FREMANTLE ruckman Aaron Sandilands has been ruled out of a return in Matthew Pavlich's 350th game on Sunday with coach Ross Lyon saying he is still a couple of weeks away.

Sandilands has not played since suffering multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung the round three Western derby.

He had been edging closer to a return and had participated in full training and some match simulation over the last couple of weeks.

Veteran defender Michael Johnson is also edging closer to a return after recovering from his knee and hamstring surgery in round five.

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But Lyon told Channel Seven on Tuesday night that both were not ready to return against the Sydney Swans on Sunday.

"It'd be fantastic but unfortunately, no, Aaron is still a couple of weeks as is Michael Johnson," Lyon said. 

"We would've loved that to occur but it won't."

Lyon was asked about the meeting he held with Hawthorn premiership player Bradley Hill about possibly moving to Fremantle to play with his brother Stephen.

Lyon said the process had a long way to go but he was pleased with the way the two clubs handled it.

"In this instance it was conducted between the player manager, driven by the player, talking to his club and then the two list managers spoke," Lyon said.

"It was delivered in an email to me, 'we need to do this and it's been approved by both clubs', the initial discussion. Clearly it's got a long way to run on everyone's part.

"I don't think it's all that common and it's not something I would typically do but the way it was done and conducted and organised by both parties was the mature way to go about it."

Hill said on Monday that a weight had been lifted off his shoulders after the meeting had been made public but he had not made any decisions on his future beyond this season.