Dockers coach Ross Lyon may have dropped the biggest hint yet that the club is preparing for life after Nat Fyfe in an interview with the AFL website.
Lyon was asked explicitly whether he was happy with the club's contract negotiations with the superstar midfielder during the interview.
His response won't inspire confidence in Fremantle fans hoping to see Fyfe at the club beyond 2017.
"Well yeah, we're all passing through. Nothing is forever," Lyon told afl.com.au.
If Fyfe doesn't re-sign before the end of the season he will become a restricted free agent which means he is eligible to field offers from all rival AFL clubs.
And, with a Brownlow Medal already under his belt, offers are likely to come thick and fast for the 25-year-old with Fyfe likely to attract offers of more than $1 million a season should he opt to change clubs.
There have been rumours about Fyfe's future ever since the Dockers coach said last July the Brownlow Medallist could leave the club if it does not convince him it has a plan for future success. Fyfe has already been linked to Carlton and several other Victorian clubs.
"If Nathan believes in that plan coming his way, he'll be here, I've got no doubt. If he doesn't, and we don't bring him along, he'd be a chance to leave," Lyon said at the time.
However it seems that if a big rival offer does come, Lyon would be eager for the Dockers to match the contract, which they have the right to do given Fyfe will be a restricted free agent.
"There's a big difference," Lyon told afl.com.au, alluding to this situation.
However so far no club has matched a restricted free agency offer with the presiding view to let a player go who no longer wants to be at the club.
Lyon said speculation about Fyfe's future wouldn't be a distraction for the club this season as it aims to get back on track following a disastrous 2016 campaign which saw Fremantle finish in the AFL's bottom four.
He said he accepted players had a modern-day right to explore their options under free agency.
"We can't control it and at the end of the day every player is entitled to source the market, make a decision and move on," he told afl.com.au.
"All we can do is provide the best environment and [ensure] that the player sees that they can become what they want to become, and it's commercially viable because at the end of the day it's a profession for them.
"It's not something I sit around and mull about it. I just do what I can do and I've experienced it before. There have been lots of great players that have been out of contract, but I let the cobblers do the cobbling."
"But the speculation is going to be there all year."
Despite the speculation surrounding his future at the club, Fyfe is tipped to become the Dockers next captain, taking over the reigns from David Mundy.
An endorsement of the champion midfielder as captain is expected to strengthen the club's prospects of keeping Fyfe on a long term contract.
Fyfe was beaten in a vote for captain last January when veteran Mundy was elected to replace Dockers icon Matthew Pavlich, who stood down ahead of his last season as a player.
Mundy, 31, is believed to be resigned to losing the captaincy after just one season.
Fyfe, who hasn't played for the Dockers since round five last year after he broke his leg for a second time against Carlton, has hardly missed a beat this preseason and looks set to feature in the JLT Community Series before making his AFL comeback in round one.
"He's only missed one session this pre-season," Fremantle's senior development coach Marc Webb told Sport FM last month.
"He is really committed and a really focused person, and he's been able to put the extra k's in, and he's going at a hundred miles an hour to get ready for round one."