I once travelled 37 hours to see Nat Fyfe play. My childhood AFL hero’s last dance hits hard - a personal essay

Image description: a crowd of Fremantle fans entering Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia at twilight.

At the end of August, 2025, on a mini writer’s retreat with a group of friends, a foul mood hung over me, the likes of which only injustice and sport can cause. I sat down to write a personal essay, entitled “It’s okay to cry when your favourite players retire,” and didn’t come up for breath until it was 3000 words and complete.

The essay explores the experience of adult fandom and the meaning that sport can bring to our lives through the lens of one woman’s grief over the imminent retirement of AFL player, Nathan Fyfe.

Pared back to only 800 words (a process through which I learnt a lot), it was published by the Guardian Australia on the day of Nat Fyfe’s last AFL match.

You can read the published article here.