Fremantle Dockers bullish over future as Simon Garlick claims next decade to be ‘one for the history books’

Reborn Fremantle midfielder Nat Fyfe rates the Dockers’ 2024 squad the most talented he has played with over a long and decorated career. Entering his 15th season, Fyfe told more than 700 fans and corporate partners at Thursday’s Fremantle season launch at Crown Ballroom, he agreed with an assessment made by coach Justin Longmuir about the current player list. It’s a big call given dual Brownlow medallist Fyfe was part of the Ross Lyon-coached teams that played finals in four consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2015, including a losing grand final in 2013 and featured all-time greats of the club, Matthew Pavlich, David Mundy and Luke McPharlin. He also played under Mark Harvey when the team finished sixth in Fyfe’s debut year. “JL said in the pre-season that this is a more talented group than we had when we played in preliminary finals and grand finals. I reflected on that and I think it’s accurate,” Fyfe said. But he added: “Talent alone doesn’t get you to where you want to go. “What this group also has is a real hunger. If anyone watched the pre-season game last week, we were at each other’s throats. The competitiveness was really high. “We have drafted well, we have got good character and calibre. But these guys are dog hungry, as far as groups I have played alongside it is one of the best.” Fyfe, 32, returns to the midfield group on the back of a strong pre-season post-Christmas. Trialled as a forward for two seasons, he said it was not a wasted experience. “feel the last couple of years has allowed me to add a few tricks to my game,” he said. “We have enormous depth in the midfield. “At times everybody is going to have to at times step slightly outside their role and use that as an opportunity to add strings to their bow.” Fremantle chief executive Simon Garlick forecast the club’s 30th season would usher in “the decade that Freo fans would remember the most”. “As we close out third decade we are now more than ever ready for our men’s and women’s sides to strike,” Garlick said. “In this decade we will see a group of Freo players write their names in the history books. A cohort of young stars who are on the precipice of becoming household names in the AFL landscape “Our first decade was an exciting origin story. We were finding our feet, embracing the port city that helped capture our identity. “Our second decade was a coming-of-age story. Our first finals appearance, a grand final berth. “Our most recent period kicked off with continued finals appearances and we also introduced a new chapter with our first women’s side in 2016 and quietly moved to a training and administration base to play a central role in delivering our first premierships.” But Garlick warned “the path to success is not always linear” as the Dockers regroup from a fall from fifth to 14th across 2022 and 2023. “The challenges that can arise are relentless and ruthless in this competition,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the most challenging of times that teach us the most about the character of the group. “Back end of 2023 when were were out of finals contention we saw that DNA of our side that has perseverance, resilience, talent and an insatiable drive to improve. “Last year we did not meet our members’ or our expectations but I can stand up here today and say the steely resolve that 2023 embedded in every player on our list something of genuine value. “It is something that we should be all looking forward to seeing unfold. “Foundations of our club have been set in recent years of our unrelenting, unapologetic approach to ensure that we continue to give ourselves an extended period of genuinely contending. “Not a flash in the pan moment or a high quickly followed by a low, but being a genuine contender in both the men’s and women’s competitions for a decade or more. “This is something we are committed to delivering.” Longmuir told the faithful the club was hopeful it had addressed some areas of concern in the off-season but would know more accurately where they sat with pre-season scratch matches against West Coast (Saturday) and Port Adelaide (Friday, March 1) in South Australia. “We are really confident that we will improve some of the areas we went into the season trying to improve. Until you play another team you are a little bit unsure,” he said. “These next two weeks are going to be really important as we prepare for round one.” Longmuir hoped the players would carry the “energy” from last weekend’s intra-club match, when several spot fires broke out between players, would translate into the regular season. “That is a by-product of the energy and the passion the players have brought all the way through the pre-season,” he said. “I have been really impressed with that energy to everything we have thrown at them. I hope the fans get to see it on the field. “I can see it in the weights room, in the team meetings … it is a different sort of energy. It is an energy of mateship, that they want to take control of the direction of the footy club.” Longmuir said the pre-season focus had been on “getting our midfield mix, restricting our turnovers in the back half”. “We have been working really hard on our team defence and our contest. I know it is not very sexy part of footy but we feel as a footy club … if we get those two things right we will set up opportunities to be able to score off the back of those,” he said. “We have done a lot of work over the pre-season in being able to executive better in our front half and make more of the opportunities that we create for each other.”