Fremantle utility James Aish is predicting a brutal battle against Gold Coast as both AFL clubs seek to avoid falling in an almighty hole.
The loser of Friday's afternoon's clash at Norwood Oval in Adelaide will slip to a gloomy 1-4 win-loss record this season.
And Aish says that prospect, along with an old-fashioned bake from coach Justin Longmuir, has put the Dockers on edge for the Gather Round clash.
Longmuir has told his players they need to be tougher and Aish says the message has resonated.
"It is probably what we reviewed mostly out of last week's game," Aish said of his side's lack of toughness in a 39-point loss to Adelaide last Saturday.
"In some ways it's an easy fix.
"But it's definitely something you have to look at yourself and get to work with it.
"Gold Coast are a great contested team as well so it's a perfect challenge.
"It's a massive game for us and Gold Coast as well. So it's going to be a pretty hot game, we need to put in a good performance."
Fremantle's build-up to the clash at Aish's SANFL home ground has been clouded by a wider racism controversy.
The Dockers detailed online racial abuse of Indigenous players Michael Walters and Nathan Wilson on Tuesday, as did Brisbane regarding their star forward Charlie Cameron.
Those revelations followed Adelaide's Izak Rankine reporting being racially vilified online on Monday.
Aish said the Dockers had rallied around Walters and Wilson.
"Clearly we really feel for them and have really tried to support them as much as we can," he said.
"It's unbelievable that it still happens so regularly.
"I had a good chat with Sonny (Walters) especially and he just filled me in on how often it can happen for him which is pretty disgraceful.
"We're trying to do our best to support them as must as we can.
"They know they have our complete support and we would do anything for them, they're massive for our club.
"It's pretty shocking that it still happens but hopefully the message is slowly getting out there that it's not on."
