Nat Fyfe will get back to his Brownlow best, Ross Lyon says Harley Bennell has no addictions

FREMANTLE coach Ross Lyon has backed Nat Fyfe to take the competition by storm this year and get back into the conversation as footy fans debate who is the best player in the AFL, while he says Harley Bennell has no addictions.

Ross Lyon has backed Nat Fyfe to return to the form that saw him win the Brownlow Medal in 2015. Picture: Getty

ROSS Lyon has backed captain Nathan Fyfe to again take the competition by storm this year in a similar role to Dustin Martin.

And Lyon is hopeful bad boy Harley Bennell can save his career in the same manner as Sydney premiership player Nick Davis.

Lyon says Fyfe has had a faultless off-season after 18 months of leg issues that dulled the effectiveness of the Brownlow medallist.

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Now after a hard-charging end to the season Lyon says Fyfe and David Mundy can at times play in that forward-midfielder role Martin made his own last year.

In an interview to be played at half time of Fox Footy’s broadcast of the Adelaide-Fremantle game, Lyon can’t contain his optimism about the 26-year-old star.

“He was aware, like the club, our relevance slipped and so did his as an individual. The landscape changes quickly, doesn’t it?” Lyon said.

Ross Lyon has backed Nat Fyfe to return to the form that saw him win the Brownlow Medal in 2015. Picture: Getty

“He had a rough year-and-a-half of a broken leg and went away and had a program off our strength-and-conditioner and came back in really good shape.

“He played really well in that (International Rules) series and he’s been faultless in his preparation. He hasn’t missed a session.

“He’s really fit and strong and I think you’ll see the best version of Nathan as we did in 2015.”

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Mundy kicked 13 goals as a small forward last year and while Fyfe has always been a great pack, Lyon says he can improve as a deep forward.

“His specialty is his marking more than anything, his competitiveness and athleticism, but his ability to catch the ball,” he said.

“I think he’s got to develop marking on the lead. He likes it up and launching, that one-on-one, but that’s hard to get in modern footy.”

Talented flanker Bennell is on his last chance, fined by the club in January and made to train away from the group for at least eight weeks after “excessive drinking” at a nightclub.

Can Harley Bennell get himself right? Picture: Getty

His latest setback is another calf issue but Lyon won’t rule out him still finding his way back to AFL footy.

“We know from the best counsellor in WA, Harley has no addictions,” he said.

“Really simply the conversation was you need to go away and find your passion and your desire and discipline without much support.

“Because there’s always been a footy club propping you up. Here’s an opportunity. You’re a product of your history.

“If I go back to the Swans, Nick Davis was the same things. Act your way in, act your way out.

“Here’s your parameters and either you are going to die on the vine or you’re going to come back and we are going to have a player.

“Michael Walters was the same, he played 14 weeks in the twos so we made him earn it.

“(Harley’s) got skinfold parameters, 2km time trial parameters, and there’s no emotion in it. You either deliver on it or you can’t.”