Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has given the green light for Hayden Ballantyne to continue with his niggling tactics, but says the AFL goalsneak must stop “milking” free kicks.

Ballantyne’s tag as the AFL’s biggest pest was cemented last week when he played the role of chief agitator in Fremantle’s four-point win over Geelong.

The 24-year-old’s constant niggling and verbal abuse eventually resulted in him being punched in the face by Cats defender Matthew Scarlett, who copped a three-week suspension for the moment of madness.

Ballantyne received a two-week suspension himself after striking Geelong’s Paul Chapman off the ball in an earlier incident.

Such is Ballantyne’s importance to Fremantle, Lyon revealed he used to order players to rough him up while he was coach of St Kilda.

Lyon is happy to now have Ballantyne on his side, and described the 174cm antagonist as irreplaceable.

But Lyon fears Ballantyne will be remembered as a stager unless he cleans up that aspect of his game.

“He gets buffeted a lot off the ball because he’s very talented and he’s small and he’s hittable,” Lyon said on Wednesday.

“But it’s that milking that we’ve put on the agenda. He doesn’t want to be remembered for that.

“What he wants to be remembered for is his great ball-winning and pace and goalkicking and enthusiasm.

“So out of the whole package, if that’s all he needs to control, we’re really happy with Hayden.

“He’s mentally tough. He’s really resilient.”

With Ballantyne suspended for Saturday’s clash with Sydney at the SCG, Lyon said the likes of David Mundy, Dylan Roberton, Antoni Grover and Jay van Berlo were in the mix to come in.

Mundy is yet to play a competitive fixture since undergoing ankle surgery last year, and is only a slight chance to return as the sub.

Lyon said contested possessions would be a key area against the Swans, who could welcome back star forward Ryan O’Keefe.

“For the last decade, they’ve played ‘Bloods’ footy,” Lyon said.

“They’ve got a strong culture of performance and we’re under no illusions that that’s what we’ll be walking into.

“We had the most contested possessions of the round last week with 165 and, funnily enough, Sydney were second with 155.

“It’s going to be a fierce, contested game. You don’t become a resilient or uncompromising team off one effort, so we certainly need to back up against a quality opposition in Sydney.”