EXCLUSIVE: From building core strength to pre-game mantras: The age-defying pilates ‘wizard’ who Nat Fyfe credits for his second Brownlow Medal – and how she transformed his body and mind
- AFL star Nat Fyfe took home his second Brownlow medal on Monday night
- The Fremantle Dockers star credited his Pilates teacher with his success
- Trudy McEntee has been training Fyfe since October 2018 after hamstring injury
- She said they work together two to three times a week on recovery and strength
Fremantle Dockers superstar Nat Fyfe's path to his second Brownlow Medal started with a premonition.
Pilates instructor Trudy McEntee, 64, saw the AFL player walking past her local coffee shop in August last year and had a strong feeling he was about to badly injure himself.
Shortly after, he pulled his hamstring.
The next time Ms McEntee saw him at the cafe, she mustered up the courage to approach him and tell him he needed to start working with her.
Trudy McEntee (pictured) has been credited with helping injury-prone Nat Fyfe secure his second Brownlow medal
The pair met at a coffee shop in Fremantle, after Ms McEntree had a premonition Fyfe would pull his hamstring and it came true
'When I saw him the second time, I had a pull in my gut that said "you've got to go up and talk to him",' she said.
'I told him "I think I saw your hamstring injury before you did it", and he goes "you could have told me that two weeks ago!"'
She told him he should consider Pilates, and offered to teach him one on one.
But a few months later, Fyfe picked up the phone and asked: 'Is that offer still open?'
It was a decision the Fremantle Dockers captain credited on Tuesday night to his latest Brownlow Medal success as the game’s best and fairest.
'My number one goal coming in was to play all season and I had an amazing pilates instructor, Trudy, who found me in the street a week after I tore my hamstring last year and said, "You need to come and see me",'he said.
'I tried it for a month and 10 or 11 months later I sit here as a Brownlow medallist so I’m incredibly grateful for her,'
Under the watchful guidance of Ms McEntree, who he calls his 'wizard', the incredibly injury-prone footballer managed to play virtually every game in the 2019 season.
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Thanks to a combination of stretching, building of core strength and mantras before every game, Fyfe says he’s playing his best football and is more focused than ever.
Ms McEntee said she congratulated Fyfe on his Brownlow win on Tuesday morning.
' I love it, we did it, thank you,' he wrote back. 'Reset, go again.'
He and Ms McEntee, who live just a few houses apart from one another, train two to three times a week for 90 minutes at a time in a private room at Ms McEntee's studio in Fremantle.
'The first session is recovery, the second is work, and if there was a third, it's stretching again - getting him ready for the game,' she said.
Fyfe is extremely focused during his time on the reformer machine at Pilates Centre WA, and Ms McEntee is quick to mention how hard he works - despite some dramatic obstacles.
'He's incredible behind the scenes, he goes above and beyond what he has to do,' she said.
'He never once missed a session unless there was a crisis - for him to come in with a drip in one arm and a drain in the other... he's incredible. That's why he's a Brownlow.
'He was a dream client.'
The 64-year-old said it took months for Fyfe to take her up on her training offer, but the AFL superstar is now stronger than ever
Fyfe trains two to three times a week, with sessions carefully crafted to stretch his body without leaving him with lasting muscle pain
The appreciation goes both ways, with Fyfe referring to Ms McEntee as 'the wizard' for her input into his transformation.
She said her training was incredibly careful - and not only while he was battling an injury.
'There's an art, or a formula to what I do,' she said. 'A really strict formula, because they can't go out on to the field sore.
'I have a nickname, the torture master - from clients who want [to feel the burn of their exercise], but I can't work him like that.'
Instead of gruelling workouts, Ms McEntee said the secret to Fyfe's success has been increasing his core strength, and stretching out areas of his body that are often forgotten about, like his feet.
'It's complete balance and stability work,' she explained.
Fyfe is due to have surgery on his shoulder during the off-season, an existing injury that he said had been 'slipping' as he continued to play.
But his Pilates instructor said he will heal 'three times faster than an average person', because of their hard work.
'I can't prevent a concussion, I can't prevent a massive fall, but I can build strength up so that massive fall won't affect them as much as it does,' she said.
The pair's work was not only physical.
Before every game, Ms McEntee said she would text Fyfe words of encouragement.
'I would send him a mantra before every game, to help him focus,' she said.
'Some weeks were tough, he was trying to play with a sore shoulder, or there'd be a bit of a beat-up in the paper.
'We've done the work, I'd say, we're good to go - just focus on the game, focus on the team... find the fun, find the reason you're playing in the first place.'
On Monday night, Fyfe won his second Brownlow medal and revealed he had been secretly training in Pilates. Ms McEntee, who is currently in Bali, said she had no idea their cover had been blown
Pictured: Fyfe with partner Elanor Brayshaw after winning the 2019 Brownlow medal
The pair have developed a close relationship, Ms McEntee said, but she is banned from coming to any of his games.
'He asked me once, "do you want to come to a game?" and I said "oh no, no, I'm good",' she said.
He got her a ticket shortly after, to attend a game on April 7.
During the match, Fyfe clashed heads with St Kilda defender Josh Battle, and was left with a nasty concussion that ruled him out of the next game.
'We ruled I could never go to a game again,' Ms McEntee said.
'He said "you're banned from the games" and I said "oh God I'm not going!"'
Instead, the instructor would watch his games on TV and send him notes on his movement.
The 64-year-old former gymnast said she was now enjoying a well-earned holiday in Bali.
She used to spend every winter in the tropical paradise, but since taking Fyfe on as a client, she's usually only able to get away during a bye week.
But when she returns, work will inevitably start again, and the pair hope to continue for years to come.
'Our goal is he finishes [playing AFL] when he wants to , not because his body dictates it.'
Fyfe is training his body to be stronger so he can retire when he wants to, not when his body dictates
