FREMANTLE skipper Nat Fyfe is expected to play next week, after the superstar was a late withdrawal from the Dockers' 12-point win over Collingwood.

Fyfe had spent the past fortnight recovering from a shoulder injury, and flew to Melbourne to take on the Pies but ultimately was not comfortable in playing, despite being cleared by medical staff.

PIES v DOCKERS Full match coverage and stats

"He just didn’t really feel 100 per cent confident and it’s probably got nothing to do with the pain or the shoulder itself," coach Justin Longmuir told Fox Footy.

"It’s just about him being able to perform at his best and he just didn’t feel up to it.

"With a shoulder injury, you’ve got to be able to take the ball above your head with pressure on you, you have to be able to put your head over ground balls.

"We all know how 'Fyfey' plays, he plays a really combative brand of footy. For him not to be 100 per cent comfortable and make the call was something that I respected."

Post-match, Longmuir told reporters he was impressed with how his side held firm in the face of a charging Collingwood, who briefly held the lead despite being three goals down at the final break.

"(I was most pleased with) the way we stood up under pressure in the last quarter. We knew they would come and when they hit the front, we didn't seem flustered," Longmuir said.

"After the game, the players spoke about the conversations that were happening around that time, and we just stayed on task, we were able to execute our roles and it's a sign of a bit of maturity."

Key forward Matt Taberner was substituted out in the second quarter with a high calf strain, and Longmuir was hopeful it would only sideline him in the short term.

"We had to go back to the old strategy of Blake Acres in the ruck (and Rory Lobb in attack), just so we had a bit of height forward," he said.

"They're such a good intercepting team, just for 'Lobby' and 'JT' (Josh Treacy) to give us a contest, and some of our smalls at times, we were just really courageous in hitting those contests in our forward half.

"Doesn't look like 'Tabs' is a serious injury, it's not a reoccurrence of his ankle, it looks like a high calf strain."

Saturday marked Robert Harvey's first game in charge as Collingwood's interim coach.

"It's a bit of a different feel, obviously, getting a feel for it. Largely, I thought the (coaches') box was fine, we were having good discussions up there," Harvey said.

"The game itself, we started really well and finished really well, and we just had some really inconsistent patches in the second and third quarters. 

"I just thought from the point of view of what we asked the players for before the game, I thought their intent was really good from what we wanted to do we just fell into a few patterns we couldn't quite get out of."

Brayden Maynard gave away a 50m penalty for abuse after Liam Henry received a lucky free kick for front-on contact. The resulting goal broke a run of three Collingwood majors to start the last quarter and put the Dockers back in front.

"The free kick's a free kick. Having coached him directly (as defensive coach), I think he plays those defending back with the flight really well," Harvey said.

"Clearly to give away the 50 is not ideal, and to lose your cool like that is not what we're after, but he gives great effort. 

"I thought some of his chase-down tackles in the last quarter, to show that desire to want to win, that's what we love about him."