FREMANTLE coach Justin Longmuir says being in the top eight presents a new distraction to his players and one that he's confident they can handle.
The Dockers' 62-point demolition of Hawthorn last Saturday meant they finished round 17 in seventh spot on the ladder with an 8-8 record.
The last time Fremantle was sitting inside the top eight this late in a season was in 2015 when it won the minor premiership.
The Dockers haven't made the finals since, and they still face an uphill battle to break that drought given that four of their remaining six games are against teams currently in the top eight.
THE RUN HOME Where will your club finish?
The other two games are against Richmond and St Kilda, who are also fighting for a finals berth.
Freo's run home begins on Thursday night when they take on Geelong at Optus Stadium.
Dockers fans are already dreaming of finals action, and Longmuir said it was up to the group to make sure they stay process-oriented.
"It presents a great opportunity for us," Longmuir said of the prospect of finals.
"In a way it does (add extra pressure), but it shouldn't.
"It does present a level of outcome-based focus that we need to control. It's a different situation for our playing group, and another challenge.
"The ladder position presents another level of distraction that we need to handle."
After facing Geelong, Fremantle takes on Sydney, Richmond, Brisbane, West Coast, and St Kilda.
LADDER PREDICTOR Where will your club finish?
The Dockers haven't played a Thursday or Friday night fixture in five years, and the club is welcoming the prime-time slot against Geelong, despite the five-day break between games.
"There's always a level of soreness within the playing group," Longmuir said when asked about the shortened gap between games.
"There's going to be guys that are sore, there's going to be a level of fatigue creep into the game.
"We experienced that last year when we played off four-day breaks, so that experience should hold us in good stead."
Premiership defender Joel Hamling has undergone surgery on his troublesome left ankle and the club is hopeful he will be able to return next year.
"Speaking to him last night, he feels really confident that he's got a good result out of the surgery," Longmuir said.
"I'm really confident that he can get back to full fitness and form. I can't give you a time frame on that though."
Veteran defender Stephen Hill, who made his return in the WAFL reserves last week after overcoming a long-standing hamstring issue, will play more minutes with Peel Thunder this weekend in the hope of making an AFL return at the back-end of the season.
