Captain Matthew Pavlich and Vice Captain Josh Carr will be rested, as will Paul Hasleby, Aaron Sandilands, Justin Longmuir, Antoni Grover, Roger Hayden, and Luke McPharlin.
Also missing will be Byron Schammer, Heath Black, and Robert Warnock, who are recovering from injury.
New recruit Chris Tarrant will play his first match in Fremantle colours, while some of the club’s rookies will also get the chance to impress on the big stage.
Fremantle General Manager of Football Operations Robert Shaw says the make-up of this weekend’s team will be in line with plans set out several weeks ago.
“There’ll be a major focus on involving the players that haven’t played yet, and resting players that have had a big pre-season,” he said.
“Now it’s time for the likes of (Chris) Tarrant, (Troy) Cook, (Shaun) McManus, and (Shane) Parker to come back into the side, and we can also have a look at a couple of rookies.
“Garrick Ibbotson, Calib Mourish, and Darren Rumble will be strongly considered, and Robbie Haddrill should return as well after having a good hit-out with Perth last weekend.”
While the coaching staff was keen to give Pavlich time to build a rapport with his new forward partner Tarrant, Shaw says there is a long season ahead to consider.
“The ideal situation would not be to play Pavlich in four strong practice matches,” he said.
“We genuinely considered resting Pav for (last week’s) Kangaroos game so that he got his rest and came in for the last two games with Tarrant.
“The positive of that is not many will get to see them play together, so they can’t see how it will work.”
Bouncedown for Saturday night’s fixture is at 6:40pm, with free entry for 2007 Fremantle members who present their membership card. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster on 1300 135 915, or log on to ticketmaster.com.au.
