Geelong star Gary Ablett is no certainty to play the Brisbane Lions at Skilled Stadium on Saturday after he left the AFL club's training session early.

Ablett had his left calf massaged during the session and left the track shortly after.

The Cats, who have begun their title defence with six consecutive wins, are expected to give the midfielder until game day to prove his fitness, or replace him with one of emergencies Max Rooke, Brent Prismall and Travis Varcoe.

Essendon will field an inexperienced side against Port Adelaide at Telstra Dome on Sunday after bringing in six players with a combined 11 games.

Jarrod Atkinson, David Myers and Darcy Daniher will play their first games, while Leroy Jetta was named to return from a hamstring injury, along with Tom Hislop and Jay Neagle.

The experienced Dustin Fletcher (groin) and Adam Ramanauskas (virus) were two of four players who could not be considered, along with Kyle Reimers (foot) and Jason Winderlich (groin).

Jason Laycock and Tayte Pears were dropped following the Anzac Day thrashing by Collingwood, although Courtney Johns kept his place.

Port brought in Robbie Gray to replace Chad Cornes, who will be sidelined for up to month because of a hand injury.

Fremantle also made a raft of changes, for Sunday's game against bottom side Melbourne at the MCG.

The Dockers, who have lost their past three games, recalled experienced trio Chris Tarrant, Des Headland and Mark Johnson, and youngsters Andrew Foster and Brock O'Brien.

Defenders Antoni Grover (quad) and Roger Hayden (hamstring) are injured, midfielder Josh Carr is suspended and Daniel Gilmore and Clayton Hinkley were dropped.

The Demons brought in Matthew Whelan, Matthew Bate and Colin Garland for Colin Sylvia (hamstring), Lynden Dunn and Daniel Bell.

Veteran ruckman Peter Everitt will play his first game this season for Sydney, along with Ben Mathews and ex-Cat Henry Playfair, for the SCG game against the Western Bulldogs, who are unchanged.

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