With Luke McPharlin annoucing his retirement on Wednesday and Matthew Pavlich expected to announce his retirement this week, the Dockers require sharp improvement from key position players already on the list or will need to bring in talent from rival clubs to reinforce their spine.

Brown is a big believer in the importance of key position or "spine" players to the overall structure of a team and is worried about how the Dockers will replace the key duo, as well as how Lyon will find more offence to beat the league's best teams.

"I know it's a big statement, but I'm concerned," Brown said of his prediction that the Dockers won't finish high enough to earn a double chance next year.

"Especially Matty Pavlich, he's shouldered a big load on that forward line. If Matty retires, or even if he keeps going, he'll have to shoulder again and I'm not sure where their goals are going to come from," he continued, speaking on Fox Footy's On The Couch program on Tuesday night.

"We know [Michael] Walters has been good in finals and in normal games, [Hayden] Ballantyne struggled in the big games, so where else are the goals coming from?

"They're going to have a good midfield next year. But [Michael] Barlow is starting to show signs of fading — his second-half fadeout was significant this year...

"And if Fyfe plays a full year, he might have to play forward, which hurts their midfield."

Brown acknowledged that the Dockers' chance of making another run would improve if they landed a high-quality talent such as their main trade target, GWS young gun Cam McCarthy.

But he does not believe the Dockers will land the key forward, who has two years to run on his contract. The Giants have indicated they will not trade him.

The Dockers have also shown interest in recruiting troubled Gold Coast star Harley Bennell, who has the skills to liven up their offence if he can put his off-field issues behind him.

Brown said he felt the Dockers were disadvantaged when it came to landing key recruits in the trade and free agency period because of the "travel factor" involved in playing for a West Australian club.

However McCarthy and Bennell are both originally from Western Australia, which would make the move less challenging.

"I think it works against them, how far they have to travel. I think players are reluctant to go to a club where you have to travel four hours every single week," Brown said.

The former Brisbane Lions champion was also critical of Lyon's game style, specifically the Dockers' ball movement once their strong defence had created turnovers.

Premierships teams in recent years have ranked highly when it comes to punishing teams off turnovers. The Dockers finished only mid-table in the AFL for the key statistic this season.

"They don't pull the trigger," he said.

"When they turn the ball over from the opposition, they don't pull the trigger like Hawthorn - they're not instinctive, quick ball-movers.

"Now I'm a fan of Ross Lyon, I don't disagree with his game style because he's proven he gets sides to prelims and the grand finals, but I'm not sure whether he's got the cattle."

Former Demon Garry Lyon also weighed in on Fremantle's preliminary final exit, insisting that Lyon needed to make changes to his team's game style and personnel.

"It sort of played out to script in the end," Lyon said on Channel Nine's Footy Classified, pointing out how many industry voices had predicted the Dockers would not be able to score enough goals come September.

"I think if you are a Fremantle supporter you go away saying, 'this is what I feared, this is what happened, we've got to make some changes'."