Fremantle forward Michael Walters is on track to return from a calf complaint and face Port Adelaide on Sunday.

Walters, who enjoyed a strong patch of form before Fremantle's round 14 bye, trained with the main group and moved well, appearing to do what was required to return and boost the Freo forward line. 

"He's tracking well. He still has to tick the final box of main training and he has to be confident in his body, but he's tracking in the right direction," coach Justin Longmuir said on Thursday. 

There were several players on light duties on Thursday, with defenders Alex Pearce and Brennan Cox training away from the main group, as well as ball-winner Will Brodie. 

Midfielders Caleb Serong and James Aish were notable absentees as Fremantle aim to bounce back from a stoppage beating against the Blues, losing the clearances 44-30 and the centre bounce 14-5. 

"We need to get back to our best footy and that starts around the contest and it starts with our intensity and team defence, which wasn't there on the weekend," Longmuir said ahead of Thursday's session. 

"A large part of that is winning the contest to get field position and we just weren't able to do that often enough.

"It was a pretty honest [review]. We need to get back to our best pretty quickly."

Fremantle's centre bounce rotations against the Blues were built around Andrew Brayshaw (18 centre bounce attendances), Brodie (17), Serong (13), Nat Fyfe (10) and David Mundy (10). 

The most common combination was prime trio Brodie, Brayshaw and Serong (eight times), with a 1-7 result in the Blues' favour. 

Longmuir backed the group emphatically to bounce back and said their performance against the Blues was a "blip on the radar" after a strong season. 

"We'll keep putting the same guys through there and I don't think it's a trend," the coach said.  

"Three games ago we beat Brisbane, and we beat Hawthorn before the bye, so there's no need to be too drastic about what we change in there. 

"We just need to get back to playing to our strengths and back to playing our brand and I'm pretty sure we'll turn it around quickly."

After two games back, Fyfe was going well physically but among a group of players disappointed with their performances against the Blues. 

Longmuir said the challenge of taking on a strong and in-form Port Adelaide midfield was well-timed for his team this week.  

"If we don't get our contest work right against Port, they've got a lot of speed and they can get you on the outside," he said. 

"They bring great ferocity in the contest, inside and out, and their pressure is really good, so it's a good little focus for us to get that right early in the game. 

"Clearly after last week it's an area of the game we need to reset."