Nat Fyfe has stepped down as Fremantle captain but amid rumours he was forced out, the star himself admits he had to “get on board” with the decision.

Fyfe, who dreamt of becoming the Dockers’ first premiership captain, has officially stepped away from Fremantle’s leadership group altogether after six years in charge.

SEN’s Sam Edmund questioned if Fyfe was pushed out, given the rise of young guns like Andy Brayshaw and Caleb Serong who stepped up without the injured two-time Brownlow Medallist last year.

“It doesn’t sound like it was his decision at all,” he said on Wednesday.

“It sounds like the club decided and he’s had to get his head around it which he admitted has taken some time.

“Last year he sat back and it would have been obvious to him how much this group is growing under Justin Longmuir and the progress they have made without him (due to injury).

“Here they are growing without him.

“My guess is he was strongly encouraged (to hand over the reins).

“Clearly the club wanted to move on from him as captain and that must take some getting your head around … The pride of the man, absolutely.”

When directly asked if Fyfe had gone to the club on his own merit to resign as captain, Dockers footy boss Peter Bell didn’t offer a simple yes or no answer.

“Look, they are never straight forward (decisions) but the answer is there are always constant discussions with players and their leadership, with Nat and his leadership,” he said on SEN.

“Over the previous years, he’s had some frustrating moments and challenges with his body.

“Missing a lot of footy last year allowed him to sit back and watch how the team developed and how the leadership developed.

“I know he was having a lot of conversations with people within the footy club, his teammates, certainly the coach, myself at times and others within his own inner sanctum about what would be the best thing for the footy club moving forward and certainly what would be the best thing for him to get back out on the park.

“It does take a lot of energy (being captain).

“I think that Nat saw the possibilities as far as him being able to solely divert that energy into playing as being a real positive thing as well as being comfortable with the leadership depth we have at the club.”

Fyfe himself admitted he needed to get his head around the change in leadership at Fremantle, and mentioned a “main sell” – a term that saw many question if it was his call at all.

“It’s something I’ve known for a couple of weeks now (that he wouldn’t be captain in 2023),” he said.

“We (himself, coach Longmuir, Bell and Dockers CEO Simon Garlick) looked at all the different options – we definitely considered co-captains and I spoke with Belly about what that would look like. I reached out to Brett Kirk who was a mentor of mine.

“It just started to feel intuitively like the best thing to do was completely step away from the leadership group.

“I think this gives me the best opportunity to go forward and focus on my own game. Become an asset to the club that maybe I wasn’t able to do when I was playing as a mid and trying to captain.

“The opportunity to completely step away and reinvent my game is quite exciting. That’s probably what the main sell was in the end.

“I think some clean air was a good decision.”

Coach Justin Longmuir spoke about Fyfe’s commitment to the squad moving forward.

“I’m really confident that although he’s standing aside, he’s going to be able to support the new leadership of our group,” he said unprompted.

“He assures me that even though he’s stepping aside, he’s really invested in what we’re trying to achieve as a football club.”