Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has batted away suggestions his side should use Saturday’s clash with Melbourne at the MCG as “dress rehersal” for a potential grand final berth at the venue.

The ladder-leading Dockers, who dominated 17th-placed Essendon in a 43-point victory at the ground where the season decider is staged in round 10, will make what is their second and final trip of the home and away season there to confront the Demons.

Norm Smith medallist Isaac Smith has been among experts to suggest Longmuir’s side should tweak their preparations for the contest in order to more closely mimic what they would confront ahead of the last game of the year.

But when asked if they would change anything in how they geared up to take on the sixth-placed Demons, Longmuir replied: “No, we won’t.”

“We’ll make sure we prepare as best we can this week, treat this week and this opponent on its merits,” Longmuir told 7NEWS

“We’re playing a really good team who’s got a really good record at that ground, so we just need to stay in the moment and make sure we give our best to Melbourne.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good record at the MCG, we’ve gone over there in the last few years and played some pretty big games against some pretty good sides and got the job done, so it’s another really great test this week against another good side on their home deck.”

As key defender Brennan Cox missed a second consecutive game due to knee soreness, fill-in Oscar McDonald produced a career-best performance in Friday night’s win over Western Bulldogs, earning eight coaches votes.

Longmuir, who said he expected Cox to be fit and available to take on Melbourne, turned down the chance to guarantee McDonald would retain his place in the senior side.

“We’ll have to weigh up that,” he said.

“Team balance is important — we need to make sure that we’re able to defend well, but also use the ball well out of our back-line. We’ll make sure we pick a team that’s really balanced.

“I’m really proud of what Oscar’s been able to do for us this year — not just the last couple of weeks, but every time he’s been called upon to come in and play his role for the team, he’s done a terrific job.”

Longmuir was also effusive in his praise of out-of-favour ruckman Sean Darcy, who continued a strong spell of form in the WAFL by notching 41 hit-outs and winning 26 disposals for Peel Thunder against Swan Districts at the weekend.

“I thought it was a much-improved performance from him,” he said.

“Some of the things he’s working on came to fruition. Clearly, he dominated the game.

“We haven’t had our final selection (meeting) yet, but I would imagine he’s putting pressure on.”