FREMANTLE coach Mark Harvey is set to stick with his young players this week, saying they are not daunted by the high-pressure football that awaits them against St Kilda.

The winless Fremantle will meet the undefeated Saints at Docklands on Saturday night, with the ladder leaders fresh off a 97-point victory over West Coast.

But Harvey is relishing the opportunity to take on the competition's in-form side while it is seemingly at the top of its game.

"It's a really good time, particularly for our side and where we're at, being confronted with a situation where we've got our backs to the wall," Harvey said from Fremantle Oval on Wednesday.

"What people have got to understand, what we're doing is we're giving a young side experience in all areas of the game [and against] the top oppositions.

"We're not daunted by the fact that we're playing St Kilda. The challenge for the group is to try and sustain what they've got and see if that's good enough to beat a side like St Kilda knowing that they (the Saints) are playing at their peak."

Classy defender Roger Hayden will return to face the Saints with Greg Broughton (ankle) injured on debut against Adelaide on Sunday.

Omitted after the round two loss to Essendon only to turn in an excellent game in the WAFL, Paul Duffield is also set for a recall.

Harvey was not willing to expand on why the utility was dropped initially.

"We actually don't have to go into every detail of why we either keep someone in the side or drop someone from the side," he said. "He understands why he missed out."

However, he did expand on the work being done to improve NAB AFL Rising Star Rhys Palmer's disposal.

It was revealed on Wednesday that Palmer has had more clanger kicks this season than any of the competition's top 50 kick-getters.

Harvey was confident Palmer's skills would sharpen in time.

"We've got a lot of full-time coaches in our development area that work closely with Rhys," Harvey said.

"What I'd like to think is that after the next 12 months Rhys [will be] kicking a lot better than he is.

"Sometimes it just takes a player maybe two or three [years]. What you don't want to see happening is if he's still got the same problem after six or seven years."

Des Headland (calf) remains two to three weeks away from playing, despite being a two-week proposition before round one.

Harvey said Headland's stagnant recovery time was simply misread and was convinced the 28-year-old was now a fortnight away.

Andrew Browne (shoulder) will be sidelined for three or four weeks, while Chris Mayne (ankle) will join him for at least two of those.