Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe gave an in-depth interview with football commentators Garry Lyon and Tim Watson on SEN on Tuesday morning, discussing his football longevity, the players ready to elevate their game in 2020 and the recent Marsh Series.

Here are the key takeaways from the interview.

Fyfe on his football longevity 

I think that I’ve still got seven years of footy in me if everything goes according to plan with my body and my mindset.

I think that as I get older and wiser, I work out the game a bit more. That’s my ultimate strength, my ability to adapt to changes and I think I’m not going to get any fitter or stronger or faster, but I am going to be able to use my experience to understand the game a bit better and play as a midfield/forward.

I’ve got no intention of slowing down or taking the foot off the gas in any way and I think I’m now entering a stage where I can play my absolute premium footy over the next 3-5 years.

Another seven years puts me at 34 (years of age), and we’ve got David Mundy who is 35, so he’s probably my yardstick. 

Kelly Slater, Serena Williams, Tom Brady – they are the athletes I’m starting to profile and the consistent thing with those players and people that retire late in their careers, is always the mental struggle after 30 (years of age).

I’m putting in strategies already so that when that idea pops into the mind that maybe that’s enough or maybe I hang the boots up, that I have enough motivational juice to keep getting myself back to being as good as I can while I can, because you retire for a very long time.

On Griffin Logue’s recent form

Griff is a character and he’s full of life. He was a high draft pick; I think he was taken at pick eight and it’s taken a while to really learn about AFL footy and the level it’s played at.

He is an incredible athlete; he can run and jump, and we want to play him as a big defender. We want him not so much as a lock down defender, but as someone who can read the ball and roll off.  

He’s played two good games now (across the Marsh Series), and we see him as our round one key back. Hopefully, he can stand up to the pressures of AFL footy throughout the first half of the season while we don’t have Joel (Hamling) and Alex (Pearce).

On Freo’s next generation midfield group

I think Andy Brayshaw’s Marsh Series would indicate that he is ready to take that next step. You can’t fault anything with his preparation and his mindset, and I think now he is starting to work out how to string together a performance at AFL level.

I will be working closely with Andy as well as Adam Cerra, Darcy Tucker and Caleb Serong who is a first-year player and should come in and play some footy for us.

These young mids are hungry to take Fremantle to some sort of relevance, but I think Andy is the one along with Cerra, who should elevate himself and become a well-known player across the competition this year.

On a successful Marsh Series under coach Justin Longmuir 

I think the team structured up a little bit differently which gave us some easier looks at moving the ball. It’s nothing too drastic, but we’re able to kick and mark a little bit easier and hopefully defend behind that ball movements.  

It’s nothing revolutionary, and it’s all some typical things that you will see across the AFL where teams are trying to open up the field more and score more by keeping their forwards in the forward line.

Justin has brought across a fresh approach, with things that he has learnt from West Coast and Collingwood and we are all enjoying the changes.