a year out of football, Fyfe said he couldn’t wait to be able to return to playing the game he loves, and admitted that being at the MCG for captain’s day added to his excitement.
“Standing out here on the MCG, I’m brimming with excitement and energy,” Fyfe said.
“At the end of the day I’m a football player who wasn’t able to play football for 12 months, so overwhelmingly, I’m excited to get out there.”
“I got to enjoy that experience (in the JLT Community Series), and it was great to be able to run around and play footy again.
