Fremantle will give key defender Luke McPharlin until the last minute to prove his fitness ahead of their qualifying final clash with Geelong at Simonds Stadium.
McPharlin has missed the last eight weeks after injuring his calf but is on the cusp of returning to the team, despite being named as an emergency for Saturday's match.
McPharlin trained on Thursday with his team-mates and took part in a recovery session at Eastern Beach near Geelong on Friday morning.
And Dockers assistant Michael Prior believes the veteran defender is close to getting the all clear, with Alex Silvagni the likely player to make way.
"We're giving him every chance to get up," Prior said.
"Obviously we have to see how he pulls up today after training yesterday, he either plays or he doesn't, it doesn't matter if he is named emergency in the side as far as we're concerned.
"We brought him over here with the view that he is going to play, but in saying that we will give him right up until the last minute after a solid session."
The Dockers have been controversially sent to play at Simonds Stadium for their first final this season, leading to a whole host of conspiracy theories springing up to explain the reason.
Fremantle have only won at the venue once in their history in 2005, and suffered a 41-point loss to the Cats when they last played there in Round 14, albeit with a side missing several big names.
But with the Simonds Stadium dimension closely resembling those at Patersons Stadium, Prior believes the Dockers won't be too troubled by the venue.
"We come down here with a lot of confidence," Prior said.
"We've played finals against Geelong and we've got up, obviously last year, so we're down here to win, simple as that. And we think we've got the side and the game plan that is going to get us over the line.
"We've looked really closely at the game in Round 14. There are a few areas we have tinkered with since, we think we have come up with the answers."
Small forward Michael Walters had his knee strapped during the recovery session but Prior expects him to play.