FREMANTLE'S "uncompromising" attitude and "quite ferocious" attack on the ball were the difference in Saturday night's 63-point triumph over Melbourne in Darwin, according to coach Ross Lyon.

After losing skipper Matthew Pavlich pre-game to illness, Fremantle went into the match without four of their biggest stars with Michael Johnson, Michael Walters and Stephen Hill also sidelined.

But apart from an arm-wrestle in the opening term – Freo kicked the only two goals of the quarter – the visitors held sway.

Freo dominated most facets including the inside 50 count 61-32 and contested possession 152-127, a week after Lyon gave his players a post-game critique on the field following their seven-point Carlton Draught Western Derby win against the Eagles.

"To do what we did tonight after the first 15 minutes were a little bit slow – I thought we were uncompromising with the way we went about it tonight," Lyon said.

"I thought we were quite ferocious around the ball and the contest. We had 61 entries, dominated the game, took the game on so it was a really positive performance."

Lyon said Pavlich started feeling ill on Friday morning and his withdrawal handed pick No. 17 at last year's draft, Michael Apeness, his debut.

Apeness had five touches before he was substituted out of the game in the third quarter to make way for Anthony Morabito's long-awaited return.

"He's (Apeness) a brutal competitor. As a 200cm, fierce key forward he has a big future at our club," Lyon said.

"We've got him and (Matt) Taberner coming through, some young talls, Alex Pearce and those guys.

"We're thrilled with tonight with Apeness debuting, Anthony really in a sense a debut."

Stephen Hill was withdrawn from the match after he suffered a quad injury at the end of training on Thursday and Lyon said the exciting midfielder could be out of action for three weeks.

"It's only a really minor tweak, but really it's a three-week injury so he's got a little bit of rehab to do," he said.

Freo's win moves them level on points with Hawthorn, Port Adelaide and the Sydney Swans, although the Swans have a match to play against West Coast on Sunday.

Fremantle's next match is against Greater Western Sydney at Patersons Stadium next Sunday in the club's 20-year recognition game.