Fremantle are preparing for the return of Nick Daicos on Friday night, with coach Justin Longmuir revealing the Dockers will have “plans in place” to limit the Collingwood superstar’s influence.

Daicos was a late withdrawal against Brisbane last week with a calf complaint but is expected to be fit for the Gather Round clash at Adelaide Oval, alongside veteran Scott Pendlebury.

While Corey Wagner recovered well from a knock to the knee against Adelaide and trained fully on Tuesday, Longmuir still isn’t sure whether he will ask him to lock down on Daicos, as he has previously.

Wagner worked in tandem with Andrew Brayshaw to tag Daicos in round eight last season, restricting him to only 18 disposals, but Fremantle lost.

When Daicos had more freedom in round 19, he had more than 40 possessions but the Dockers won.

“We’ve got some plans in place for him (Daicos). You probably can’t stop him getting the ball, but sometimes you can stop his efficiency,” Longmuir said.

“On the flip side, we don’t want to get too caught up in one player, because they’ve got a lot of dangerous players across the field, and we need to make sure we pay respect to all their players while trying to play our way. It’s a balancing act.”

“We’re expecting him and Scott Pendlebury to play. They’re really important players for them, so we’ll plan for their best and plan for their best players. If they don’t play well, then we’ll just adjust.”

Pendlebury is set to return from an Achilles injury sustained against Greater Western Sydney in round three, after he also missed the 54-point loss to the Lions.

Meanwhile, ruckman Mason Cox’s hopes of making his Dockers debut against the club that dumped him appear over as Longmuir declared the former Collingwood big man’s history won’t be taken into account at selection.

Cox admitted he was shocked by Collingwood’s decision to delist him at the end of last season when he joined Fremantle to work alongside Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy.

The Dockers’ clash against the Pies looked like an ideal time for Cox to play, given Fremantle has successive interstate trips and Darcy has struggled to get through seasons without injuries in the past.

Cox also dominated Saturday’s WAFL game for Peel with 24 disposals, 48 hit outs and one goal.

But Longmuir said Darcy didn’t need to be rested, indicating Cox would miss out on the chance to take on his former club.

“He’s (Darcy) played pretty low game time, so his body has been pulling up really well. I don’t see that as an issue at the moment. We expect Sean to play,” Longmuir said.

“We’re just trying to pick the best team that will give us the best chance of winning. Whether he played for them last year or not is not really relevant in my eyes. We’re trying to pick the best team to go out there and compete really hard.”

Fremantle’s squad is looking healthy despite Hayden Young and Michael Frederick remaining unavailable. The pair participated in training on Tuesday but won’t be risked.