MATTHEW Pavlich says he has an open mind about when and how he may retire from the game and is taking nothing for granted in the meantime.

The 33-year-old enters his 16th season at Fremantle on a one-year contract with no formal plans for 2016.

The six-time best and fairest winner became the first Fremantle player to reach 300 games last year and after an injury-free pre-season - he has not missed a session - Pavlich says he is simply taking things as they come.

"I know that football mortality is probably not too far away around the corner and every player or athlete is going to face it at some point," Pavlich said.

"I have an open mind about when it might be and how it might play out.

"But what I do know is, the last few years I've thought that it could potentially be the case.

"You take nothing for granted and every time I come to training and pull on the jumper there is a feeling of privilege and pride in being able to do it every time.

"This has been my dream and passion for so long, and while I can still play I will absolutely play, but understanding that at some stage it's around the corner."

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Fremantle coach Ross Lyon flagged significant changes to the leadership group in November last year and while Pavlich has been captain since 2007, he said he was open to whatever the players decided.

"The leadership vote will be in a few weeks’ time and until that point there's no news," Pavlich said.

"It's been an absolute privilege to represent this footy club as captain for so long and I take the responsibility on with a great level of desire and will to keep pushing in that role. If that's the case we'll review it once the vote plays itself out but there's a bit of water to go under the bridge yet."

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The veteran said he was confident the club had plenty of young leaders coming through but he did not want to single any players out.

"Some of our younger players who are emerging have done a huge amount of work on their game and in their leadership," Pavlich said.

"We're in a really strong position, the football club, in that space."