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Matthew Pavlich signed on for another AFL season on the back of a very successful 2015, where Fremantle finished as minor premiers for the first time in their history.
However the Dockers also earned the unwanted title of being the first minor premiers to fail to reach the grand final since Adelaide in 2005.
The Fremantle narrative, led by their coach Ross Lyon, was that this successful yet ultimately unfulfilled season was going to be the launching block for a strong tilt at the 2016 flag and a potential fairytale swansong for the heart and soul of the club.
Pavlich has been a Dockers stalwart since being drafted with pick four in 1999 from the Woodville-West Torrens Club in the SANFL, amassing 342 games and 679 goals.
He’s a six-time club best and fairest, six-time All Australian, eight-time club leading goal kicker, and a one-time Coleman Medallist.
There’s not much that Pavlich hasn’t done in the game. However, unfortunately, he is set to join the list of champion players who have never won a premiership after his club’s horrendous start to the season with a 0-8 win-loss record.
Not at any stage this season has he let the Dockers down. If anything, he’s been a lone hand up forward, which has been a bit of theme across his career.
Pavlich continues to provide consistent output as a player and always gives 100 per cent. But the question is, can he be expected to maintain this?
Fremantle have shifted focus from a push for finals mentality to now a re-tool, re-ploy, and reapply focus (just don’t use the word rebuild!).
Lyon has flagged the importance of development over results and the fact they’ve put Nat Fyfe on ice for the season further outlines the club’s position.
Where, then, does that leave Pavlich?
One feels that he’s extended his career with the idea of one last tilt at that dangling carrot of a flag.
So is it possible that he plays on for another season? Or is he done?
Either way, Fremantle need to look at the best way forward. Ultimately, Pavlich is not going to be around forever.
Does Lyon start playing Michael Apeness, Sam Collins, Sean Hurley, Tanner Smith, and Matthew Uebergang at Pavlich’s expense?
If it wasn’t for the AFL’s decision to remove the sub position, Fremantle would have had the perfect opportunity to use Pavlich a little like the Western Bulldogs used Daniel Giansiracusa in his final year as a player. This keeps that strong leadership presence still around the playing group, while not heavily relying on the player’s output.
What I do know for sure is that Pavlich is, and will be the best player to ever pull on a Fremantle Dockers jumper for a long time to come. And he’s probably earned the right to decide how he’s going to finish.
But knowing the man he is, I don’t think he’s going to let that be to the detriment of the club he’s so famously served for 17 years!
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