Despite the loss of Andrew Swallow to a thumb injury, Fremantle midfielder Nathan Fyfe believes North Melbourne poses ‘a significant challenge’.

“You want to see the best players playing and he’s (Swallow) a quality player and a quality person,” Fyfe told media on Wednesday.

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“They’ve played really well against us in recent seasons so we’ll get to work studying them today (Wednesday) and tomorrow and really look forward to a big challenge.”

The Roos defeated Fremantle in the two sides’ last meeting in 2014. In Drew Petrie’s 250th match, the Kangaroos travelled to Perth and battled back from an early 26-point deficit to salute by 13 points.

“They’re a quality side and a really well coached team as well,” Fyfe said.

“We know they have a run-and-gun style game as well as some really big inside midfielders who can really get to work at clearances and stoppages.”

Meanwhile Dockers’ key defender Luke McPharlin is on the verge of making a comeback after missing the last two matches with a calf injury - a similar issue to that which forced the veteran to miss the last five matches of the season.

“We’ll train tomorrow (Thursday) so he’ll have to get through the fitness tests and he’ll be available for selection hopefully,” Fyfe added.