FREMANTLE'S Nathan Fyfe was far from happy when he was handed the red vest late in the third quarter of the Dockers' dominant performance against Collingwood on Friday night.

No doubt the many punters around the nation who have backed him into equal-second favourite for the Brownlow Medal reacted in a similar manner.

But will Freo's decision to sub Fyfe just prior to the final change cost him votes when the Brownlow count is held in the lead-up to this year's Grand Final?

AFL.com.au reporters Peter Ryan and Nick Bowen certainly don't think so. They still gave him best-on-ground honours.

Fyfe was also BOG according to the Official AFL Player Ratings.

His 20 disposals, two tackles and a goal equated to 22.5 player ratings points, which was the fifth-best score of the weekend behind Gold Coast ball-magnets Dion Prestia (27.1) and Gary Ablett (26.8) and Port Adelaide's Justin Westhoff (25.1) and Ollie Wines (24.5).

Freo coach Ross Lyon wasn't quite as generous in his praise for Fyfe, but he was still very happy with the 22-year-old's effort.

When he cast his votes for the AFL Coaches' Association champion player award, Lyon gave ruckman Aaron Sandilands the maximum of five. He gave Fyfe four.

As for the umpires, it's anyone's guess how they allocated their votes.

But ex-AFL umpire Matthew Head, who watched the Dockers' win closely, believes that Fyfe being off the ground for the last quarter "wouldn't have impacted me in giving him votes".

"I thought Fyfe was one of the better players, so I'd be surprised if he didn't get votes," Head added.

"Back when I was umpiring, you'd always be conscious of how much they played. But if we thought that player was the best player on the ground, and they only played three quarters, then that wouldn't stop us giving him any votes.

"I wasn't involved when there was subs, but part of the match paperwork is the interchange sheets. You'd always be able to refer back to the interchange report to see how long each player was on the field for."

So the punters who have loaded up on Fyfe to win this year's Brownlow should not be too concerned about the fact he was on the field for just 64 per cent of Friday night's match.

Because the umpires are more than likely to have noticed his handiwork during the 73 minutes and 16 seconds that he was on the park.