Justin Longmuir didn’t mince his words in a strong defence of forward Nat Fyfe amid criticism of his round one performance against St Kilda on Sunday afternoon.

Playing as a deep forward for the majority of the match, Fyfe was unable to impact the scoreboard after making the full-time switch into Freo’s attack over the summer.

The round one match-up had come off the back of two impressive pre-season games, with Fyfe booting three goals in both of those outings over the past month.

Longmuir acknowledged the heightened expectations placed on Fyfe externally, but called out some of the criticism levelled at the dual Brownlow medallist following the weekend’s game. 

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“It’s incredibly unfair that he comes under the spotlight the way he does and I know he has set a high standard over the years and with that comes a bit more pressure and expectation,” Longmuir said.

“I heard a lot of talk after the pre-season games that he’s going to kick 50-plus goals and win the Coleman and then after one game he gets criticised as the worst experiment of all time.

“We understand internally that with more expectation on us as individuals and as a team that the outside noise is going to become greater and we just need to make sure that internally we are really clear on what we are trying to work on and what roles individuals are going to play.

“We won’t be shifting him anytime soon…I have got full faith he can turn it around.”

Fyfe’s strong commitment to his forward craft was undeniable according to Longmuir, suggesting he may look to draw his defender up the ground more frequently moving forward this season.

“He is really committed to being a forward and really committed to making sure he works on his forward craft,” Longmuir said.

“By changing his roles around, it’s probably not the best thing for him in terms of trying to embed his forward footy.

“There are opportunities within the forward line for him to change his roles up and go a little bit higher up the ground - we have given him that license - we’d like to see a few of those things from him a bit more so he can manipulate his opponents and take them to uncomfortable positions.

“We will keep upskilling him on how he can best do that.”

St Kilda defender Callum Wilkie was tasked with the role of shutting down Fyfe at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, keeping Fyfe to just nine disposals and a behind.

Longmuir placed a spotlight on the Saints decision to send their best defender to Fyfe, and highlighted the forward’s importance to Freo’s attacking mix.

“It’s interesting that St Kilda probably put their best defender on him, so that shows how highly the opposition rate him and how they have rated him over the pre-season,” Longmuir said.

“Nat should be able to help others around him as well - it didn’t on the weekend because we didn’t take our opportunities.

“He is going to be valuable for us, but he needs to be able to mix up his positions so he can take his defenders to vulnerable positions – we’ll keep working on that.”

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