Fremantle senior coach Justin Longmuir has given insight into his selection dilemmas ahead of the Round 1 clash with Geelong on Saturday. 

Speaking at his Tuesday morning media conference, Longmuir said players will be disappointed to miss out on the Club’s season opener against the Cats, but in a long season, opportunities will come. 

“I feel like a lot of the players have had really good summers, and they'd be really disappointed to miss out on Round 1,” Longmuir said. 

“We’ve spoken about Round 1 as it's just one game throughout the year. It gets built up a lot, and even internally amongst the players they tend to build it up, but it's only one game.

“Players that miss out this week will get plenty of opportunities throughout the year. 

“I feel like our depth has grown and we’ve got competition for spots in all areas, so it's going to be tough, tough work this afternoon (in team selection).” 

Heading into Tuesday afternoon’s selection meeting, Longmuir confirmed forward Michael Frederick will be unavailable, as well as hinting at some of the potential strategies the team might take with the new rule changes. 

“(The five on the bench rule) does give you an opportunity to play someone on a lower game time, and even someone who maybe is returning (from injury), which probably wouldn't have happened in the past,” Longmuir said. 

“Maybe that player might have played sub, but the sub rule made it a little bit tricky because you didn't know when that player was going to come on, whereas now you can sort of manage minutes across the game, and teams have used it in different ways.

“We've tried different things across the preseason, and we’re not 100 per cent sure where we've settled yet because we haven’t picked the team, but the likelihood is one or two players will cop a little bit less game time. 

“He (Frederick) has done nearly every minute of preseason, and then you get hurt in the last training session before the first week. 

“It's disappointing for him - he's moved on to rehab, and hopefully we'll get him back soon.” 

Longmuir continued by saying the team hadn’t fully ruled out a three-ruckman setup with the new bench rules but said it was less likely than other strategies given the early trends of Opening Round. 

“As I've already mentioned, earlier in the year you probably need the extra run, so that'd be a concern with that (three rucks),” Longmuir said. 

“We'll get to selection this afternoon and then see what best fits. 

“It's an option. Probably not a likely option, but it's an option.” 

Fremantle and Geelong will begin at 1.15pm WST on Saturday 14 March at GMHBA Stadium, with a delayed free-to-air broadcast on Channel 7 and 7plus beginning at 3.00pm WST.