AARON Sandilands remains on track to play again this season despite adductor tightness restricting him from training this week.

Fremantle's star ruckman hasn't played since suffering a nasty rib and lung injury in round three, which saw him spend a week in hospital after requiring surgery to repair multiple rib fractures.

Coach Ross Lyon has been adamant that both Sandilands and veteran defender Michael Johnson would play again this season even though the 3-12 Dockers are out of finals contention.

Johnson hasn't played since round five when he suffered a hamstring and knee injury against Carlton, and has recovered slowly from surgery.

The 31-year-old participated in the early part of the Dockers' main training session on Wednesday and looked to be moving well, but Sandilands didn't train.  

"(Sandilands) was going to train fully today, but he did some real agility work on the weekend, a big session, so he's tightened up in the adductor," Lyon said.

"We'll back him off and he'll just run some laps today.

"(Johnson will) train the first half today and then we'll tap him out.

"They're on the build to return to football. They got through all the rehab. Now we've got to build their conditioning to football. That will take a few weeks."

Lyon has been unable to put an exact timeframe on the return of either player, but remains steadfast in his belief that both men will play again this season.

Both the 33-year-old Sandilands and Johnson are contracted for next season, but Lyon reiterated his stance that there was a significant benefit to the pair playing again this year rather than being rested to be ready for 2017.

"There's plenty to be gained," Lyon said.

"They sit in our leadership group. We're crying out for more support for those guys. We'd like to play better football.

"I feel like I've answered this a number of times.

"My mandate for when I was appointed was to prepare the players as best you can, pick the best team, and go out to win. We're clearly trying to do that.

"I understand, because everyone's thinking about draft picks, but we're not into draft picks. I think there's a big cost to be paid once you start playing around with that.

"We certainly won't be aggressive pushing them back. But once they're ready to play, they'll play.

"Will Michael Johnson need to go to Peel? Probably. Aaron, in his position? Maybe, maybe not.

"We've got plenty to work through. But I'll say it again, to our members and fans, when they're available, we will pick them."