BROWNLOW Medal favourite Nat Fyfe is "super confident" a niggling knee problem won't restrict him in Sunday's important home clash with North Melbourne, according to Fremantle coach Ross Lyon.
Fyfe was under a cloud last week when he failed to train in the lead-up to the Dockers' trip to face Sydney at the SCG.
The skipper took his place, despite having issues with a knee ligament pre-game, and was among his side's best with 28 touches and a goal in a disappointing 59-point loss.
The Dockers are continuing to manage Fyfe, but he has declared himself ready to go against the Roos.
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"His ligament's just rolling around a little bit there that gets caught occasionally," Lyon told Channel Seven.
"Connor Blakely's had it for the last 18 months and it hasn’t affected him, but every now and then it just catches him (Fyfe) – which it did pre-game and we thought we might lose him pre-game.
"But then he's fine. He was in my office tonight, super confident that the treatment is working well and he'll be at his best."
Fyfe looms as the key for Freo to get back on the winners list and protect its home turf at Optus Stadium.
The 26-year-old has been dominant in the Dockers' four home wins, arguably polling top Brownlow votes in each match, and is likely to attract the attention of North's tagger Ben Jacobs on Sunday.
Lyon was optimistic Joel Hamling would recover in time from concussion for a job on one of the Kangaroos' tall forwards Ben Brown and Jarrad Waite.
Classy half-back Stephen Hill is also pushing to return after two games out battling a quad issue.
"He's going to try and get up. He should train on Wednesday and then full train Friday with a view to playing Sunday," Lyon said.
"We need his run and distribution out of the back half, he's been sorely missed."
Lyon lamented missed opportunities for a fourth interstate loss against the Swans and called on the Dockers to be more daring with their ball use, regardless of the venue.
At Optus Stadium, they are averaging 96 points and have won four of their five games.
But that record dips to just 49 points per game on the road this year, albeit against finals contenders Port Adelaide, GWS, Richmond and Sydney.
"We just tend to go into our shells with the ball," Lyon said.
"Our ball use at Optus is uninhibited. Maybe the smaller grounds, different conditions … we've addressed it and showed them lots of opportunities we had.
"We think if we can fix that we should get some results on the road as well."
Meanwhile, the Dockers still don't have a timeframe for Doig medallist Bradley Hill's comeback from a knee injury suffered in round two.
Hill has started running again this week and, once fit, will have to serve a one-match club suspension at WAFL-alignment club Peel after an off-field indiscretion earlier this month.
Promisingly, young defender Griffin Logue could return for the Thunder next weekend after missing the entire season to date with a foot issue.