Grit, spectacle, greatness: Farewell Nat Fyfe
An iconic Docker hangs up the boots with one last chance at glory.
Consider this the first emergency newsletter.
When we launched Jumper Punches this morning we weren’t anticipating one of the greatest West Australian footballers of the modern era to retire on day one.
The first proper edition will go out next Monday as planned, but sometimes you just get compelled to write, so here we go…
There is a generation of AFL football that revolved around three midfielders - Fyfe, Danger and Dusty.
Dustin Martin has already stepped aside, having achieved everything there is to achieve in the game. Now, the second of that group has announced that the time has come.
At the end of 2025, Nat Fyfe will hang up the boots - 16 seasons, two Brownlow Medals, three All-Australian selections and three Doig Medals since running onto Subiaco Oval as a skinny forward in 2010.
At his best he was the greatest player in the competition by a fair margin. Between 2014 and 2015 he polled 56 Brownlow votes - and could have taken both medals if not for a dubious suspension.
When Gary Ablett Jr and Lance Franklin were at their best and most consistent, they reached a level where if they were in your city for a game and you really loved footy, you had to go and watch - no matter who they were playing with or for. Fyfe in 2015 is the only other player who I considered in the same category.
He bulldozed players in the middle and would use his rare aerial ability to win balls he had no right to - it was a perfect combination of grit and spectacle. Few players in the history of the game had as good a mix of strength and athleticism.
There are moments and games that will live long in the memory bank: the Fyfe-Dangerfield contest, the shrug-off-three-blokes-and-snap-truly goal against Geelong, and the image of him running back on the field with a broken leg to try and win a prelim in 2015.
Off the field, there was also a deep and curious thinker who could come across as testy at times in public appearances, but was one of football’s better conversationalists away from the glare - better suited to an hour-long podcast than he was a 10-minute press conference.
He would remember your name and use it - something you could put down to a solid country upbringing.
And he genuinely hated losing. If you spoke to him after a loss, particularly early in his career, he couldn’t hide it, it would ooze from every pore.
In many ways he was a victim of timing. Fyfe was in the early stages of his peak when the Dockers were contending, but that window slammed shut in 2016. By the time Freo were good again, he was fast running out of tickets. His bash-and-crash style had taken its toll.
The current version of Fyfe has glimpses of his former greatness, but time catches up with everybody.
For the now-veteran, 2025 has been all about grit. Gritting the teeth and donning a sub vest, grinding inside the contest late to release faster, better ball users.
But that doesn’t mean there won’t be one last moment of spectacle.
The discussion about the greatest ever Docker comes down to Fyfe and Matthew Pavlich. Pav has him on games played, All-Australians and Doig Medals. But there is still one way to tip the ledger - if his body can hold on and the team can continue playing to their full potential.
As Fyfe himself said to his teammates today: “Let’s go fucking win that cup.”