Nat Fyfe is confident Fremantle can overcome some difficult fixturing when taking on Carlton at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Carlton’s most recent game came on Friday 1 June, with a 30-point loss to Sydney at the SCG on a Friday night in round 11.

While the Blues have had 15-days between AFL games, Fremantle are travelling off a six-day break.

With such situations expected on occasion throughout a full AFL season, Fyfe said Fremantle have focused on mitigating any downsides from a shorter break.

“Mentally we’ve addressed that,” Fyfe said.

“They’ll be fresher than us as we’re playing off six days and travel but once you put those factors out there, you can nullify them.

“We’ve basically tweaked our training so we’re in the best possible position.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll be ready to go and with a hot start and big finish, we can get the four points.”

A silver lining for Fyfe’s suspension in round 12 is that he’ll be fresh for what will be his 150th game.

Fyfe was delighted to watch from the sidelines as a youthful Fremantle got the points against Adelaide, with Freo now coming up against another young team in Carlton. 

“The way our guys played last week was really exciting for everyone watching,” Fyfe said. 

“We saw Brennan Cox take his game to a new level and Adam Cerra start to realise what he’s capable of in front of our eyes.

“Carlton are in a similar position to us with a lot of young players. While our road form has been ordinary, hopefully, we can go over there and get the win.” 

With five wins and seven losses from the opening 12 rounds, Fyfe said a season of ups and downs can be expected when replying heavily on youth. 

“I think at the half-way mark we can tick off strategically where we plan to go,” Fyfe said.

“We’ve developed some younger players, some senior leaders are playing some good footy.

“There’s a lot of areas of improvement but we’re in a strong education phase where we’re teaching the game plan and the way we want to play to a new group and gelling and bonding. 

“We’re hopeful that during the second half of the season this will continue to get stronger.”