Fremantle coach Mark Harvey hasn't given up hope of retaining Chris Tarrant despite persistent rumours linking the star AFL defender with a return home to Victoria.

Tarrant's four-year deal at the Dockers expires at the end of this season and speculation is rife he will follow his wife back to Melbourne.

If that's the case, the 29-year-old may have played his last game for the club, with a medial ligament injury set to sideline him for up to six weeks.

Harvey voiced his anger over the rumours and hoped Fremantle's seemingly bright future would convince Tarrant to stay.

"To me Twitter and all that sort of crap that goes on has created rumour and innuendo and sometimes we are talking about something that's not actually factual," Harvey said on Wednesday.

"All I know ... is he loves this place.

"It's really turned around a lot of things for him.

"Now what happens in the near future, we'll see and discuss with him regularly ... there's a lot of different things to talk about.

"I think he can play another year or two.

"If I asked you if you were playing in a fairly exciting young side and you could read the form, I think that would help his decision."

Given the delicate nature of the situation, Harvey wouldn't get dragged into speculation about where Tarrant's wife wanted to move.

"It's always interesting if you get into discussions about players' wives and girlfriends and what they want to do," he said.

"I tend to talk to the player about his performance, how long he should play for and where and that would be my main conversation with Chris and certainly understanding of sometimes outside things like that."

Tarrant won All-Australian selection as a key forward at Collingwood in 2003 but failed to match those heights in subsequent years, leading to a trade to Fremantle at the end of 2006.

Two rather fruitless seasons up forward at the Dockers led to a radical switch to defence that has yielded impressive results over the past two seasons.

Meanwhile, Harvey revealed Hayden Ballantyne's stress reaction in his foot, which could keep him out of action for up to a month, may have been caused by stubbing his toe.

"Quite regularly he stubs his toe when he kicks," Harvey said.

"We are trying to track it back to see why it may have happened.

"It's not necessarily the load, sometimes it can be the way they land or if they kick and hit the ground (that causes) a number of issues."

Ballantyne's absence will be sorely felt in Saturday's clash with North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium.

Fellow small forward Chris Mayne (ankle) is still at least a week away from resuming, leaving the Dockers short on pressure from those positions in attack.

"They were the dynamic duo when they were there," Harvey said.

"If we were to get them around round 22 back together, it might not be a bad thing.

"Batman and Robin, round 22."

Harvey said midfielder Rhys Palmer (shoulder) and back-up ruckman Kepler Bradley (knee) would be available for selection against the Roos.

And Des Headland, who is out of contract at season's end, will play for Subiaco in the WAFL after shaking off yet another niggle to his troublesome knee.

"He's not fighting for his future, what he's fighting for is to be able to get match fit to get back into the team," Harvey said of the 29-year-old.

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