Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe has praised the evolution of coach Ross Lyon from “a bit of a lunatic” into a “father figure” at the rebuilding Dockers, after the pair spearheaded one of the club’s most famous wins.

In a match that featured three of this year’s leading Brownlow Medal contenders, Fyfe emerged as the most influential player on the ground as he kicked two goals from contested marks in the third quarter of the 34-point triumph over Geelong at Optus Stadium on Saturday.

Under-pressure Lyon shared emotional embraces with players and coaches on the field following the upset win and waved to fans surrounding the players’ race who gave him a standing ovation.

Fyfe yesterday described regular criticisms of Lyon as being a negative coach who wasn’t suited to development as laughable, as he outlined the transformation he has seen in Lyon’s eight years at the helm.

“A lot of the same sort of conversations seem to get rolled out when we are going poorly. Ross is a defensive-minded coach, he can’t handle a rebuild, he keeps bringing old players back,” Fyfe told Triple M.

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“And all that internally is somewhat laughable. When you look at the way we prepare and how they are coaching at the moment, David Hale, our ball movement coach, is really setting us up for the modern game.

Camera Icon Nat Fyfe came up large for Fremantle against Geelong. Credit: Getty Images

“Ross I’ve seen in the last couple of years evolve to more of a father figure for a lot of the players. He was a bit of a lunatic in his early days with his hard edge and accountability and really ripping shreds off anyone he could get hold of.

“But in the last couple of years, given where he’s at with his coaching and where our group’s at with our age demographic, he’s sort of transitioned to more of a mentor, father figure. And particularly for the younger-type players.”

Fyfe admired how Lyon had dealt with increasing personal pressure and criticism, allowing the players to focus on games.

“I’ve known him for eight years now so our relationship’s pretty strong,” he said. “But he’s been so good at shouldering a lot of the heat and criticism that’s coming at the club at the moment and coming at him and just protecting the players so they can prepare as best they can for upcoming AFL fixtures.”

Play Video The AFL GameDay crew discuss the key takeaways from Freo's big upset win over Geelong. The West Australian Video The AFL GameDay crew discuss the key takeaways from Freo's big upset win over Geelong.

In a midfield battle that pitted Fyfe against fellow Brownlow fancies Tim Kelly and Patrick Dangerfield, Fyfe had 11 clearances, 27 touches and two goals, taking the points in an on-off battle with Dangerfield.

Lyon said Fyfe had licence to drift forward whenever he wanted. “Fyfey just says ‘let me do my thing’ and I let him do his thing. I let the great ones go really,” he said.

Dangerfield had 16 disposals but just two after half-time. Kelly (25 touches) was the Cats’ best.