Colin Sylvia among travelling party for Fremantle Dockers' clash with Collingwood

DOCKERS recruit Colin Sylvia is in a 25-man squad that flew out of WA for Friday's season opener.

Colin Sylvia has travelled in Fremantle's squad ahead of Friday's Round 1 clash. Picture:

FREMANTLE recruit Colin Sylvia joined his new teammates in a 25-man squad that flew out of Perth for the season opener against Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on Friday night.

Former Melbourne midfielder Sylvia is no guarantee to make the final 22 following a disrupted pre-season, but shapes as an interesting substitute option for coach Ross Lyon to consider before teams are named tomorrow.

Zac Clarke also made the trip as ruck cover but is set to be named as an emergency, with Jack Hannath to partner senior big man Aaron Sandilands in a dual-pronged ruck set-up.

Clarke is recovering from an off-season knee injury and is likely to make his AFL return against Port Adelaide in Round 2.

Twenty of the 22 players who represented Fremantle in last year's Grand Final loss to Hawthorn are in line to play against the Magpies, with Clarke and suspended utility Nick Suban to miss the game.

"We've got some flexibility to fine tune things and see how everyone pulls up … and then we'll name our final 22,'' Lyon said.

Doig medallist Nat Fyfe completed a full training session earlier on Wednesday and will take his place following a knee issue.

"He just wrenched his knee a bit,'' Lyon said.

"He got checked out in Melbourne, nothing of concern, a couple of weeks off.

"We had him in a brace and he didn't like it, he threw it off.''

Hayden Ballantyne and Danyle Pearce appear to have shrugged off minor leg niggles.

Lyon was confident the Dockers would acquit themselves well as they open the season for the first time in their 20-year history.

But he conceded Round 1 was always something of an unknown.

"No one puts more pressure on the players and the coaches than we do ourselves,'' he said.

"The anxiety comes from we haven't seen Collingwood, and they haven't seen us, in real AFL game situations and intensity.

"You can rehearse it as much as you like, but it's always going to be a bit off.''