Senior coach Ross Lyon says he won’t be making any knee-jerk reactions to a dip in form from small forward Hayden Ballantyne.

After missing the first half of the season with a hamstring injury, Ballantyne returned close to his best with a pair of goals against Geelong and St Kilda in rounds 14 and 15. 

But during Freo’s most recent clashes with North Melbourne and West Coast, Ballantyne has combined for 12 disposals and one goal.

Lyon said Ballantyne wouldn’t be held accountable for a quiet afternoon against West Coast as Fremantle struggled to hit targets with their forward 50 entries.

“Hayden could have kicked four goals, all we had to do was deliver it a bit better,” Lyon said.

“Even though the forwards were a part of that I think his leadership and his intensity has been super.”

Lyon said Ballantyne was still finding his straps after missing the opening 12 rounds.

“We’re quick to jump on and off and I think in the context of his limited preparation over a period of time with a significant tendon injury, he’s really just completed the pre-season,” Lyon said.

“I think he’s ready to pop over the ensuing games of the season.

“His spot's not in doubt - we’re all accountable but I wouldn’t have thought he wanted for effort and opportunity.”

Ballantyne, who celebrated his 30th birthday on the same day Freo faced West Coast on Sunday, is out of contract at the end of this season.

Lyon said that Ballantyne’s leadership would be important as Fremantle develops a core of younger players.

“He’s really valued and my position is that I really value Hayden Ballantyne and that’s a pretty sound endorsement for Hayden,” Lyon said. 

“Everyone’s getting all the moving pieces but you need senior players with great character and work ethic to bring our young players through, like (Luke) McPharlin and (Matthew) Pavlich did for (Nat) Fyfe and (Stephen) Hill.

“Ballantyne, he was drafted in 2008 I think, so that’s what you really need and hopefully, Hayden can be a part of that.”

Lyon said that there are no guaranteed changes to be made to Freo’s forward line for Saturday’s clash with Hawthorn despite key forwards Matt Taberner and Cam McCarthy in the mix to return. 

Taberner has kicked 11 goals from his past two appearances for Peel and has three hauls of five goals or more from 11 WAFL appearances this season.

McCarthy could also be an inclusion for Fremantle as he returns from a two-game suspension.

“Again I thought it was our lack of composure with the ball that led to us slaughtering opportunities,” Lyon said.

“Certainly, Matthew Taberner has been whacking away strongly below, and Cam is fit and available to be picked, so we’ll need to sit down when we have match committee tomorrow and try and work through some of that.”

“No-one’s guaranteed their spot. No-one has a golden ticket. We’ll sit down and pick a team that will play a formidable opposition on the rise again and we need to pick a balanced team. 

“We didn’t kick the goals that we should have and we need to have a good look at that.”