BQ: Can Fremantle play finals this season?

NF: I think anything is possible. And we’ve used that mantra internally a little bit. In this industry it’s critical to do that. We’ve had 22 new players in the last two seasons. So we’re not a team that is slowly progressing year on year – four wins, eight wins, 12 wins. Because the team that we’re going to roll out in round one is completely different to any Fremantle team that you’ve seen last year and completely different to the year before that. I don’t think you can really pigeon hole us for any position on the ladder yet.

What in particular would need to go right this season to make the eight?

Primarily we need availability. We need our top 10 prime movers to play 20 games plus or be playing their best footy at the right times of the year. We need to get some value out of our first and second year players and some green shoots that are coming through. Bailey Banfield, Adam Cerra, Andrew Brayshaw and if we look at that older group in Sean Darcy, Griffin Logue – those guys really need to be able to deliver for us and be valuable players for us. And I think they’ve got the potential to do that.

What balance do you need to strike with getting games into kids if some of those kids aren’t quite in the best 22?

We’re not at the same stage we were two years ago, where externally it could potentially look like we flicked the bails and were just getting as many games into kids as we can. That’s not the stage we’re at at the moment. We’re determined to pick our best available 22 players every week.

Does that mean this season your patience with the rebuild is going down and you are more anxious to crank things up?

I think that comment would suggest that last year we were happy to be patient and just get games in and wait til the following year. Which I think would be entirely inaccurate. In this industry we’re constantly impatient. It’s a tough business to be in and it gets tougher each year with new teams being added and equalisation.

Does playing in big finals feel like a long time ago?

A little bit, I think it was 2015. It feels like a different chapter in our story. Since then I’ve broken my leg twice, had a whole year out and become captain. For me personally, that feels like a completely different chapter. A very fond chapter, but now I’m all about what we can achieve with this new group.

Do you think about the 2013 grand final much?

Nah.

Is that because you deliberately shut it out?

This business moves so quickly you drift in relevance day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year. You can’t afford really to look back. Nor does it motivate or energise me to look back at what has been. Everything that excites me and motivates me is what opportunity lies ahead of us.

Camera Icon Fyfe is ready to roll in 2018. Credit: Ross Swanborough

What did you take from Richmond winning the flag last season?

Nothing specific. I think when the Bulldogs won the flag that was a bit of a shock to the whole AFL world that hang on, anyone can win this thing. And Richmond followed that script slightly. Best team on the day, best team through the finals wins the flag.

Is there a young player here that’s jumped up and surprised you on the track this summer?

I think our two high picks, our two large investments, are doing what we expected them to do. The guy that’s jumped out and surprised me is Bailey Banfield. He has just put his head down and worked and is really appealing to me because he looks like a ready-made AFL player who wants to go out and disrupt and just make a name for himself and do whatever he can to help our team win. I like his size, his speed, his football nous and his competitiveness.

I was going to ask you if Andrew Brayshaw and Adam Cerra could both debut in round one, but does Cerra being named an emergency for today suggest he is just off the pace?

I think that would suggest that he hasn’t completed as much of the pre-season and if it came down to the last couple of spots, they will always go with the player that has completed more pre-season. But I don’t think that, from a football development sense, has him behind Brayshaw in any way. Both of them are going to be hopefully 200-game players plus for our club, potentially leaders of our club very shortly, and it will be a matter of time before they’re in playing for the Dockers.

Your cookie settings are preventing this third party content from displaying. If you’d like to view this content, please adjust your Cookie Settings . To find out more about how we use cookies, please see our Cookie Guide.

Personally, the perception is you have had a really good summer and you are ready to explode back to your best?

I feel capable and quite happy with how my summer’s gone. Who knows what the universe is going to throw up over the next six or 12 months? But with any luck I’ll be playing my best footy.

Patrick Dangerfield kicked 45 goals last year. Dustin Martin kicked 37. Would you like to replicate those sort of numbers this season?

I don’t want to give you a headline to run with, but I wouldn’t mind kicking 35-40 goals as a midfielder. But I’ll preface it by saying my role is whatever the coach determines I need to do. So it will depend on where I’m needed on the field, as to how much of a threat I can be up forward. But I think the most I’ve ever kicked is 20 or 25 in a season (24 in 2014). I would like to test myself and see if I am capable of kicking 40 goals in a season.

After two years of it, are you sick of having to answer questions about Harley Bennell?

Not really. Ideally we, you the media, everyone just wants to see Harley doing what Harley does best which is dominating out on the footy field. And we’ll just continue to support Harley until we no longer can, because it would be a shame for footy and footy lovers if we don’t get to see him really doing what he does best and entertaining people.

What do you think poses the biggest risk to Bennell being able to achieve his potential this season, the risk of injury again or the risk of him not being able to behave?

I’m probably not going to speculate on that.

What would be a good return from him this season in terms of games played?

I don’t think it would be fair to try and put a number on something like that. Other than to say we want to see Harley playing as many games in our AFL side as possible and performing at his absolute capacity.