The Brownlow medallist, who is out of contract at the end of the year, will be the most hunted player in the league, despite being named as David Mundy's successor as captain last week.

While several interested Melbourne clubs believe Fyfe is now more likely to remain at Freo , that hasn't impacted on the level of interest in the star midfielder.

Fyfe is adamant that he will wait until later in the year to consider his future.

"I've always signed my contracts in the mid to late part of the last year of my contract and that was always going to be the case," he said. "The captaincy doesn't change anything in that regard."

Industry sources believe Fremantle finds itself in a messy situation, having just elevated an out-of-contract player to the captaincy. It means that rival clubs could be tabling offers for another team's skipper midway through the year.

Fremantle will have no problems fitting Fyfe into the salary cap, given the club was finding space to make an offer for Melbourne forward Jesse Hogan before he signed a contract extension.

Any offer up to $1 million a season should be comfortably matched by the Dockers.

Of the Victorian clubs, Carlton and St Kilda have both been closely linked to Fyfe.

With Dale Thomas coming to the end of a four-year contract, the Blues – who already have plenty of room – will have considerably more salary-cap space next year, even if the former Collingwood star triggers a fifth year.

Thomas' pay packet of $750,000 a season will be significantly reduced if he does trigger a contract extension.

The Saints – who are viewed as more advanced in their list build – are likely to be aggressive in their pursuit of a restricted free agent this year and have ample salary-cap space.

The Blues are also on the lookout for a big name free agent, but a bold play for Fyfe could be viewed as premature given the current structure of their list.

Parallels have already been drawn between Fyfe and fellow Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield, who left Adelaide for Geelong at the end of the 2015 season.

Dangerfield was forced to deal with intense scrutiny and media speculation during his last season at the Crows, before announcing he was seeking a trade to the Cats.

But Fyfe, from Lake Grace in WA, does not share Dangerfield's motivation of wanting to move home.

"I'll monitor it closely and if I feel at any point it's affecting me or, more importantly the team or the club, I'll look to do something pretty quickly," Fyfe told SEN.

"There is an element of motivation that you do draw out of the chaos that goes on with that speculation, and if you can turn it into some positive fuel to play better footy then I'm all for it."