The club is nearing the end of its pre-Christmas block of training, with close to 40 players in full training and a rehab group that, aside from captain Matthew Pavlich (back), is in full running drills.
Lyon said his group's running times and skinfold measurements were a month ahead of where they were this time last year.
The coach's focus in the new year will be to drill in the basics in an effort to build on the gains of 2012, which saw Fremantle push into the second week of the finals.
"I'm really quite driven about the basics and we'll do them over and over again so they can stand up to pressure," Lyon said.
"There's certainly things we'll tweak and you’ve got to move with the game, but I learnt previously off good seasons that if you relax it disappears quickly.
"It's something you've got to nurture and maintain and drive and rehearse and keep everyone accountable to otherwise it disappears pretty quickly.
"The accountability levels will be high, particularly post-Christmas, on getting the basics done."
Fremantle made a point of recruiting tall talent in Tuesday's NAB AFL Pre-Season and Rookie drafts, and Lyon said the club was "really positive" about the four new players who had joined the club.
However, he said the club had already identified a need to draft key position players with early national draft picks next year.
"We would like some more young, tall talent, there's no doubt about that," Lyon said.
"The philosophy has been to take the best player, but our need is still some young talls.
"At next year's national draft we've identified we would like, if they're there, some young, early-pick talls.
"Matthew (Pavlich) and Luke (McPharlin) are two of the obvious ones that aren't going to be there forever."
Nathan Schmook is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Nathan
