FREMANTLE forward Chris Mayne says the Dockers will back their defence to do the job in the preliminary final, despite critics fearing they can't score enough goals to win the flag.

The Dockers secured their second home preliminary final in three seasons by restricting the Sydney Swans to just 60 points in last Saturday's qualifying final.

The Dockers kicked just 10 goals themselves, but it was enough to win by nine points and earn the week off.

Much has been made of Fremantle’s lack of scoring power, particularly in the second half of the season. Coach Ross Lyon has not shied away from the fact the Dockers were ranked 12th for points per game in the home and away season with 84.

But they were ranked second in defence for the same period, restricting opposition sides to just 71 points per game.

Mayne said the Dockers would like to score more goals but they are confident their method can still be successful.

"We'll just stick to what we're good at," Mayne said.

"We're good at stopping sides and we're doing enough to get over the line. Of course we'd like to score more goals, I don't think any football club wouldn't.

"What we do is find a way to win, and we'll continue to keep doing that."

Critics have pointed to the fact that 14 of the last 15 AFL premiership teams have averaged 100 points per game in their premiership years.

The Dockers have won four finals out of eight under Lyon, and have kicked less than 100 points in all of them. Their highest score in a final under Lyon was 14.15 (99) against the Swans in the 2013 preliminary final.

Mayne said finals football was all about taking your opportunities in attack. He had three chances on the weekend to kick goals and ended up with 1.2.

"You have three opportunities to really have an impact," Mayne said.

"If you can take all three, great. But I missed two. It's unfortunate, but I've reviewed them already and seen exactly where I can improve.

"I'll come out here this week and train as hard as possible to keep rectifying the mistakes."

Mayne's goalkicking has dropped away since he kicked 39 and 37 goals in consecutive seasons in 2012 and 2013. He has kicked 27 goals this season and has been the number one tackler at Fremantle.

"I think this year I've had a really successful year again," Mayne said. 

"My pressure's been outstanding. I've been able to lay more tackles than I have in previous years, and really put pressure on opposition sides.

"My form up front, whenever I get the opportunity to try to finish off the hard work, I like to do that. It doesn't always go to plan, but I come out here and train as hard as I can to be able to finish off the hard work the boys do."

The Dockers held a very light recovery session at Fremantle Oval on Tuesday. Nat Fyfe, David Mundy and Michael Johnson did not appear on the track but that is normal procedure as they focus on recovery.

Mayne said the Dockers would recover and review as per normal this week and have a solid session on Friday before watching Hawthorn and Adelaide on Friday night to see which team they will face in the preliminary final.