The heartbreak of football is to see some of the most decorated players not win what would be a deserving premiership.
In this case, it was Fremantle's Nat Fyfe.
Saturday's epic contest between the Dockers and Gold Coast at Optus Stadium would spell time for Fyfe, on Suns legend David Swallow. It was the former.
The two-time Brownlow medallist achieved just about every accolade in football, and was ever-so-close to lifting the premiership cup in 2013, when Fremantle made its one-and-only decider.
But the past few years have been a battle for Fyfe through his body, even up until this week.
"I just think that's fitting – the game does not give up its rewards very easily, and there's a lot more times you finish a season heartbroken than the opposite," Fyfe said on Saturday night.
"To be able to get back and actually be involved in this game, this year. I'm really grateful I got to play in another final again.
"I think I came to a point last year where I felt like I'd turned every stone, given absolutely everything I could.
"Where the story went from there was out of my hands. Hopefully, I get some closure and peace of mind. I finish disappointed in some ways.
"The game tried many different times to tell me the end of the road was near, and so I walk away knowing this was definitely the right time.
"I rolled my ankle on Tuesday and hardly got up for this game."
The 33-year-old delivered hope to the Fremantle faithful, saying the club has the "right profile to have five or six bites at winning a premiership".
‘in some ways, maybe my journey was more important for me not to win than to win.’
Nat Fyfe closes the chapter 💜#foreverfyfe pic.twitter.com/6HKKFGQwfc
— Fremantle Dockers (@freodockers) September 6, 2025
"I don't think I needed anything else from the game," Fyfe said.
"We all want to win premierships, but I do have some contentness that I tried everything and gave absolutely everything to the club.
"In some ways, in my journey, maybe it was more important not to win than to win."
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said that Fyfe's legacy will be "the fact that he has got the most out of himself".
Longmuir paid tribute to the star Docker, who managed to return to the AFL despite multiple bouts of serious injury that threatened his career.
"He's looked everywhere he can to improve his game, his body, to the very end, and that legacy will stay with us.
"He's shown a path for our younger players to be able to develop the way he's developed.
"The next group of players will take that to another level, and then the next group that come in will take it to another level.
"But in some sense, it started with him. So he will leave a void, but he's also left us a path forward in aspects, so we thank him for that."
