Kane Cornes has questioned Fremantle’s decision to hand veteran Nat Fyfe a two-year contract extension.
While Fyfe will go down as one of the club’s greatest ever players with two Brownlow Medals to his name, Cornes believes the 31-year-old is well past his best.
Pointing to statistics that suggest Fyfe isn’t a key player for the club anymore, Cornes pondered whether the Dockers failed to make a hard call on the midfielder.
“Is it 2019 or is it 2023?” Cornes asked on SEN Breakfast.
“Nat Fyfe has been given a two-year contract extension, meaning Fremantle have committed to him for another two and a half seasons.
“He's missed 32 games in three and a half seasons, he turns 32 in a few months, he’s the 409th rated player in the AFL according to your friends at Champion Data, he's the 24th rated player at his own club Fremantle.
“He's kicked one goal in his last five games of 2023, he’s kicked six goals in his last 12 games.
“He’s a shadow of himself, yet Fremantle have committed to him for another two seasons after this one.
“Are they scared of him? I mean, it's really difficult to make hard calls on champions of your club, but it's not 2019 anymore.
“This isn't the Nat Fyfe of old, am I being too harsh?”
Cornes and his co-host David King discussed the decision and how much more good football the 214-gamer has left in him.
King: “Has he got 50 games left in him?”
Cornes: “I doubt it.”
King: “Has he got 40 left in him?”
Cornes: “I reckon he's got 25 left and five good ones.”
King: “With the champions, I like the overs rather than the under.
“They've been so good for your footy club, and I know the club's been good for them in terms of finance back the other way and those sorts of things.
“But this guy is seriously important to winning the premiership, he is and you can think you’ve gone past him, but look at last weekend's game against Melbourne.
“It's clearly his best game for a while, 20 touches, he was at the coal face winning contested footy.
“He's the big body showing these smaller young stars the way.”
Cornes: “That’s fine, he might be really important this year, but don't you wait until the end of the year and see how plays out?”
King: “Yeah, I can understand an extra one, the two is a quirk that I wasn't thinking they would do.
“They would have got away with one, but maybe a couple of clubs were circling.
“You just don’t know what’s happening the background.”
Fyfe and Fremantle are enjoying the bye in Round 12 with their next clash to come against Richmond at Optus Stadium on Saturday, June 10.