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'No good having a marquee player if there's no marquee': Dennis Cometti

Brendan Foster

 Legendary football commentator Dennis Cometti says if the Dockers disastrous start to the 2017 season continues, Fremantle would be "better off" letting superstar Nat Fyfe leave.

Cometti hung up the microphone at the end of the 2016 AFL season after three decades of calling football games at the Seven Network, including a five-year stint with Channel Nine when they acquired the rights between 2002 and 2006.

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Dennis Cometti: 'There will be life after Fyfe'

Dennis Cometti's views on the future of Fremantle Dockers star Nat Fyfe. Audio: Mix 94.5

The 68-year-old, who still calls Eagles and Dockers' home games for Triple M on Mix 94.5 said on Monday morning "it's not much good having a marquee player if there is no marquee".

"It begs the question, if Nat Fyfe is undecided about his future, this could sway him. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season," he told Clairsy, Matt and Kymba's Mix 94.5 breakfast show.

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"If this continues (Dockers' poor form) and this is probably a hard-liner speaking, it may be better to let Fyfe go and settle for the best deal."

Cometti said the Crows "survived" life after Patrick Dangerfield, so life at the Dockers would continue with or without Fyfe.

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The only problem for the Dockers is, the Crows were in much better shape when Dangerfield jumped ship to the Cats.

"I mean this isn't going to turn around soon," Cometti said about the Dockers' flagging fortunes.

"If there is life after Dangerfield, there would be life after Fyfe and certainly you would get some high draft picks for him."

"So that's a tough decision for Fremantle because they are going nowhere at the moment, based on the first two weeks, so really troubling times for them."

The cloud over Fyfe's future will continue for most of the season, especially given the 25-year-old said late last year he wouldn't commit to a new contract until he's certain the Dockers were heading in the right direction.

The Dockers made Fyfe captain this season with the hope he would stay at club beyond 2017, but the brilliant onballer has openly admitted he would look elsewhere if Fremantle was able to satisfy his demands for growth or success in the near future.

"Free agency is that players have a say in their careers and it would be remiss of me not to look at every possible option," he said.

"But if I see a strong future at Fremantle then that's where I will be playing my footy."

The superstar midfielder has already been to one Victorian club, with former Saints big man Justin Koschitzke claiming the Brownlow Medallist could be at St Kilda in 2018.

"He'd be a nice fit down there in the red, black and white," Koschitzke told EON sports radio in November.

Koschitzke, who played 200 games for the Saints, said the club would throw the cheque book at Fyfe.

"I reckon if he's out (of contract), they will make a big play for that sort of player," he said.

"The Saints will be coming into an era where their middle-tier players are playing really well. They've really built well underneath, they'll just make a big play for a big headline player like (Fyfe)."

It's not the first time Fyfe has been linked with the Saints, with former board member Nathan Burke telling Fox Sports back in August the club had enough wriggle room in its salary cap to lure the Dockers' star east.

"I know when I was on the board, when we set out our plan for the next five or six years, part of it was to keep some money aside for a significant free agent," Burke told Fox Sports News.

Regardless of where he ends up playing his football next season, WAtoday reporter and Radio 6PR football expert Kim Hagdorn says Fyfe is set to become one of the game's highest paid players.

"Fyfe, 24, will command, and probably deserve, a contract extension of more than $1 million a season beyond 2017 and for as long as five years," he said.

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