FREMANTLE football boss Chris Bond has thrown his support behind senior coach Ross Lyon, insisting he is the right man to lead the Dockers through their four-year rebuild.
The Dockers have been publicly slammed following an embarrassing 89-point thrashing from Port Adelaide on Sunday, which saw them tumble down to last spot on the ladder with a 0-2 record and percentage of just 49.6.
Critics have targeted the Dockers' woeful skill errors, ageing line-up and inability to hit the scoreboard in a season highlighted so far by rapid ball movement and attacking flair.
Legendary commentator Dennis Cometti has even suggested Fremantle might be better off letting superstar skipper Nat Fyfe leave in return for top-end draft picks.
Amid the tumult, Bond backed Lyon, who is contracted until 2020, to turn the Dockers' fortunes around.
"From a footy club point-of-view it's hugely positive to have someone like Ross at our club," he told 6PR's Sportsday WA program.
"He's the first experienced coach we've ever had. He arrived in 2012 and the history (shows) we've gone to (a) Grand Final (in 2013), preliminary finals and finals.
"But the strength of Ross is he's the first person to put his hand up and say 'what we're doing at the moment isn't working and we all take responsibility for that'.
"We've got strong stability at the club both through our CEO and the board, Ross and key people at the club as well.
"From our point-of-view, to have him as a long-term coach at our football club is just outstanding for us and the path we're taking.
"No one could be better heading it up than he is."
Bond went on to declare it was "really important" for Fremantle to secure Fyfe's signature beyond the end of this year, when the 25-year-old is set to become a restricted free agent.
Fyfe wanted to begin playing again coming back from a broken leg before entering contract talks, but has consistently stated he sees his future at the Dockers.
"Our priority is for Nat to be a long-term footy player at this club," Bond said.
"Ultimately that will be Nat's decision, but I think for everyone involved and what we want to do it's really important for Nat to be here and be captain at this club for a long period of time.
"What he's been able to deliver since he's been here is outstanding. He's an incredibly great role model for our group and our club.
"We're confident that he'll make that decision to stay with us for the long-term, but we'll worry about that when the decision is made."
Bond said he was satisfied with the Dockers' recruiting and expressed confidence that the club had a "great batch" of young players coming through the ranks.
He reiterated Lyon's post-match comments from Sunday that Freo would look at rewarding players performing well at Peel ahead of a round three clash against reigning premiers the Western Bulldogs.
"(The Power loss) was a performance none of us were proud of. The playing group were obviously devastated as well," Bond said.
"Our brand has been a lot stronger than that. Unfortunately last year's performance (four wins) was really disappointing and not acceptable as well and we've started the year off poorly.
"From our end, we're working incredibly hard to get it right."
