There had been some chatter coming out of the Dockers' camp, Lyon was going to go back to his game plan which involved a stingy defence, low scoring and forward press - the same style which saw the club finish the 2015 season as minor premiers.

But, if round one is any guide, that ship has sailed. In fact, that ship has sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

Fremantle fans will be lining up to chase me out of the port city again with pitch forks, but the stats don't lie.

The Dockers kicked the lowest score of any team in the first week of the season finishing with just 73 points, with four goals coming in the last quarter when the game was done and dusted.

The average winning score from the nine triumphant teams in round one was 119 points with the lowest scoring victor still almost reaching 100 (Brisbane 98-96 win over Gold Coast) and seven of the eight other winners passing 110 points.

In worse news for the Dockers, the 1865 points in round one was the highest-scoring start to the season in five years.

The bleak Melbourne weather may eventually dampen the high-scoring slightly but even so the Dockers are still left with a major headache: how to kick a winning score.

In 2015, when Fremantle came within a couple of goals of a second grand final appearance, the Dockers highest score was 115 points - four less than the average winning score on the weekend.

Last year the Dockers booted more than 110 points just twice - against depleted wooden spooners Essendon and the team that finished one place above them on the ladder, Brisbane.

The Dockers kicked less their 2017 round one total (73 points) in 14 games during their 2016 anus horribilis, with Fremantle losing 13 of those matches.

The one win came in the last round, when Fremantle managed 69 points to down eventual premiers the Western Bulldogs who had one eye on the finals already.

Well aware of their dismal scoring last year, the club chased some more forward firepower in the offseason and landed Cam McCarthy (GWS) and Shane Kersten (Geelong).

McCarthy is still a work in process and showed glimpses of what he is capable of with six shots on goal, despite going missing for most part of the game and leaving his shooting boots at home.

But Kersten was barely sighted, picking up just seven touches and most of those were "fumbles".

He even received a Bronx cheer from the crowd when he took a mark in the second half.

Lyon defended the 24-year-old's "fumbly" performance.

"You can focus on 'that didn't work, that didn't work' but I thought he had plenty of half-opportunities that he turned into halves but if he could turn them into full, we are preaching different," he said.

"He knows he needs to be cleaner with the ball and take those opportunities and I think he could have been a good player tonight."

Lyon will have to fix the Dockers' appalling use of the ball and the shocking turnovers very quickly if Fremantle is going to be competitive this year.

But more importantly, his team has to find a couple of players to kick a winning score.

Nat Fyfe can impact the game when he pushes forward while Michael Walters also looks dangerous when he's in form and not wrestling Geelong defenders over the fence.

However outside of those two, the aforementioned McCarthy and Kersten and Stephen Hill, the Dockers don't appear to have any other fit players capable of contributing goals on a regular basis.

With Hayden Ballantyne not due back until the middle of the season, and Harley Bennell still missing with a calf injury, Lyon won't jettison Kersten to the Dockers' feeder team Peel just yet.

Although Matt Taberner's five goal haul for Peel on the weekend might have both Kersten and McCarthy looking nervously over their shoulders.

The Dockers head to Adelaide Oval this weekend to take on Port, who ironically kicked 110 points against the Swans in round one thanks to five players kicking multiple majors.

One of those players who kicked two goals, Western Australia's Sam Powell-Pepper, might be looked back upon as a missed opportunity after both Fremantle and West Coast passed up on the bullocking midfielder with their first pick in last year's draft.

If the Dockers want to return to finals and contend for a premiership they must find a way to kick more than 15 goals a game.

Otherwise Fremantle could well and truly find themselves contending for another trophy ... the wooden spoon.