![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/fyfe-injury-lead-3446ee166104.webp.webp\")
<\/p>\nFormer AFL coach Rodney Eade says he wouldn\u2019t be rushing Nat Fyfe back into the side with Fremantle on the brink of making finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The dual Brownlow medallist is due to be available to play in this weekend\u2019s Western Derby after showing positive signs during physical testing in the Captain\u2019s Run ahead of last weekend\u2019s clash against Collingwood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old has spent almost a month on the sidelines after injuring his calf pregame against St Kilda while warming up as the sub.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before this, Fyfe had an interrupted preseason after undergoing knee surgery, and then strained his hamstring in the WAFL upon return from said surgery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the three AFL matches he played this season, Fyfe struggled to have an impact and was either substituted on or off in each game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With numerous factors at hand surrounding Fyfe\u2019s form and injuries, Eade says it\u2019s not worth Fremantle selecting him with finals at stake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I\u2019ve seen, what he\u2019s been able to do or not do, I think it\u2019s a bit of a battle. He\u2019s been out for a while,\u201d he told\u00a0SportFM.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, you can\u2019t let emotion get involved. He\u2019s been a great player, great servant and terrific, but you\u2019ve got to pick your best team that\u2019s going to help you deliver.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to make some tough decisions, and in my mind, I don\u2019t think I could [pick Fyfe].\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fremantle come into this weekend\u2019s Derby fresh off a thrilling one-point win against current ladder leaders Collingwood at the MCG.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The win over Collingwood is crucial in the season\u2019s wider picture, as the race for the top eight is closer than ever, with only two games separating third and eighth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fremantle, who currently sit in seventh, narrowly missed out on finals last season and will be looking to make the eight for the first time since 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Eade doesn\u2019t believe Fremantle are flag contenders yet, he believes this season could set them up for that target in the following years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a real growth game on the weekend. That\u2019s a real plus for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly, they could. I don\u2019t think there are clear favourites.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey should get into finals now, they get there and win at least one final, I think it\u2019ll be a good year with the view of really targeting next year as a year that they can challenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never know, as I said, it\u2019s even. They\u2019ve certainly got the talent to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
IMAGE: Fremantle Dockers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former AFL coach Rodney Eade says he wouldn\u2019t be rushing Nat Fyfe back into the side with Fremantle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-12770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}