Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir has urged his players to "calm the farm" if they find themselves in a close situation in Friday night's clash with Adelaide in Perth.

The Dockers' reputation for remaining ice cool in tight situations took a blow last Saturday when they suffered an upset four-point loss to a fast-finishing Melbourne at the MCG.

Longmuir was disappointed with the way his players rushed certain moments late in the game, but he's confident it's an outlier.

"When we fell behind, I thought we lacked a bit of composure," Longmuir said.

"When we've been in those situations throughout the year, we've been able to stay really calm.

"But it was probably a while ago, and maybe some of those wins were at home as well.

"So it's a different layer when you're doing it away from home and the crowd's going nuts for the opposition."

Longmuir believed it was just a few individuals who lacked composure when it was needed.

"It was just some critical moments," Longmuir said.

"We need to understand that with four minutes to go and you're behind, you're going to get four to 10 ... opportunities with the ball, so we only needed to make the most of one, but we rushed some of our great opportunities and didn't make the most of any.

"So we just need to calm the farm in those moments."

Fremantle have won six of their eight games this season that have been decided by 15 points or less.

One of those memorable wins was against Adelaide in round four, when Fremantle clung on for a two-point victory courtesy of Alex Pearce's desperate smother in the dying seconds of the match.

Pearce will return for Friday's clash with Adelaide after being rested last week, but rising star Murphy Reid was ruled out after copping a hit to his groin against Melbourne.

Forward Chris Scerri has come into the side for rebounding defender Judd McVee in Fremantle's only other change, meaning Oscar McDonald has retained his spot to play alongside fellow key defenders Pearce and Brennan Cox.

The Crows have been boosted by the return of Darcy Fogarty from a three-game suspension, but vice-captain Alex Neal-Bullen will miss due to family reasons and retiring veteran Tex Walker has been rested.

As part of the six changes for Adelaide, James Borlase, Luke Nankervis, Lachlan McAndrew, Toby Murray and Jake Soligo were all included.

Fremantle (18-3) will seal the minor premiership with a win.

Fifth-placed Adelaide (14-7) need a win to stay in the hunt for a top-four berth and to also avoid falling into the seventh-to-10th wildcard spots.

The Dockers are a perfect 11-0 at Optus Stadium this year, with Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks encouraging his players to go and have a "real swing" on enemy territory.