Freo left seven first-choice players in Perth for last weekend’s clash with Hawthorn in Launceston because of 'soreness'.
In addition to those players - among them captain Matthew Pavlich - they could also regain Aaron Sandilands and Hayden Ballantyne for Friday’s crucial match with the Blues that will decide which side clinches a home final.
“Players that have been out for four or five weeks, we know how good they can be on their day, but form is something you just can’t turn on,” Ratten said from Visy Park on Tuesday.
“You just can’t flick the switch and say ‘Here we go, big game, big moment, I’m going to deliver and play a great game’. It will be interesting to see how many of those players they bring back in and can they flick the switch to find form straight away?
“I think we’ve had a couple [of games] where we’ve made about four changes this year. I think two or three is about the normal for most teams ... when you get up to five or six it makes it quite interesting.
“It will be interesting to see whether it’s 10, whether it’s eight or seven [changes]. That’s up to them, but I suppose the biggest thing is [Michael] Walters played well [last week] - does he get a look in?
“Do they drop players who actually performed pretty well in a game where they didn’t play so well. That’s the dilemma that they have.
“It puts your eggs in one basket, doesn’t it? It does [add a bit of pressure] I suppose, but I think the result will reflect whether it was good or bad.”
While he was unsure if the strategy would pay off, Ratten defended Mark Harvey’s right to select a side he felt would be in the club’s best interests heading into the finals.
Ratten said Shaun Hampson and Aaron Joseph had recovered from ankle injuries and would come straight back into the side, with planning for the match to be centred on Fremantle’s round 20 line-up which lost to the Sydney Swans and not the depleted side belted by the Hawks last week.
The Blues’ coach refused to be drawn into the finals permutations that could arise from the last weekend of the home and away season, but admitted a home final was a huge carrot for his team after missing out with 13 wins last season.
“I think it would be something that we’d love to do as a team and I think it would be something we’d love to do for the supporters,” he said.
“That would be something great for the supporters - to give them a taste of finals atmosphere in Melbourne with Carlton playing would be something they would love.”
Brock McLean played his first game back from knee surgery in the VFL at the weekend and will line up for the Bullants again on Saturday. Ratten said the former Demon was still capable of having an impact in the finals.
“He had 23 possessions and his GPS numbers were phenomenal for a bloke who had missed a fair bit of footy,” he said.
“Coburg’s ground was quite heavy through the middle and he’s run close to 14km and played about 70 per cent game time.
“It’s a good indicator for him that he could maybe step back into the finals for us.”
Chris Yarran is in the frame to return this week, with Ratten believing the former Perth lad would be well-suited to the wide expanses of Subiaco.
