Fremantle ruckman Aaron Sandilands says he will keep opposition players guessing in 2009 as he attempts to forge a successful relationship with the club's new-look midfield.

Sandilands played a starring role in last Saturday's five-point practice match win over West Coast, helping the Dockers overcome a 25-point deficit deep into the final quarter.

The 211cm giant dominated the stoppages, with his mixture of deft taps and thumping hits the highlight.

Sandilands believed he could severely limit the amount of times opposition teams shark his taps by adding an element of unpredictability to his game.

"It's something you have to mix up," Sandilands said on Monday.

"If you are doing that (thumping it long) all the time you become predictable.

"We had nothing to lose (when we were trailing West Coast) so we gave it a go and it paid off on the weekend but having said that it might not happen next week.

"It's always handy to grab it out of the ruck every now and then (as well) and dish it to the midfield players."

The Dockers' youthful on-ball brigade will get their biggest test of the pre-season when they confront Carlton in Saturday's final practice game in Bunbury.

Both sides are expected to field strong line-ups, with the Blues likely to recall superstar Chris Judd, Bryce Gibbs, Marc Murphy and spearhead Brendan Fevola.

Fremantle lost Peter Bell, Shaun McManus, Josh Carr, Matthew Carr, Heath Black and Mark Johnson last year but Sandilands said he was confident the likes of David Mundy, Rhys Palmer, Byron Schammer, Andrew Browne, Garrick Ibbotson, Ryan Crowley, Stephen Hill, Paul Hasleby and Brett Peake could get the midfield job done in '09.

"We've definitely spent a lot of time as a midfield group working on our set-ups and our hand work and all that sort of stuff," Sandilands said.

"Hopefully it pays off going into the early games.

"Late last year I think our midfield definitely stepped up as a group and we've been working hard this year, over pre-season, and I've got full confidence in the midfield group and the players playing in there.

"I think we can have some good results this year.

"It's just exciting to be out there playing with these younger boys and watching them improve and hopefully helping them out as much as I can.

"As a midfield group we've been working hard over summer and it was good that things started to pay off in those last five minutes (against the Eagles), stuff we've been working on.

"It was good that blokes like Schammer played really well in the last quarter and our younger players started to show a bit and they get confidence out of that win."

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