Fremantle veteran Adam McPhee has been ruled out for the next six to eight weeks with a knee injury, joining the club's growing injury list at a crucial point of the AFL season.

McPhee tore the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the Dockers' 33-point loss to West Coast on Sunday, with scans on Monday confirming the seriousness of the injury.

Forward Viv Michie, Fremantle's second-round selection at last year's national draft, was also struck down over the weekend.

The 19-year-old will be forced to wear a leg cast for the next six to eight weeks after suffering a stress fracture in the navicular bone in his right foot.

The loss of McPhee is a cruel blow to the Dockers, who are still without key players Michael Barlow, Roger Hayden, Nick Suban, Anthony Morabito and Alex Silvagni.

Hayden Ballantyne (hamstring) and Michael Walters (ankle) could return for Saturday's crunch clash with Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium, while mature-age recruit Tendai Mzungu (knee) is a chance to play in the WAFL.

The Dockers (4-3) have slid to eighth on the AFL table following two straight losses, with their 33-point defeat to cross-town rivals West Coast on Sunday particularly painful given the Eagles lost star midfielders Daniel Kerr and Andrew Embley to injury before the bounce.

Two weeks ago, Fremantle were well on track for a top-four finish after making a barnstorming 4-1 start to the year, with their unrelenting around-the-ground pressure a highlight in their game.

Although the Dockers tallied a commendable 105 tackles against the Eagles, they failed to cope with the congested nature of the game themselves, entering their forward 50m just 30 times compared to West Coast's 51.

Forward Chris Mayne said it was critical for Fremantle to get back to doing the basic things right.

"It's for us to keep building morale, keep getting around each other and focus on the stuff that we've been good at - our pressuring, our forward pressure and our contested ball and hard-ball gets," Mayne said on Monday.

"It's unfortunate that we've been playing the way we have the last two weeks, but it's something for us as a group to get back on track and bounce back."

Dockers midfielder David Mundy described the performance against West Coast as "ordinary".

"We'll try and pick up on what we're not doing right and address that through the week," Mundy told the AFL website.

"To be honest, there's not a whole lot we can do. We've just got to put our nose to the grindstone and do the hard work.

"We do have a lot of lightly framed guys out there, so (contested ball) is something we try and improve on each game."

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