NOT CONTENT with his No.1 ranking in both contested possessions and contested marking, Fremantle star Nat Fyfe has also ramped up his clearance work at stoppages in 2015.
Only Carlton premiership player and Australian Football Hall of Fame member Anthony Koutoufides has been able to make the top 10 in both categories in a single season since 1999.
But after winning a second best and fairest and the AFL Players' Association MVP award last season, Fyfe has made physical and technical adjustments to take his clearance work to a new level.
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Fyfe averaged 6.7 clearances per game in 2014 (fifth in the AFL) and 2.6 centre clearances (equal 13th).
In 2015, Fyfe has averaged 7.6 clearances (sixth in AFL) and four centre clearances per game (third in AFL).
"Particularly in the past 12-18 months, I have worked specifically with (Fremantle sports science manager) Jason Weber," Fyfe said earlier this week.
"He has crafted a program around my hips and legs to make me a more dynamic player and have more strength around contests and stoppages.
"So the exciting part is that is an exciting process and I still have big gains to be made in that area. I am still developing physically and I still have a long way to go."
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Dockers coach Ross Lyon said Fyfe had improved his positioning at stoppages by examining the techniques of some of the best clearance players in the AFL.
Accordingly, there is far more method to Fyfe's stoppage play in 2015, as opposed to the brute force he often used last year.
"What the best (stoppage players) do, they move very well," Lyon said on Thursday.
"They identify the holes and are very good at timing and understanding who is winning the ball. Above all else, if you think about the best, they are fierce competitors – (Josh) Kennedy from the (Sydney) Swans – and they are big men. (Joel) Selwood is a fierce competitor. (Scott) Pendlebury reads it.
"They don't fumble, they are strong, they don't go to ground and they make good decisions and they are fierce competitors."
