Ryan Buckland: Fremantle Dockers’ midfield mix with Nat Fyfe will be a key factor in their hunt for the flag

Fremantle’s path to the 2022 premiership will be decided by how well their midfield performs in September.

Last time we checked in on the Dockers it was through the lens of a returning Nat Fyfe and how he could bolster Fremantle in the two parts of the ground they needed the most help. Three games in and the results are mixed.

The Dockers continue to be mediocre at the centre bounce, but have lifted their clearance win rate around the ground. Justin Longmuir’s guerilla strategy of playing Fyfe in a different role every week means he’s not been as influential as we may have expected in that part of the ground.

In Sunday’s thrilling win against Port Adelaide the Dockers did manage to win centre clearances by nine (19-10). But that offset a similar result the other way against Carlton the week prior (14-5). Fyfe didn’t attend a single centre bounce against the Power but was a regular in the middle against the Blues with nine of 19.

Longmuir and Fyfe spoke of the skipper’s rustiness coming back into a strong team. After 10 score involvements in his return game Fyfe had no impact on the scoreboard in round 15 and was involved in four of Fremantle’s 24 scores against Port.

The midfield assembled around their champion in recent years is continuing to build its own profile and stature in the game. Two players in particular stand out as critical to what comes next.

Will Brodie

Fremantle nabbing Will Brodie in what was effectively a salary dump trade by the Gold Coast is one of, if not the shrewdest move pulled by a football manager in the history of the more extensive AFL player movement rules.

Brodie came to Fremantle from the Suns with pick 19, plus some late round picks. The Dockers gave up their future second round pick which looks set to fall well into the 30s, plus a pick in the 70s.

We know the AFL’s draft value system doesn’t work this way, but the Suns sent 1,132 points worth of picks plus Brodie, with the Dockers sending around 650 back the other way at worst.

I wrote in March that Brodie loomed as “Adam Cerra without the upside”. It turns out Cerra might be a poor man’s Brodie, with the former Fremantle charge toiling in obscurity as a bottom-of-the-rotation, 20-something touch midfielder.

When the trade was announced, Fremantle recruiting boss David Wallis said: “We can (also) see him playing inside, using his speed and his contested game, as well as pushing forward and utilising his overhead abilities to add a forward role to his game as well.”

Hasn’t that proved prescient? Brodie is Fremantle’s No.1 inside midfielder, leading the club for contested possessions and clearances, as well as being second for total tackles and inside 50s. The Dockers might havee caught lightning in a bottle on this one.

Brodie never looked like making it at the Suns. In 2022 he’s ranked as the 22nd most impactful player in the competition by Champion Data, and Fremantle got paid to take him.

It’s the sort of trade that makes a career. It’s one of the best trades ever made. At worst, it offsets the value destruction of the Jesse Hogan deal.

Andrew Brayshaw

Brayshaw has been lauded by panel shows this week, once again off the back of some sharply cut vision posted on social media. The clip shows Brayshaw lining up a tackle half way through the fourth quarter from around 40m away, before following up with a defensive spoil.

It’s as close to a highlight as Brayshaw is likely to give. He’s not flashy.

He’s not Joe Naimeth with the sideburns. He’s Johnny Unitas, the classical midfielder with the all around game teams need to build around.

Brayshaw has had 25 disposals or more in all 15 of his games this year, and the last four games of 2021.

He does his work in open play, running his guts out and getting into dangerous positions when the ball is moving.

At stoppage he’s happy to be the point man or play defence.

What’s next?

Brayshaw and Brodie sit alongside Rising Star winner Caleb Serong and ruckman Sean Darcy as the midfield core that will carry the Dockers for the next five years.

But for the next five weeks, they combine with David Mundy, Fyfe, and the cast of midfielders the Dockers have assembled which represents – on paper – one of the deepest units in the league. Fremantle haven’t sought to play the midfield game all season, preferring instead to set a defensive base and kill the opponent with speed on turnovers.

The club’s mid-season dip showed the limitations of relying on a singular approach to winning. Once the open field turnovers dried up, Fremantle were shown up as vulnerable. Where a path to the top two looked open, if not assured, it’s now less likely. A continued cohesion and focus on clearance work can help the Dockers fill that final gap and contend today. Brodie and Brayshaw loom large in that task.