Fremantle’s midfield needs to prevent quick exits from the opposition, according to captain Nat Fyfe.

Freo midfield may have won the clearances and helped Fremantle lead the inside 50 count against Brisbane at the Gabba on Saturday, but Fyfe believes the Lions were allowed to get the ball out more easily.

“I think we let ourselves down as midfielders with centre square bounce,” Fyfe told The West Australian. 

“They’ve got some quality players in there and walked out and couple of times and scored. 

“So that’s somewhat unforgivable on our defence, making them have to defend that.”

After falling to Essendon by a goal in round one in March, Fyfe felt Freo once again let a winnable game slip through their fingers in the 12-point loss.

“We’ve let another one slip essentially, we could quite easily be sitting at 2-zip, but we’re not,” Fyfe said.

“There were some elements to be positive about, but clearly we need to embed our system at training and continue to improve.”

Fyfe was excellent against the Lions with 24 disposals and three goals, but the dual Brownlow Medallist still feels he was off his best.

“It’s probably what I expected in some ways. Rusty, a little bit off-pace, scratchy with ball in hand and I think most players can expect to be dealing with that for the first couple of rounds,” Fyfe said.

“So I’ll slowly build into the season for the next three to four weeks in the hub and try and find my best form as soon as I can.

“I probably was a target a bit more today than I have previously been and I enjoyed that. Some days it comes your way and some days it doesn’t.”

Fyfe said that Freo were adapting to life in the hub on the Gold Coast. 

“I think (the hub is) as good as we could hope for. The rooms, the facilities are excellent,” Fyfe said.

“And I think players are starting to find the new normal. We’ve played one game now. We’ll get better and better at it. 

“There will be some stress points as we go, but generally speaking we’re adapting reasonably well.”