Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich says fans shouldn’t expect to see him spend much time in the midfield during the club’s AFL finals campaign.

Pavlich was thrown into the midfield for small patches of last week’s win over Port Adelaide in order to cover for the loss of suspended star Nat Fyfe.

Fyfe will return for Saturday’s qualifying final against Sydney at ANZ Stadium, and Pavlich is more than happy to leave the midfield work for the on-ballers.

“I don’t think it will necessarily be a huge amount of time in there,” said Pavlich, who won All-Australian selection as a midfielder earlier in his career.

“We’ve worked on some variety in different players’ games, and changing things up every now and then.

“It was nice to be in there for a couple of centre bounces. But there’s no risk of it being a long-term role I wouldn’t have thought.”

Fremantle’s forward line has become a major force over the past three weeks, with the side booting more than 100 points in wins over Hawthorn, Brisbane and Port Adelaide.

The return from injury of Michael Walters has added an extra dose of class over the past month, while the recent form of 197cm Matt Taberner has benefited Pavlich, who has kicked seven goals in his past two games.

“It’s certainly assisted, having another tall there,” Pavlich said of Taberner.

“It’s definitely alleviated some burden, but what we’ve seen as a group is we’ve all improved together.

“We think we’ve got some weapons up there that can certainly kick a winning score.

“But clearly it’s not about that, it’s about us defending and helping the mids and defenders with the ball going the other way.

“I think we’ve upped the tempo in the last few weeks, and it’s been a big focus of ours. So it’s going to be important come Saturday afternoon.”