Long-term knee injuries to Antoni Grover and Tim Ruffles opened space on Fremantle’s senior list and coach Mark Harvey said Silvagni and van Berlo had impressed over summer.
While the pair are a chance of playing this weekend, Harvey was less forthcoming on No.4 draft pick Anthony Morabito’s chances of playing, but he said the side would definitely unveil some new players on Sunday.
“You can [expect debutants to play]. We’re probably...at this stage looking at some of our rookies,” Harvey said from Fremantle on Thursday morning.
“There’s a couple in the mix there. Maybe one or two of those guys we might look at from a selection point of view that we might have to elevate them.
“[Morabito] is in line for selection. The squad comes out today and he’ll be in the squad. We’re still juggling a bit with the balance of our team.”
Fremantle lodged its rookie applications on Thursday with the AFL in order to have the players available for selection.
Harvey said balancing a host of talented rookies with senior players returning from injury would be an ongoing challenge this season.
“When they come on they’ve obviously got to go off at some stage…so that’ll be a juggling act,” he said.
“But it’s good that you’ve got a list where the rookies are putting pressure on selection.”
Harvey dismissed injury concerns over Hayden Ballantyne and Luke McPharlin, suggesting both would play while Steven Dodd was also being considered for round one selection after a quicker than expected recovery from shoulder and wrist surgery.
Fremantle kicked just one goal in its last clash with Adelaide, a 117-point loss at AAMI Stadium, but Harvey said there were no lingering scars from that defeat.
“We had a lot of first-year players last time we played Adelaide in Adelaide and that wasn’t successful,” the coach said. “Here’s a little bit different at Subiaco.
“The personnel’s changed enormously and [after] a different pre-season the players are a lot more mature and stronger. So a lot of things change.
“There’s no scars - it’s a different season. I think the players move on quickly form previous seasons and just look to the year that lies ahead with anticipation.”
Adelaide has ruled out dangerous forward Jason Porpyzia but is considering a number of players coming off interrupted pre-seasons.
Harvey said Fremantle had enjoyed a relatively drama-free summer campaign and Adelaide would be taking a risk by fielding too many underdone players.
“That’s up to them, that’s their balance. All I know is most of our players have played two or three games and at least we’re happy with where they’re at,” Harvey said.
“The interesting thing about round one is you actually don’t want to be taking players in who are underdone, otherwise you can face the consequences.”
Jay van Berlo is a $194,400 midfielder in this year’s Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
Alex Silvagni is a $77,800 defender in this year’s Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
