When Nat Fyfe arrived at Fremantle as a skinny 72kg 18-year-old from Lake Grace, he wasn’t initially slated to become a superstar of the game.
While the body that would make Fyfe one of the game’s most physical and athletic players was yet to come, the mentality of a champion was already pushing the young Fyfe to get to the next level.
Fyfe is set to reach the 200-game milestone on Saturday against Hawthorn, and in an interview with Channel 7, he said he always dreamed of a long AFL career.
“I was probably always reasonably ambitious and I always thought playing a couple of hundred games would’ve been ideal,” Fyfe told 7NEWS.
“And as a young, skinny 72kg forward pocket I used to try to think about one day I’ll be a 250-game player, so start preparing and playing like you are right now.
“I found that helped in my early days to impact games.”
Fyfe has been thrilled to see teammate David Mundy break the mould and continue to play at his best well into his 30s.
While Fyfe hopes to play for as long as Mundy, who now sits on 347 games, he was wary of balancing his physical style of play while staying injury free.
Fyfe is currently playing through pain after dislocating his shoulder in round 12 and returning in round 16 against Carlton.
“We have David at 35 who is probably leading our best and fairest. I’m a bit different, I’ve had a lot of operations across my career,” Fyfe said.
“I play quite a physical, robust game and it brings me undone at times. I’m limping to 200 somewhat you could say at the moment.
“I’ll keep preparing as well as I can physically and mentally and I think if my body and my mind are still willing, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to push into my 30s.”
Fyfe said the 2013 season and 2015 season were among his fondest in the AFL.
“Our first real big final series in 2013 when we went on to play in the grand final was a really special time, I was a young player coming through,” Fyfe said.
“2015, being able to have such a great year, we were minor premiers, I won the Brownlow, I loved that David Mundy was top 10 and had a fantastic year.
“More recently my leadership experience, becoming captain of the club, trying to really evolve my leadership and work with a young group.
“Where we're at now we've got young players like Caleb Serong, Andrew Brayshaw, Adam Cerra, Sean Darcy coming through that are the next generation at Freo. Being able to mould them gives me great fulfilment.”
Despite planning to remain one of AFL’s most dominant players for some time, Fyfe said it was time to pass the torch to Freo’s younger stars.
“Our recruiting department have had a strategic long-term focus, for a number of years we've invested heavily in the draft. We've got guys that are really committed to our club and wanting to hang around,” Fyfe said.
“I genuinely see us as having all the tools required to get back to being a competitive finals team. Now it's really in the hands of some of those young stars to take our group back.”
TNF: Thursday night, finally!
The Tassie test
Incredibly tough - Fyfe to play through shoulder pain
Gallery: Main training in Port Melbourne
