Fremantle legend Matthew Pavlich admits he still loses sleep over the 2013 grand final while also giving insight into how his Wharfie Time speech has evolved.

Pavlich was a special guest on Channel Seven’s The Front Bar on Wednesday night, with the Dockers’ all-time leading goalkicker recounting how his own family tried to prevent his drafting away from his native South Australia.

“Every time a club, and particularly when Fremantle, came over, mum would have a list of the players in the national carnival and say, ‘Why don’t you pick up Darren Glass or other WA boys?’ but obviously it didn’t work,” he said.

Despite the pull home, which even saw him request a trade after the 2001 season, Pavlich went on to have one of the great football careers at Fremantle, though he joked he would have gone on longer if not for the travel burden of playing out west.

“I definitely would have played over 400., I’ve had two back discectomies and hip issues when I played, so I was pretty fortunate not to have a huge amount of injuries that stopped me playing,” he said.

“But it meant it was like servicing a car, every 100 games or so, I’d have surgeries.”

While his individual career has been filled with accolades, including six All-Australian nominations, Pavlich admits the Dockers’ 2013 grand final loss still haunts him.

“I’m still losing sleep over it, eight goals 15, and five out on the full, and we lost by 15 points. I don’t think about it every day, just every other day,” he said.

“That group we had had been through some pretty tough times, and we thought there was still room to grow and improve, especially when we made the preliminary in 2015, but ultimately that was our only chance.”

Fremantle are currently the envy of the AFL, sitting atop the ladder after a record 12-game win streak, which has them as firm premiership favourites.

Ironically, Pavlich will be playing a part in trying to stop their charge to a maiden flag, as CEO of Sydney, who sit in second place.

However, he still has plenty of impact on the Dockers, particularly with Wharfie Time, which evolved out of his iconic 2009 pre-game speech.

“I did say to Simon Garlick that week after the Hawthorn game, when Freo came back and kicked four goals in a row ‘You’re welcome,’” he said.

“I’m led to believe it’s a dual call between the events person at Optus Stadium and the CEO, and if there’s a gap in a game and they need a bit of a rev up or they’re hanging up, fire up the troops.”