FREMANTLE captain Matthew Pavlich won’t commit to playing on in 2015, saying a decision on his future at the end of the year will come down to the state of his body rather than the Dockers’ prospects of premiership success.
The 32-year-old is in the final year of his contract, but is likely to wait until later in the season before making a decision on his future.
Fremantle's premiership window is still well and truly open, but Pavlich said his body would be the main determinant as to whether he plays on in 2015.
"If the body is holding well and I have all those strong desires to keep playing, then that will be the ultimate test," Pavlich said on Thursday.
"The success or otherwise is a secondary consideration."
Pavlich believes his side might be underdone for the two NAB Challenge matches next month due to their late finish to 2013.
Just 24 hours after he was announced as Fremantle's skipper for the eighth consecutive season, Pavlich was adamant his side would compete ferociously in both pre-season hit outs against West Coast and the Western Bulldogs but conceded the Dockers may be behind those two sides in their preparation.
"Every game you play, as players, you're out there to compete fiercely," Pavlich said.
"As soon as you cross the white line, you want to win. We'll be no different to any other game of competitive footy.
"But clearly having started the pre-season a bit later, it will mean we might be slightly off the pace. But it won't be by virtue of holding ourselves back."
Pavlich, and fellow senior players Aaron Sandilands and Luke McPharlin have trained solidly throughout the pre-season without interruption.
The six-time All Australian says there has not been any discussion about whether he will play in the NAB Challenge matches or indeed whether he will be rested at any stage throughout the season proper.
"I haven't had that discussion with Ross (Lyon) or our strength and conditioning guys or our doctors about that," Pavlich said.
"I'm sure if we were afforded that position, it might come up. But it's not a consideration at this point in time."
The 32-year-old says the squad will not look at their opponents in round one of the NAB Challenge until just before their first game on February 18.
"We'll obviously focus very heavily on our game style and making some small changes to it but we strongly believe that our game style stands up and that's what we've been working on so far this pre-season," Pavlich said.
"I would say leading into the first week we'd look at West Coast but that would be getting closer to the game as compared to the focus right now."
Pavlich is just nine games shy of becoming the first Fremantle player to reach 300 games, with his contract set to expire at the end of 2014.