FREMANTLE coach Ross Lyon insists he still doesn't know whether Jesse Hogan will be available to face Gold Coast on Sunday, and hasn't ruled out the prospect of the boom recruit returning via the WAFL.

The Dockers will be forced into one change from their high-octane 82-point belting of North Melbourne after veteran small forward Hayden Ballantyne suffered a hamstring strain.

Lyon wouldn't be drawn into discussing Hogan as a direct swap for Ballantyne, or if a low-key comeback from anxiety at Peel this Saturday is an option.

"I'm not even sure whether Jesse's available. It will be a medical and a psychologist decision, but he will be training today," Lyon said.

"When we get to availability, I'll consider that (WAFL) situation, but certainly I'm not in that space at the minute.

"It was really a high-profile situation last week with Jesse, and certainly from my end I am in the hands of the experts, and it is clearly a medical wellbeing issue.

"Jesse trained physically last week. I thought it was very courageous of him to come in, there would have been 20 cameras focused on a young man who had a wellbeing issue and that would have compounded the situation.

"Sometimes people look for conspiracy when all there are are some simple errors."

The Dockers' attack feasted on 68 inside 50s against North Melbourne, with tall trio Cam McCarthy (five goals), Rory Lobb (two) and Matt Taberner (one, nine marks) proving a handful in Hogan's absence.

Some have questioned whether Hogan could return in an expanded midfield role, potentially freeing Michael Walters to spend more time up forward.

After serving a one-match suspension, goalsneak Brandon Matera could also be in the mix to replace Ballantyne and face his former club, while Sam Switkowski is a test after a hamstring strain.

Switkowksi trained fully on Wednesday, however young ruckman Sean Darcy didn't take part in the session and was spotted on the sidelines with a compression bandage on his upper right leg.

Key defender Alex Pearce and veteran midfielder David Mundy were also absent, while Aaron Sandilands (calf), Brennan Cox (hamstring) and Connor Blakely (hamstring) ran strongly in the rehab group.

Lyon said the Dockers had quickly moved on to preparing for the Suns, who went down by a point to St Kilda in round one.

"I asked the players yesterday 'what do you know about Gold Coast?' and they said 'we know they went to the end and are a really tough opponent' and outside of that they didn't know much more, and neither did I," Lyon said.

"But I said, 'by the time that ball is bounced we'll know them inside out' and we'll have picked a team to reflect the challenge.

"There's been a lot of noise (about Fremantle's performance). We'd certainly like to think we're not falling into the bouquets that are being thrown around."

Lyon opened his media conference by throwing Fremantle's support behind West Coast forward Liam Ryan after he was targeted by racist trolls on social media.

"We're incredibly supportive and are calling out – as West Coast are – and we hope the rest of Australia to call out the vitriol and the bile of the keyboard warriors," Lyon said.

"There is no place in the game for that.

"We stand united as a WA football community and the AFL.

"We're fierce rivals, and everyone in the AFL, but there's causes where we come together."