Fremantle livewire Hayden Ballantyne looks set to be available for next week's Carlton Draught Derby but he may need to wear a helmet to protect his fractured cheekbone.
Ballantyne was close to being available for Matthew Pavlich's 350th match against the Sydney Swans on Sunday but he was not included as one of the Fremantle's four changes.
The tenacious small forward hasn't played since fracturing his cheekbone while laying a tackle during the Fremantle's round 17 loss to Geelong.
He required surgery in the aftermath. But he has returned to training and did the full session with the main group on Friday while wearing a helmet.
Senior coach Ross Lyon said Ballantyne was close to playing this week but he wanted to give him another week to recover.
"'Ballas' was a real chance," Lyon said.
"He should be able to play next week. But we want to look after him. He's given so much physically and mentally here."
The Fremantle coaching staff has been discussing Ballantyne's tackling technique with him to try and avoid any further facial damage. He fractured his jaw laying a tackle on Sydney Swans defender Ted Richards in the 2014 qualifying final.
"It's something we do talk about, looking after yourself," Lyon said.
"But this will be unique. He laid a tackle, he slipped, and the bloke's knee just dropped down onto him.
"I think the ones where he's that human cannonball - yes. The other one was just unfortunate, where the knee just glanced him in the tackle."
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Lyon also confirmed that ruckman Aaron Sandilands is a chance to return next week but veteran defender Michael Johnson is unlikely to be available in time for the derby.
"Johnson has been training, he won't train today (Friday)," Lyon said.
"So that probably puts him under pressure for next week.
"Aaron is progressing really well, so he'll be a legitimate chance for next week."
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Sandilands trained on Friday and appeared to moving well.
Fremantle have not been able to settle on a ruck combination in his absence.
Jon Griffin has been dropped this week and Zac Clarke is set to ruck on his own against the Swans after Jack Hannath was named as an emergency.
Clarke had only returned last week for his first game since round 14 after he and Hannath were both dropped following a poor performance against Collingwood.
Griffin rucked solo in rounds 16 and 17 after returning from a hamstring injury and then had Clarke for support last week against the Suns. But Lyon said Griffin had not delivered enough compared to Clarke.
"I thought Zac worked into some reasonable form last week," Lyon said.
"He's had some challenges, so that was quite promising. But Jon hasn't been able to deliver what he's needed to so we'll look at a different mix."
Tendai Mzungu also lost his place for Sunday's clash with the Swans after Griffin, Nick Suban and Connor Blakely were all omitted on Thursday.
Pavlich, Matt de Boer, Alex Silvagni and Darcy Tucker have been named as the four inclusions.
Silvagni has not played at all this season while de Boer is lining up for just his third game of the year.
Fremantle's game against Sydney at Domain Stadium on Sunday is proudly presented by Channel 7 Perth.
