Fremantle coach Mark Harvey says his team's six-point AFL victory over Carlton on Friday night vindicated his decision to rest players en masse against Hawthorn last week.

Harvey was widely criticised for resting seven key players in last week's 116-point loss to Hawthorn.

But the move paid dividends in the end, with a refreshed Dockers outfit eking out the 13.15 (93) to 13.9 (87) victory over the Blues to secure a home elimination final against Hawthorn next Saturday.

The Blues will tackle Sydney at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.

Although Carlton finished the stronger of the two sides, closing to six points late in the match after trailing by 29 at three quarter-time, Harvey said last week's rest proved critical in his team's win.

Stephen Hill, Matthew Pavlich, David Mundy, Adam McPhee, Anthony Morabito and Nat Fyfe were all important contributors after getting the week off, while ruckman Aaron Sandilands (40 hit-outs) dominated in his first game back from a foot injury in a game where 11 Fremantle players returned.

"Stats is only one small part of the game but I think if you look at our top five possession getters, most of those guys were rested last week," Harvey said.

"So the balance in the end proved to be right.

"It could be seen as a fairytale ending to it but from our point of view we always believed we were dong the right thing." The rest seemed to do Hill in particular the world of good.

The 20-year-old had tallied just 14 possessions in his previous two games before sitting out against the Hawks.

But against the Blues he was irresistible, posting 25 possessions, seven inside 50s and two goals to help drive Fremantle to a vital victory.

"Every young player is going to have lulls, and it's how they come back form it and how quickly they do it," Harvey said of Hill's effort.

Carlton will be sweating on the fitness of midfielder Andrew Carrazzo, who failed to reappear after quarter time due to hamstring tightness.

"If I was a betting man I would say he would be likely to play, but we'll just have to wait and see," Blues coach Brett Ratten said.

"The doc indicated that we could nearly push him out there if we had to, but then you've got to look at the risk and what could happen from it.

"We went the no-risk policy on that one."

Fremantle were widely tipped to finish in the bottom half of the ladder this year.

But Harvey warned his players against basking in the glory of what the team had achieved thus far.

"We'll just sit back and analyse the weekend and make sure the preparation is thorough and we don't dwell on what happened tonight because it means nothing," Harvey said.

"To get 13 wins is a credit to the whole club, now it's about capitalising on that.

"At the start of the year no one would have given us any chance or opportunity to be in this position."

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