Fremantle are confident years of meticulous list management planning has left them in good stead to fend off any attempted player grabs by new AFL club Greater Western Sydney.

Dockers midfielder Rhys Palmer was the latest player linked to GWS when rumours claimed the 22-year-old had signed a four-year deal with the Kevin Sheedy-coached club.

Palmer has since denied this and Fremantle operations manager Chris Bond hoped the 2008 Rising Star winner would stay at the Dockers for years to come.

"Rhys Palmer's somebody we want to have a long career at this football club," Bond said on Monday.

"He's a young midfield player for us that's very important for our playing group.

GWS, like Gold Coast before them, have the ability to sign one uncontracted player from each club.

Fremantle didn't lose a player to Gold Coast last year and Bond was hopeful the Dockers would achieve the same result with GWS's 2012 entry.

"We started planning a couple of years ago for this, so we're very comfortable where we sit in regards to ... GWS and the Gold Coast coming into the competition," Bond said.

"We knew that teams were going to come into the competition so we've put a lot of years in practice to make sure that we're going to be in a position where it doesn't hurt our club."

Meanwhile, Bond said Fremantle would be entering dangerous territory if they merely assumed last year's success would stretch into the coming season.

The Dockers reached the semi-finals last year but Bond urged them to remain focused, starting with Saturday's clash with Brisbane at the Gabba - where Fremantle have tasted success just once in nine attempts.

"We've got to understand where we've come from as a footy club," said Bond, a former captain of the success-starved club.

"We can't go past a team (in Brisbane) that we've only beaten once in our history up at the Gabba, and that's last year.

"So from our point of view if we sit down and start talking about what the expectations are and what we're going to do and follow it on from last year - I think it's very dangerous for our football club because we need to get some continuity into some games and the way that we play.

"We understand they (Brisbane) are going to be coming out on their home ground expecting to win and we need to be a good enough team, no matter what injuries we've got, (to ensure) we're a competitive team in round one."

Fremantle will be without Roger Hayden, Michael Barlow, Matt de Boer, Tendai Mzungu, Garrick Ibbotson and Anthony Morabito for the early games.

Bond said the lengthy injury list wouldn't be used as an excuse for any sub-par performances.

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