Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir on Nat Fyfe’s role as substitute and his professional attitude towards it

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir hasn’t ruled out making former captain Nat Fyfe the substitute for a third week in a row against Geelong at Optus Stadium on Saturday. Longmuir said he had been happy with Fyfe’s impact and he had been handling the role professionally. The dual Brownlow medallist returned from plantar fasciitis as a sub in the round-eight victory over Hawthorn. He came off the bench at three-quarter time against Sydney at the SCG as the Dockers made it consecutive wins for the first time this season. The 31-year-old attended five final-term centre bounces at the SCG and had an impact on the scoreboard with five score involvements to go with six disposals, five contested possessions, two tackles and one clearance. His only blemish was a dropped mark inside defensive 50 which resulted in a Tom Papley goal. “We will work that out,” Longmuir said when asked if Fyfe was ready for a full game against the Cats. “He is handling it really professionally (the sub role). “He is involved in the decision-making process, so he is heavily involved in that, but he has handled it really professionally and I thought he had an impact when he came on. “After his dropped mark he moved on really quickly and had some important moments and he is someone who shows elite composure to win it and give it to those on the outside. So we will keep looking at the best way to use his game.” There’s expected to be a selection squeeze ahead of next match with Fyfe pushing for a full game and young midfielder Matthew Johnson ready to return after serving his two-match suspension for rough conduct. Wingman Liam Henry, defender Nathan Wilson, forward Sam Sturt and uncapped half-back Karl Worner are among the players putting their hands up with strong performances in the WAFL for Peel. Longmuir said there were no fresh injuries out of the win over the Swans, their first at the SCG in more than a decade. He felt things were starting to build after an up-and-down start to the season. “It was really important that we build off last week and we kept on building on our contest work and our tackle pressure and I thought given who we played today, and that being a strength of theirs, I thought that went to another level,” Longmuir said. “It is important, we want to be a consistent team, we understand that sometimes with young teams you can go up and down a little bit but we need to make sure that what we are giving them is consistent, our preparation is consistent and we think if we get those things right it will lead to consistent performances. “Now we need to maintain that.”