FREMANTLE is hopeful captain Alex Pearce has avoided further damage to his fractured left forearm in a 50-point win against Melbourne that included the best football the Dockers have played under coach Justin Longmuir this season.
There are no concerns about ruckman Luke Jackson, who finished the match under a cloud but had suffered a corked calf that won't keep him sidelined for next Saturday's Western Derby.
DOCKERS v DEMONS Full match coverage and stats
Pearce, who was returning a month after undergoing surgery, left the ground after copping a heavy knock to his arm in the third quarter and was substituted as a precaution, with the important key defender to undergo scans.
Longmuir said the club needed to wait for more information, but he was confident in young key defender Josh Draper's ability to again step up if Pearce required another stint on the sidelines during the run to finals.
"It's sore. The game was done, so we thought we'd sub him off. He has to get a scan and we'll go from there," Longmuir said.
"He's probably a little bit nervous (and) he's a little bit frustrated.
"Being the captain of the club and being in such good form all year, he wants to be out there competing with his brothers. Fingers crossed he'll be out there next week.
"Draper's is in good form and he's played a lot of footy. If he gets another opportunity, I'm sure he'll be ready to take it."
The Dockers made a statement in the first half on Sunday, turning their hitout dominance into a massive 24-3 clearance advantage that set the foundation for their early lead. By full-time the Dockers won the clearances 47-15.
Longmuir acknowledged the Demons had not played a genuine ruckman in Max Gawn's absence but said it was a "really good outline" of the football they want to play after bouncing back from a disappointing 13-point loss to Hawthorn.
"I thought that first half was as good a footy as we've played. We understood the injuries they've got, and I suppose the holes that are in their team, but we've come up against that in the past and haven't got it done," he said.
"(Midfield coach) Joel Corey thought last week on reflection that we probably weren't as on the front foot at stoppages as we would like to be, so irrelevant of the team we played this week we want to be a little bit more aggressive in there.
"Teams have been bringing numbers up to try and nullify our stoppage work and it's a real strength of our game, but we've got to maintain a mindset to be decisive and get on the front foot."
A disappointed Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin conceded the Demons had been beaten heavily around the ball without ruckman Max Gawn, who is expected to return from an ankle injury against Greater Western Sydney next Saturday.
The coach said the decision to again use tall utility Harrison Petty as a makeshift ruckman with support from Jacob van Rooyen, instead of selecting Tom Fullarton, had been made to give the team the best chance of competing at ground level.
"Tom's really working hard on his craft and he's got things to work on in his game, but he's not going to win hitouts," Goodwin said.
"He hasn't been able to do that at VFL level, so we went with a player and a group that we thought could compete as strong as anything at ground level, but also give us something around the ground.
"Bits and pieces throughout the day they were able to do that, but the hitout game wasn't something we were going to win no matter who we picked."
Goodwin said Gawn's return would not fix the Demons' stoppage game on its own, having also lost the contested ball battle 141-105.
"That's been one of the strongest things in our game for the last five weeks … so it wasn't just the hitouts. It was a combination of all that within our game, and we'll own it, we’ll lean into it. And we'll come back better next week."
