Nat Fyfe on Connor Blakely incident, boozy bet that served as a wake up call he needed to be better leader

FREMANTLE captain Nat Fyfe has revealed how mishandling a discipline issue last year “fractured” his relationship with a Dockers young gun and details the boozy bet that served as a “real wake-up call”.

Connor Blakely and Nat Fyfe fell out over the Dockers captain’s handling of the young gun’s surfing incident. Picture: Matt Turner

FREMANTLE captain Nat Fyfe has revealed how mishandling a discipline issue last year “fractured” his relationship with young teammate Connor Blakely.

Fyfe — who was in his first year as skipper — alerted senior coach Ross Lyon to Blakely’s decision to go surfing while absent from training due to illness.

Blakely was suspended for the club’s Round 15 win against St Kilda.

Fyfe told Blakely he would “look after and support” him before deciding he must be punished for the “greater good” of the Dockers.

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1/4/17 Connor Blakely and Nat Fyfe, Fremantle Dockers players at Henley Beach, Adelaide. Picture by Matt Turner.

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“I knew I’d made a promise I couldn’t keep,” Fyfe said.

“We had quite a close personal relationship and it fractured our relationship for the best part of six to eight months.

“I had a couple of conservations in the follow-up trying to repair somewhat and explain. But in my head I knew that time was the only thing that was going to (heal it).

“The way I handled it from a professional and a personal point of view, I look back and go, ‘OK, I could’ve done that better’.”

Connor Blakely has become a key figure in the Dockers’ improvement. Picture: Getty Images

Blakely, 22, was recalled the following week and has played every game this season, averaging 24 disposals.

Fyfe also detailed how losing a boozy bet for not knowing the names of his new teammates served as a “real wake-up call” five years ago.

“It was December so the first-year recruits had been at the club for six weeks,” Fyfe said on the AFL Players’ Association podcast “Captain’s Call”.

“One of the players … said to me, ‘If you can stand up and name every first-year I’ll skol my beer’.

“I said, ‘No worries’ and stood up and spluttered my way through. There was eight of them and I think I got one full name correct and maybe one or two other first names.

“I had absolutely no idea about the rest of them, and so I had to skol the beer obviously.

“I thought I could help this organisation by just preparing with a ruthless intensity and being the best possible player I could be.

Nat Fyfe has emerged as a strong leader at the Dockers, but he admits it wasn’t always so. Picture: Getty Images

“But after that little incident I realised there’s so much more I could be doing, and building relationships with other players was a big part of that.”

Fyfe has recently invited youngsters Andrew Brayshaw, Griffin Logue, Cam Sutcliffe and Alex Pearce to live with him and to absorb his professionalism.

The qualified helicopter pilot enjoys listening to US surfer Kelly Slater and former president Barack Obama to develop his leadership skills and he also swaps notes with his dad.