Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich is confident his team won’t wilt under the big-game pressure of Saturday night’s preliminary final against Sydney.

The Dockers have tasted little success during their 19-year AFL history, featuring in just one previous preliminary final.

That was against Sydney in 2006, when Fremantle went down by 35 points at ANZ Stadium.

Only six current Dockers featured in that match – Pavlich, Aaron Sandilands, Luke McPharlin, Michael Johnson, Ryan Crowley and David Mundy.

The battle-hardened Swans have featured in ten of the past eleven finals series and won last year’s premiership.

Fremantle fall well short in comparison but they’re not complete mugs, having featured in three of the past four finals series.

Pavlich said that experience would help in their bid to win this year’s flag.

But most of all, he said they would benefit from the simple messages drilled into the group by coach Ross Lyon.

“Since Ross and the new regime have been here we’ve put in a lot of work and been focusing on some core basics,” Pavlich said.

“That’s been a real strength of the group for a long time – to stay in the moment and not look for anything too magical or too spectacular.

“That’s been the main message.

“We played a home final (in 2010) and at least the guys understand that external noise.

“But the fundamentals don’t actually change that much (during finals), they are just highlighted a bit more because of the heightened focus on the game.

“You are still going to have to be hard at the ball; you have to use it well; you are going to have to defend as a team.”

The Dockers have been boosted by the return of All-Australian defender Michael Johnson from a calf niggle.

The Swans welcome back forward Ben McGlynn but spearhead Kurt Tippett and young midfielder Tom Mitchell (ankle) have been ruled out.

Sydney big man Lewis Roberts-Thomson, who hasn’t played an AFL fixture since round four due to a lengthy knee injury, flew to Perth with the squad this week and was named as an emergency.