Fletcher, who will return to face Collingwood in Friday’s NAB Cup Grand Final against Collingwood after sitting out last week’s semi-final for a rest, said though he preferred the style of football in the 1990s, enjoyment was still the major factor in continuing his career.
"Being in the backline, it’s not like being an on-baller, when you’re in the fray 90% of the time, and I’m not a centre-half forward, who’s in the game a lot more, but mentally I still enjoy it," Fletcher told Radio SEN this morning.
"That’s probably the key, and I’ve kept my pace, that’s probably another one. I keep enjoying it so I just keep going."
“Obviously, in the last four or five years, the pace of the game and the way you’ve got to train is totally different, but I liked the game back in the ‘90s when there were a few more longer kicks, people going for bigger marks, and there wasn’t as much risk involved," the 35-year-old said.
"But you’ve just got to move with the times and if you don’t move with them, you get left behind.”
Fletcher said the club’s new coaching panel, headed by his former teammate James Hird, had spent most of the pre-season developing and instilling new structures into the side.
"Hirdy, along with his coaching panel, has changed a lot of things and he’s got the most out of the boys in the pre-season, which has seen us do a lot of work back in the school room learning a lot of new structures," Fletcher said.
"It’s a fair bit different [to last year]. We’re aware that we had a fair bit of work to do, with regard to fitness and defensive set-ups, because our defence over the last three or four years was pretty ordinary."
While admitting that Hird did occasionally remind him of legendary Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy, Fletcher said he had been particularly impressed with the pre-season form of Leroy Jetta, who lit up last week’s semi-final against St Kilda with a spectacular first half.
"Even last year, I saw Leroy become a more mature person. I know he’s only young but when he came over from Perth, I think he used to dodge the 3.2km time trial, the beep test and the yoyo test, but he’s really put his head down," Fletcher said.
"The way Leroy is going about his footy, the way it’s played today, he’ll be getting a game every week."
Dustin Fletcher is a $292,200 defender in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
Callum Twomey is afl.com.au's beat writer for Essendon FC. Follow him on Twitter: @Cal_Twomey.
