Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe is fired up for the midfield battle against West Coast at Optus Stadium on Sunday.
The clash will see the likes of Fyfe and veteran David Mundy lead Freo youngsters Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong and Sean Darcy against the likes of Nic Naitanui, Tim Kelly, Jack Redden, Dom Sheed and Liam Duggan.
Freo are chasing their first win after 10 consecutive losses to West Coast but Fyfe said Freo weren’t leaning on the rivalry as the motivator to win.
“Internally, we’re driven to win every week and particularly with the RAC Derby, we haven’t had a good record recently. We’ve got some nice momentum going and we’ll look at this week as an opportunity to continue to improve,” Fyfe said on 7NEWS.
“They’ve still got a very experienced midfield with a dominant ruckman. It’s going to be a great midfield challenge, there’s going to be good battles all over the ground.
“You’d be pretty confident they’ll be keen to atone (from a 97 point loss to Geelong). RAC Derbies always start pretty hot, they’ll be fired up, we’ll be revved up. It should be on.”
Fyfe credited the likes of Brayshaw, Serong, Darcy and Adam Cerra for Mundy’s form in 2021, with the 35-year-old currently leading the AFL coaches voting.
“David and I are linking up quite nicely and I think, we’re getting some good use from Sean, Lloyd Meek and Rory Lobb. As well, Caleb, Andy and Adam,” Fyfe said.
“Their development has meant the opposition have to put a fair bit of attention into them and Dave and I can get off the chain a bit.”
Fyfe was at his dominant best in round six against North Melbourne with 34 disposals and 23 contested possessions.
And the two-time Brownlow Medallist expects to get even better as the season rolls on.
“I think I’ve had an interrupted start after a pretty good pre-season,” Fyfe said.
“Obviously getting the concussion (against GWS) and I’ve had to play forward a bit to plug some holes.
“I’m still working on my game, my goal kicking isn’t quite there at the moment but I’m starting to see it ok.
“I’m in no rush to play my best footy, it is a long season, we’ve got plenty of runway left to go.”
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Gallery: Main training 29 April
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