FREMANTLE assistant coach Peter German has fired a pre-match salvo at Hawthorn, hinting it was preparing illegal blocking tactics to stop Dockers giant Aaron Sandilands from getting a run at the ball at ruck contests.

In what appeared a planned pre-match message to both the Hawks and umpires for tonight's match at Subiaco Oval, German claimed that Fremantle's spy at Hawthorn training sessions this week had noticed the Hawks practising tactics that could be illegal.

The barb was laughed off by Hawks assistant Todd Viney yesterday. "There is no truth in that," Viney said. "We have practised jumping really high and if that doesn't work we have thought about bringing out the baseball bat."

German said the Dockers knew what was ahead for Sandilands. "They have been working tactics all week to try and restrict his influence in the ruck. It could even be illegal. Hopefully the umpires make sure they allow Aaron to go for his ruck taps this week."

German predicted that young trio Rhys Palmer, Garrick Ibbotson and Chris Mayne would make a big impact. "The young players are going to bring a lot of enthusiasm, a bit of pace, a bit of run, some real hardness as well at ground level," he said."Palmer in particular, would have a key role midfield. I think he has shown enough in the NAB Cup to show us that he will play a key part for us in the midfield and Chris as well."

The Dockers had reviewed the clearances from last week when they were well beaten despite Sandilands' dominance. "There were four times where we actually had our hands on the ball and turned it over and they actually won it. They win the clearance and statistically it doesn't look good. We are really pleased with Aaron's ruck work last week but as everyone has said we have got to make sure we get more out of our ground work from Aaron's taps."