Toast It's time to celebrate Nat Fyfe and what he has done for our club

[DMan 11]

For me it wasn’t the volume of possessions, it was the creativity and attacking nature of his handballs that made this game elite.
He’s shown a fair bit of the ‘give the first option’ play this year whereas in the past he’d try bullock and take contact before disposing in close.
I don’t think he had as much creativity in his handball game back in his heyday .

it’s an evolved Fyfe, and it’s bloody beautiful to watch !!


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[FreoGirl]

For me it wasn’t the volume of possessions, it was the creativity and attacking nature of his handballs that made this game elite.
He’s shown a fair bit of the ‘give the first option’ play this year whereas in the past he’d try bullock and take contact before disposing in close.
I don’t think he had as much creativity in his handball game back in his heyday .

it’s an evolved Fyfe, and it’s bloody beautiful to watch !!


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

loved his goal - he can't do anything in a 'normal' way

 

[Raz]

yes if ony he could fix those kicks at goal he will be remembers as an all time great.

and of course if he gets a hair cut lol

 

[james haish]

The thing I'm loving about Fyfe this season is that this is the Fyfe I hoped we'd get in the twilight of his career - the real Fyfe, the Fyfe who is a genius, the Fyfe with guile.

Fyfe will be best remembered by the footy public as the contested bull who dominated the centre square. A player who could absorb all the tackling pressure, feed off it, then break free and get a handball or clever kick to a player in space. And sometimes a team lifting goal.

But for those of us lucky to watch him from the early days is we know he is so much better than that. We know underneath all that brawn is one of the smartest, craftiest players to have played the game. And no better was this shown than in his second game:



In that play, he's against three West Coast players, but the ball is always his. While he doesn't always have control of the ball, even as he fumbles he commands the ball. When he takes possession, he leaves Priddis befuddled - "where did he go?" All while being built like a stick insect.

Those first couple of years, this was the Fyfe we saw, the Fyfe that oozed potential, that looked like he could do anything. He did do anything - in 2011, his second year, he was in the top 10 for contested possessions AND contested marks per game, something few players good at either ever achieve.

In 2012, a new coach, needing a rock solid midfield for a premiership tilt, called on Fyfe to become the centrepiece, and he made his name as the beast we came to admire. It narrowed his abilities, but turned Fyfe into a star.

The past two years fans have been wondering if we'd seen the last of Fyfe. His body is finished, his injuries too debilitating, his style of footy too limited, all these fears expressed.

But I kept thinking of the skinny kid who could confuse the opposition. The kid who didn't rely on raw physicality, but a brain that could see the play unfolding before anyone else, who could command the play while everyone else was sticking to structures.

I saw that on Saturday night.

 

[Raz]

The thing I'm loving about Fyfe this season is that this is the Fyfe I hoped we'd get in the twilight of his career - the real Fyfe, the Fyfe who is a genius, the Fyfe with guile.

Fyfe will be best remembered by the footy public as the contested bull who dominated the centre square. A player who could absorb all the tackling pressure, feed off it, then break free and get a handball or clever kick to a player in space. And sometimes a team lifting goal.

But for those of us lucky to watch him from the early days is we know he is so much better than that. We know underneath all that brawn is one of the smartest, craftiest players to have played the game. And no better was this shown than in his second game:



In that play, he's against three West Coast players, but the ball is always his. While he doesn't always have control of the ball, even as he fumbles he commands the ball. When he takes possession, he leaves Priddis befuddled - "where did he go?" All while being built like a stick insect.

Those first couple of years, this was the Fyfe we saw, the Fyfe that oozed potential, that looked like he could do anything. He did do anything - in 2011, his second year, he was in the top 10 for contested possessions AND contested marks per game, something few players good at either ever achieve.

In 2012, a new coach, needing a rock solid midfield for a premiership tilt, called on Fyfe to become the centrepiece, and he made his name as the beast we came to admire. It narrowed his abilities, but turned Fyfe into a star.

The past two years fans have been wondering if we'd seen the last of Fyfe. His body is finished, his injuries too debilitating, his style of footy too limited, all these fears expressed.

But I kept thinking of the skinny kid who could confuse the opposition. The kid who didn't rely on raw physicality, but a brain that could see the play unfolding before anyone else, who could command the play while everyone else was sticking to structures.

I saw that on Saturday night.

i love his hair in that video.. LOL oh the early days of youth.

 

[Rhufus]

There were two moments in tonights game that Fyfe did pretty much that. The last one when he just one handedly extracted the ball from the grasp of a hopeless bemused Tiger running one way who just looks around to see Fyfe running the other way, magically with ball in hand. It led directly to a goal in that last quarter. It was a pure thing of beauty, Ive only seen one other player do that sort of thing, David Rhys Jones. I wish I knew how to put the highlight in here.

 

[james haish]

There were two moments in tonights game that Fyfe did pretty much that. The last one when he just one handedly extracted the ball from the grasp of a hopeless bemused Tiger running one way who just looks around to see Fyfe running the other way, magically with ball in hand. It led directly to a goal in that last quarter. It was a pure thing of beauty, Ive only seen one other player do that sort of thing, David Rhys Jones. I wish I knew how to put the highlight in here.

Saw that too. I’m loving the crafty Fyfe. In the past he would have been first at the ball and won (or halved) the contest on its merits. But now he waits for opposition to err and pounces

 

[Minz]

The thing that people have always missed about Fyfe, in his "midfield bull" role, is that he has always had that brain that works one step ahead, and great hands. If you see him up close, his hands are so fast that the ball's gone just about instantly, and he hits targets. Other players trying to do the same will fumble. He's also a terrific anticipator of play. Those things were always what differentiated him from other bulls like Dustin Martin, and from accumulators like Lachie Neale

9

Lachie Neale

Age

30

Ht

178cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

27.0

5star

K

11.5

4star

HB

15.5

5star

M

4.0

4star

T

3.7

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

28.3

5star

K

13.9

5star

HB

14.4

5star

M

4.6

4star

T

4.0

5star

CL

5.9

5star

D

12.0

3star

K

4.6

2star

HB

7.4

5star

M

2.0

3star

T

1.0

3star

CL

0.4

3star

.

I'd argue Fyfe at his best is above just about all the other current elite crop, for that reason. I could be biased tho