Ross Lyon has made his first team selection announcement this week ahead of Fremantle's clash with Port Adelaide, listing nine of the Dockers' best 22 as definites to be rested, with more expected to follow.

Seven of those who played in the win over Melbourne last weekend won't make the trip to Adelaide to play a very short-priced Port on Saturday night. Luke McPharlin, Aaron Sandilands, Matthew Pavlich, David Mundy, Stephen Hill and Lee Spurr will all be rested, the benefit of securing top spot on the ladder one week before the end of the home and away season.

Sandilands, Mundy and Hill have played in all 21 games this season, Spurr and Pavlich 20 and 33 year-old McPharlin 18.

Cam Sutcliffe will also miss the clash after he suffered a shoulder injury in the Dockers' 54-point win over Melbourne last weekend.  It's understood that his shoulder did not pop all the way out and that he should be available for the first week of the finals.

Garrick Ibbotson is also likely to miss.

Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters will remain on the sidelines for at least another week also after missing the nine-goal win over the Demons; Walters being a late withdrawal from that game with a calf injury.

Lyon said that Fyfe was feeling good about himself, despite still having support on his injured foot, while Walters still had a few boxes to tick before being cleared to play.

But the coach did not rule out Hayden Ballantyne making a return this weekend.

"Yeah, he'll train today. He's training; he's flying," Lyon said of Ballantyne who has not played since injuring his pectoral in the Dockers' round 16 victory over Carlton.

"I need a meeting on him. He'd want to play this week I think. But he's training today. I need further information.

"It's their first day back, but yeah he was ringing me and texting me so I think he's pretty keen.

"I don't make those decisions. The surgeons and the doctors make those decisions. They're pretty serious decisions."

More players are expected to be added to the "out" list before the final team is announced on Thursday, including Michael Johnson, who has played three games since returning from an eight-game stint on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, as well as Nick Suban, Chris Mayne and Danyle Pearce, who have also played in every game this season.

"We're planning, preparing and trying to give ourselves the best chance for the end game, which is to be playing our best footy in the finals series," Lyon said of resting so many players. "It's been done before and it'll be done again.

"If you lose you get criticised, if you win they say you're a genius. That goes with the territory."

Fremantle will debut a third player picked in last year's AFL draft this weekend, Connor Blakely, who went in the second round, at number 34, from WAFL club Swan Districts.

Lachie Weller (pick 13) and Ed Langdon (54) have both already been given their chances, while Alex Pearce (pick 37 in 2013) has also been given his first taste this season, playing 12 games.

Blakely, 19, has averaged almost 25 touches a game in the WAFL this season, his third at league level and would have made his debut last week against Melbourne if he had not rolled his ankle playing for Peel Thunder the week before.

"We're really thrilled with this year's draftees in attitude and application and capacity," Lyon said. "So Connor is a special young man and a special young player, so it'll be great to have a look at him and he'll get a real crack at it.

"And he'll come up against the (Travis) Boaks and all those guys, so he'll know he's alive."