FREMANTLE coach Ross Lyon has backed Nat Fyfe and his star-studded midfield to bounce back from a poor performance in round one against the Western Bulldogs.

The Dockers were flogged in the clearances (35-24), centre clearances (13-9) and in contested possessions (157-113) in their 65-point loss to the Bulldogs.

Lachie Neale had 32 touches and six clearances, but the experienced trio of Fyfe, David Mundy and Michael Barlow had just six clearances between them.

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"We know it's won and lost in the midfield and really our midfield acknowledged that they got beaten badly on the day," Lyon said.

"I thought our centre square bounce work - we can run two structures out of the centre bounce and we ran out a really open structure and backed ourselves in, but they were exceptional in there and we didn't defend it that well."

Fyfe collected just 15 touches, although 12 were contested. He averaged nearly 29 disposals and 18 contested possessions across his Brownlow winning season last year.

A corked thigh hampered Fyfe last week, but Lyon said he was in good shape heading into Saturday's clash with Gold Coast and he expected his superstar midfielder to bounce back.

"Great players become great players because they don't play one good (game) in every five, they tend to (play) four out of five," Lyon said.

"We're not talking 10s (out of 10), nines or eights, but they're just really consistent in their output, and that's the expectations our midfielders have and Nat has of himself."

The Dockers have made four changes ahead of the clash with the Suns. Aaron Sandilands returns from suspension and has been named as the sole ruckman after Jon Griffin was dropped and Zac Clarke was ruled out with a knee problem.

Key forward Matt Taberner and experienced utility Tendai Mzungu have also been dropped.

Young key position player Alex Pearce has been named and he may need to pinch-hit in the ruck. Veteran Michael Johnson returns after missing last week's loss with calf soreness.

Second-year player Ed Langdon has been included following a strong performance in the WAFL last week.

Anthony Morabito is edging closer to a return to WAFL football, but Lyon said on Thursday that the luckless midfielder would do another week of training despite being close to full fitness.

Morabito did not play any football last season due to ongoing soreness in his three-times reconstructed left knee. An extended rest and a solid pre-season had him primed for a new role in defence this year before he injured his hamstring in February.

Lyon said there was no rush with Morabito.

"He's available but he'd like to get another week of full training under his belt and really condition well," Lyon said.

"We know it's been a long road.

"There's been some ups and downs and this time it was a hamstring. But I don't think there's any rush when you've basically played eight games of football in five years. I think another week to give himself his best chance of being resilient will be really good for Anthony and us."

Lyon said Morabito had been training in defence during the summer and given his size and speed he could become a strong rebounding defender in a similar mould to Garrick Ibbotson or Michael Johnson.