Stephen Hill has been all but ruled out of Fremantle's crucial match against Essendon on Saturday, an injury that will force coach Ross Lyon into at least four changes.
The Dockers produced arguably the best performance under Lyon to date in their 12-point win against Richmond before the bye, but lost Aaron Sandilands (turf toe) and Zac Dawson (knee) to injury, and Hayden Ballantyne to a one-week suspension.
Lyon confirmed on Thursday Hill was highly unlikely to overcome an ankle tweak he picked up early in that game.
The fleet-footed on-baller, who was enjoying some of his best form in nearly two years, was also absent from training on Thursday.
"We've been really trying to get him up this week. I was really expectant but it sort of looks unlikely at this stage," Lyon said.
"But we've got some good performances in the WAFL ... and we're really expectant that whoever we pick executes the job for the team."
Alex Silvagni appears to be the obvious replacement for Dawson, while either Kepler Bradley or Zac Clarke will take Sandilands' place, with Lyon nominating Michael Walters, Nick Lower, Jayden Pitt and Paul Duffield as candidates to fill the vacant running roles.
But Lyon said former first-round pick Anthony Morabito would not be one of the replacements as he still needed to build more fitness in the WAFL before making his long-awaited return from a knee reconstruction.
Morabito, the No.4 selection in the 2009 draft, burst onto the scene with an impressive 2010 campaign but has not played AFL since tearing his ACL in December of that year due after enduring multiple setbacks in his recovery.
Although the 20-year-old has averaged 16.6 disposals while playing Peel Thunder's past five WAFL games, Lyon said he needed more time before playing his first AFL match in more than 650 days.
"He could be selected next week ... but we're really expectant that you'll see him push for senior selection over the next few weeks," he said.
"We're really doing the right thing by Anthony here. So you can term it conservative, but it's really playing what's in front of us.
"He's such a big part of our long-term plan at this club that we want to bring him in and when he comes in we want him to stay in."
Fremantle approach the Bombers game high on confidence after knocking off the Tigers, while Essendon have suffered consecutive losses, Lyon nevertheless insisted his players are the underdogs.
"They had 73 entries (in the loss to Sydney) and I think if you have 73 entries you're not really out of form," he said.
Victory against James Hird's men would see the Dockers end the weekend in the top eight for the first time since Round 8.