Pavlich will undergo surgery on his left Achilles and miss four to six weeks of football.
The travelling emergencies for the Aurora Stadium fixture were Hayden Crozier, Jack Hannath and Tanner Smith.
Freo chose to replace key forward Pavlich with the smaller Neale, who played 11 games in his debut 2012 season.
That included a good performance against the Hawks in Tasmania in which the 19-year-old South Australian won a Goal of the Year nomination.
Assistant coach Peter Sumich said Freo looked to mix up its forward line set-up by going a small for a tall.
He added that the side had other options should tall timber be required up front.
“We’ve got three tall backs and we know McPharlin can go forward, as well as Zac Dawson, who’s done that once or twice,” Sumich said.
“And Johnno’s (Michael Johnson) been a forward in the past four or five years.”
Sumich said Pavlich’s absence offered the side another opportunity to learn to play without him.
The team could take great confidence from its round 22 demolition of North Melbourne last year, when it kicked 20 goals without the skipper.
“That’s the way it’s going to be,” Sumich said.
“We’ve got to play some good footy without him, and then when he comes back, play some good footy with him, but make sure we take some pressure off him.”
McPharlin, who trained strongly on Thursday, had been subject to a fitness test.
The 2012 All Australian defender was in doubt because of a high knock that saw him subbed out of last Friday night’s match against Essendon
Sumich said his availability was very important to the side.
“I’ve got no doubt if he had played the full game last week, we would have been a very good chance to win that,” Sumich said.
“He looks good and hopefully he can do well on Saturday.”
Hawthorn, which beat Freo by 56 points in Launceston last year, has kicked 45 goals in its past two matches.
McPharlin’s presence will be crucial to combat the scoring power in the Hawks’ arsenal, led by the brilliant Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin.
Full Fremantle Team:
| 1 | Hayden Ballantyne |
| 3 | Zac Dawson |
| 6 | Danyle Pearce |
| 7 | Nathan Fyfe |
| 8 | Nick Suban |
| 9 | Matt de Boer |
| 10 | Michael Walters |
| 12 | Jon Griffin |
| 13 | Tendai Mzungu |
| 15 | Ryan Crowley |
| 16 | David Mundy |
| 18 | Luke McPharlin |
| 21 | Michael Barlow |
| 23 | Chris Mayne |
| 26 | Kepler Bradley |
| 27 | Lachie Neale |
| 32 | Stephen Hill |
| 33 | Cam Sutcliffe |
| 34 | Lee Spurr |
| 37 | Michael Johnson |
| 41 | Paul Duffield |
| 46 | Clancee Pearce |
| 17 | Hayden Crozier (Emergency) |
| 22 | Tanner Smith (Emergency) |
| 38 | Jack Hannath (Emergency) |
