The days of Matthew Pavlich playing in Fremantle's midfield appear all but over as the Dockers declared that using Pavlich in an on-ball role may have had a negative impact on the skipper's body.
Throughout the last two seasons, Mark Harvey predominantly played Pavlich as a midfielder to assist a young and developing on-ball brigade at Fremantle.
But when quizzed about this, the former coach was adamant it would not affect Pavlich's longevity in the game, with Harvey even going so far as to angrily say he didn't need to justify his decisions to journalists last June.
However, despite Pavlich claiming a sixth club best and fairest award in 2011, the midfield role did appear to take its toll as he suffered a calf injury late in the campaign that ultimately led to him having season-ending hip surgery with two matches remaining.
Speaking on Monday, newly-installed Fremantle assistant Peter Sumich went so far as to admit that Pavlich, who will be 30 on New Year's Eve, had been 'bashed' in the midfield last year.
"I had a good chat with Pav last week and I think he's got three, four or five years in him," said Sumich.
"Playing up forward will hopefully give him a few extra couple of years too because I think through the midfield, he's probably got bashed around a bit and took a lot of the load."
"We all know that as ex-footballers, that it gets harder, so you need to make sure we prepare him better and smarter."
"He's doing that at the moment and that will only extend his career," Sumich said.
Having recovered from the hip surgery, 256-game veteran Pavlich returned to training last week appearing noticeably lighter after the entire squad received strict instructions from new coach Ross Lyon to start the pre-season in tip-top shape.
Despite Pavlich's fitness, questions still emerged on Monday as to whether it would be best to rest him throughout the season, in order to keep him fresh, a policy premiers Geelong adopted to great effect with their veterans during the last season.
"That will be his (Ross Lyon's) call and the match committee," said Sumich.
"Hopefully we're 10-0 and we can afford to do those things, but you just have to wait and see. It's a matter of club policy and what the incoming coach is thinking."
For Sumich himself, working with Pavlich and the other members of Fremantle's squad under Ross Lyon, appears to have re-invigorated the former West Coast assistant, who left the Eagles at the end of 2011 after 10 years working with John Worsfold.
"To be here is like a new me," Sumich said.
"I'm excited and talking to different players, Ballantyne and some of the younger players we've just drafted, it's great (and) I'm looking forward to that era going forward."
Although the Eagles were riding a wave of momentum in 2011 that took them from the wooden spoon to the top four, Sumich said he'd been thinking of changing clubs for some time before making the call to tell John Worsfold.
"It's always in the back of your mind because I've been at the one club for a long-long time as a player/coach and had great success," Sumich explained.
"And, when you have success, you always look to move on and have success at another place and hopefully down the track we'll get that here."