The Freo skipper split the webbing in his left hand during the club’s round 1 victory and spent the night in hospital following the match.
But Freo general manager of football Chris Bond dispelled any doubts surrounding Pavlich’s availability for the weekend’s game.
“Matthew we’re expecting to be fine, we don’t think there’ll be any issue with it at all,” Bond said on 6PR.
Clarke limped off the track with an injury at training leading up to round 1 and wasn’t able to come up for the game.
He played 75 minutes for Peel Thunder in the WAFL last weekend, and while it wasn’t all great news, the 23-year-old is still in line to return.
“Zac’s pulled up a little bit sore from the weekend… but we were really pleased that he got through and if he can train during the week, we’re expecting that he’s a chance to be available as well,” Bond said.
Small forward Hayden Ballantyne has been suspended for the round 2 game, and Bond said the club would look to reward players that have been playing well at the lower level.
“We feel we’ve got some players in the WAFL that are playing similar roles (to Ballantyne),” he said.
“Even though Lachie Neale has played some on-ball at Swan Districts, he’s a player that can play forward.
“Josh Mellington (West Perth) is another one, as is Tom Sheridan and Hayden Crozier (Peel).”
On the weekend just passed, Fremantle’s coaches got a taste of the WAFL partnering model with Peel Thunder that will fully implement itself from 2014.
It will see all available Fremantle Dockers’ players not playing AFL line up for the Thunder in the WAFL.
With some already making the transition to the Mandurah club, Freo had 15 players participate in Saturday’s game at Rushton Park.
“It was a terrific game for myself and Ross (Lyon) and a couple of the coaches to be able to get down to Mandurah and watch Peel and East Fremantle,” Bond said.
The football GM predicted that Saturday’s encounter against the Dogs would be an exciting contest between two sides that played a solid brand of contested and running football in round 1.
“Our ability to run and cover the ground was really important and we’ve seen the Dogs do that on the weekend as well,” he said.
“There’s going to be some terrific matchups all over the ground.”
One of those will involve former Fremantle midfielder Nick Lower, who joined the Dogs at the end of last season.
He has been reinvented as a tagger – a job he performed brilliantly in round 1 to limit Brisbane’s NAB Cup star Daniel Rich to just eight disposals.
“Nick did a terrific job and we all know how competitive he is,” Bond said.
“He obviously beat Rich and beat him well, and he’s starting to become an important player for them.”
On the other side of the coin, Fremantle stopper Ryan Crowley, who eclipsed West Coast’s Luke Shuey in round 1, will have the job on a star Dogs’ midfielder.
Bulldog’s skipper Matthew Boyd should miss with a calf injury, leaving Ryan Griffen as the likely opponent after his best-on-ground 27-disposal, two-goal effort against the Lions.
But Bond said the Dogs had a number of genuinely talented players who also had to be considered.
“(Shaun) Higgins has bobbed up and we know what (Adam) Cooney can do,” he said.
“If those players get on top, it’s going to be a long day, so Ross, the coaches and players will be concentrating hard to hopefully play our style of footy.
“Crowley will get a job and it’s just a matter of getting through the week and deciding who that will be.”
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