Fremantle coach Mark Harvey says the Dockers must be careful not to overplay the significance of Matthew Pavlich's club-record 239th AFL appearance.

Harvey claims players could become caught up in the emotion if it is given too much hype.

Pavlich will cement his spot as Fremantle's finest ever player when he surpasses Shane Parker's 238-game tally in Saturday's clash with Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.

Harvey, who has seen his fair share of milestones during a playing and coaching career spanning more than two decades, said Pavlich's feat would be given the acknowledgement it deserved - without going over the top.

"Well you've got to be careful because sometimes you can tip them over (the edge with all the emotion involved) and I've seen that happen before," Harvey said on Wednesday.

"It's the way you conduct and organise and make sure that the understanding's there.

"I guess the president will probably speak about it and that's significant.

"Pav wants to play it low key, we understand that."

Harvey said Pavlich's record would be hard to break given the ruthless nature of the game.

"... This might be the last time a player breaks a record like this with the way the game's going, so I think we do have to make a reasonable pledge towards it now," Harvey said.

"I think across the whole AFL ... I'm not sure whether we're going to see too many more 300-game players.

"I just think that the game's demanding more than ever now, it's so taxing."

Harvey rated Adelaide, who defeated Hawthorn by 20 points in round one before last week's bye, as a potential top-six side this year.

"What Neil (Craig) has done is develop a really good running side that is up and running," Harvey said.

"They don't appear to have missed the more senior guys that they lost through retirement last year.

"They've got a pretty potent forward line and their defence has always been rock solid.

"They really are a significant playerin what happens this season.

"They've always been a really good defensive side and they've produced some really exciting forwards as well.

"Their midfielders are strong runners, elite runners. They've got an all-round mix."

Harvey felt his team, which sneaked over the line against Brisbane in round one before wayward kicking cost them victory against Geelong last week, weren't far away from recapturing their golden form from last year.

"I mean, we've been looking at our supply and our amount of shots at goal and it's quite significant," he said.

"So we just need to tidy up a few areas really where we can put more pressure on the opposition and change the mindset of the game."

Harvey said Garrick Ibbotson (ankle) and Alex Silvagni (stomach virus) were a chance to play at some level this weekend.

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