Fremantle chief executive Steve Rosich has welcomed their challenging 2014 fixture, declaring it his club's "lot" as a team that finished high on the ladder this year.

The Dockers will put their season on the line in the first nine games against six of the other seven teams from the top eight in 2013 (including Essendon), plus games against expected improvers West Coast, Gold Coast and North Melbourne.

West Coast counterpart Trevor Nisbett proclaimed his team's fixture "balanced" and was diplomatic about an AFL decision to send the Eagles to the Gold Coast to play the Suns, one of the competition's longest road trips, in round 23.

And the AFL appears to have shelved plans for an All-Star game on the eve of the season just days after chief executive Andrew Demetriou publicly flagged his support.

The Dockers had been bracing