Fremantle will hit North Melbourne hard by unleashing their full array of talented but underdone midfield stars from the outset of Saturday night's crunch AFL clash at Etihad Stadium.

Coach Mark Harvey said he was likely to hand trio David Mundy, Aaron Sandilands and Michael Barlow key midfield roles against the Kangaroos in the finals-shaping clash.

Mundy hasn't played since suffering serious damage to his ankle in round 12, while 211cm ruckman Sandilands has notched just two games in the past 12 weeks and Barlow just six matches for the year.

Harvey acknowledged he would have to manage the trio throughout the course of the night.

"We'll be going after them (North Melbourne) early. There's no question we'll be going after them and, in name, we'll be putting our best midfield forward," Harvey said on Wednesday.

"So we'll have to manage it beyond that.

"It's a bit unusual to have to deal with that (managing underdone players) but we will.

"Can we stay with them?

"We outscored Carlton last week (in the final quarter) so no, that won't be the issue.

"It's very important to get off to a good start and make sure we can manipulate the situation."

Harvey declared Matthew Pavlich a certain starter against the Kangaroos despite the skipper's mysterious injury scare last week, when he felt a tweak in his leg during the warm-up for his team's 30-point loss to Carlton.

Pavlich managed to play out the match and Harvey was confident it was only a minor issue that had since gone away.

"It was bizarre, it wasn't anything," Harvey said.

"He just said that something had tweaked. Whether it was a tendon - I'm not sure what it was in the end."

Ninth-placed Fremantle, who sit two points adrift of eighth-placed Sydney after four straight losses, must defeat North Melbourne to keep their finals hopes alive.

Along with Mundy's return from injury, the Dockers are set to welcome back veteran Adam McPhee from suspension.

North Melbourne, who are in 10th spot, six points adrift of the Swans, will hand 19-year-old rookie Aaron Mullett his AFL debut after the left-footer's impressive form in the VFL.

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