Fremantle coach Mark Harvey has turned up the heat on his playing group ahead of Sunday's AFL clash with Melbourne at Subiaco Oval, warning spots in the side will be up for grabs over the coming weeks.

The Dockers appear set to make up to three changes from the team that lost to Richmond last week, with Greg Broughton (hamstring), Luke McPharlin (knee) and Nat Fyfe (concussion) in strong contention for recalls.

Chris Tarrant (heel), Antoni Grover (hamstring), Chris Mayne (foot) and Des Headland (knee) could all return the week after against the Bulldogs, meaning competition for spots is about to get red hot.

"We weren't happy with the way we played on the weekend so everyone's on notice, so we'll be making a few changes," Harvey said on Wednesday.

Tarrant hasn't played since the round 13-win over Carlton due to a niggling heel complaint, not an Achilles tendon injury as has been widely reported.

"It's just dragged on a little bit longer than what we would have thought and as I said, I'd like to think he'd be right for next week," Harvey said.

McPharlin has missed seven games with a knee injury and his expected inclusion against the Demons is a massive boost to a Dockers defence still missing Grover and Tarrant.

"He's been in heavy training for three weeks so that's sort of helped his cause," Harvey said.

"Some of the players do have that capacity to be able to play well early (after coming back from injury) and he would be one of those.

"But another guy like Mayne for instance does too, so yeah it will be an interesting next 24 hours for us."

Melbourne defeated Essendon by 19 points last week and Harvey said the Demons deserved respect.

"We know they've got a young talented list that has plenty of players that have had the experience over the last couple of years," Harvey said.

"They've got a different dimension to their forward line at the moment with (Colin) Sylvia and (Liam) Jurrah.

"They've got a young defence that is evolving and appear to have a lot of resilience about keeping the opposition down to a low score and their midfield is evolving with their younger players.

"(Mark) Jamar's had a fantastic year for them, so they'll be coming off the game with a lot of confidence after the way they beat Essendon last week."

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