Former Fremantle Docker Michael Barlow backs Nat Fyfe to play significant role in push for first premiership

Former Fremantle Docker Michael Barlow has backed his close friend Nat Fyfe to play a significant role in the club’s push for their first premiership. After an injury-interrupted start to the season, Fyfe made a surprise return from a hamstring problem in the Dockers’ final game before their bye, having significant influence as the substitute on an 11-point away win over Gold Coast. The two-time Brownlow Medal winner managed to play 22 games last season but has struggled with his body in recent years, combining for only 17 other AFL appearances since the start of the 2022 campaign. Speaking at South West Football League club Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault on Friday, Barlow said he had no doubts Fyfe and another of his former teammates in Michael Walters still had plenty left to offer. “The experienced players to bring the youth through and be on-field leaders and coaches is really important,” Barlow said. “Collingwood is the prime example of that with Pendlebury and Sidebottom. Walters and Fyfe fit that mould perfectly for the Dockers, most certainly. “They’re actually quite a young side holistically, the Dockers, so some experience would assist.” Barlow — who is now head of development at North Melbourne, who play the Dockers at Optus Stadium after their historic clash with West Coast in Bunbury — said he was happy to see Fyfe embrace the substitute role but was confident he could add a different dimension to Fremantle’s midfield mix on a more permanent basis. “Being the competitor that he is, he’ll want to get back in and become a first 22 player,” he said. “For someone like him who’s had some injuries across the last little period and is getting to the back end of his career, I just wish him the best in terms of keeping fit and available. “We won’t want him at his best next week, I’ll just validate that. We’ll bring him down a peg next week.” North Melbourne looked to bolster the competition’s youngest list with experience in last year’s trade period, with West Coast’s second all-time leading goal-kicker Jack Darling and premiership Swan Luke Parker among their additions. The 33-year-old Fyfe is out of contract at the end of this season but his old friend had a different suggestion when asked if the Kangaroos should target him. “I just think he should go look after his trucks, just go off into the sunset,” Barlow joked. “I don’t think he’s going to have to chase too much cash with a one or two-year contract outside of Perth. “Being a one-club player for someone like Nat I think would be something he’d be pinning his hopes on, to make a part of his legacy to be the greatest Fremantle player of all time, in discussions with Pavlich and the like.”