FREMANTLE coach Mark Harvey says priority picks will not come into his thinking in the last seven rounds and is adamant his young side can muster the wins it needs to get off the bottom of the ladder.
Harvey will add an eighth first-year player to the side that lost to Adelaide by 117 points, with elevated rookie Clancee Pearce earning a recall.
It adds more youth to what football manager Chris Bond described on Monday as an "unhealthy balance", but Harvey said winning more games and getting off the foot of the ladder was his main concern.
The No. 1 pick in November's draft and a priority selection at the end of the first round mean nothing to Harvey at this point.
"I don't know what the word tank means – I never have and I never will," he said from Fremantle Oval on Wednesday.
"When I played the word wasn't mentioned and if you're competitive and you want to win, then there's nothing that gets in the road."
Fremantle has now lost eight games on the trot and faces the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night fresh from their 43-point win over Geelong.
Harvey said his players were disappointed – but not devastated – after Saturday night's humiliating loss and the young group was still capable of winning this season.
"If we can play an opposition over the next month and they're not mentally there or they're lapsing in concentration, then we can beat them," he said.
"But it's going to take every one of our players to exert the best effort that they've got.
"[Being on the bottom] is only for a week at the moment, will it stay that way? I don't think so."
With eight of his best 22 players unavailable last week, and captain Matthew Pavlich and ruckman Aaron Sandilands rated 50-50 chances to return against the Lions, Harvey's side is flush with youth and the errors that brings.
However, he said he could tolerate turnovers from young players early in their careers, and they were doing everything they could to have more of an influence in matches.
"If you see some of our young players particularly, they acknowledge losing and the bad taste that it leaves in your mouth," Harvey said.
"But they're doing something about it. They're trying to do something every day about it.
"Sometimes they can't have a huge influence in winning or losing. They can contribute, but it's a fine line between them contributing to winning and losing like that."
Harvey can also expect to regain Roger Hayden (leg), Michael Johnson (ankle), Des Headland (hamstring) and Chris Mayne before round 22.
It got the coach speculating on what his best side will look like either at the end of this season or the start of 2010.
"In a month we'll probably get six or seven players back," he said.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how the young group play until that time and then what happens when these other blokes come into the team.
"People will really start to understand where we're going. If I name our best 25 at the moment, you'll see where we’re going, but at the moment I can't produce that."