DESPITE Fremantle resting 11 players for Saturday's game against Port Adelaide, Power coach Ken Hinkley says his full-strength team will be tested.
That's because the 11 incoming Dockers have the chance to prove themselves for their club's tilt at a premiership, with injury and form throughout the finals series having the potential to force change to the Freo finals line-up.
Hinkley also expects Ross Lyon's side to bring a "top of the tree" effort, and the trademark defensive style that has helped Fremantle to this year's minor premiership.
"Ross's teams will always play a certain way and bring a certain amount of effort," Hinkley said on Friday.
"People forget the players who are coming into the side have an incredible carrot coming in, to play well.
"They could find themselves playing in an AFL Grand Final [even though] some of the boys are coming in to, what looks like, fill space."
POWER: Two changes for final game
With Fremantle resting 11 of its first-choice players for the weekend and North Melbourne electing for nine of its top tier to sit out against Richmond tonight, some pundits have questioned the 'integrity' of the AFL's final round.
While Hinkley shares those concerns, he also understands the strategies in place for finals, having been involved in the last two major round campaigns.
Coaching, he says, requires clubs to give themselves the best possible chance of playing in the grand final.
"I can certainly understand, as a coach, the management position the teams are in," Hinkley said.
"I have a little bit of a question about the integrity of the competition; anything that I think affects ladder position, or draft position, in my view is affecting the competition's fairness.
"If that's the case, I'm not sure the AFL would be pleased with those sorts of results.
"But, rules are in place, no one's doing anything outside of the rules and they're doing everything right for their football teams, which I respect.
"I fully understand why any coach in the top eight would be trying to do what they're trying to do, which is get themselves in the best position - the idea [is] to get in the grand final."
Port Adelaide plays Fremantle at 3:20pm on Saturday at the Adelaide Oval, with a win to confirm the Power in ninth position.
