Fremantle fans are throwing it back to the ‘90s for their massive Friday night clash with Melbourne at Optus Stadium, flooding the ground with purple, green, red and white.

The Dockers are wearing a throwback jumper for the crucial top-eight clash, inspired by the polarising 3D anchor jersey they wore in away games between 1998 and 2001.

The club re-released a range of vintage merchandise which sold out in just hours last week and his been well embraced by fans, while others came to the game wearing the real thing.

The Dockers switched to the purple and white chevrons from their traditional anchor design at the start of the 2011 season — the first year of Ross Lyon’s tenure.

It appears as if the area will escape without any major downpours tonight, which could help the crowd push upwards of 50,000 for the prime-time clash.

Fremantle will face an uphill battle to make the top four and earn a double chance if they were to lose tonight, while Melbourne’s recent record would fall to four wins in nine games if they lost to the Dockers for the second time this season.

It is the second time Simon Goodwin’s team has returned to Optus Stadium since they won an historic grand final at the ground last season.

No changes have been made to the final teams, with Bailey Banfield to be Fremantle’s medical substitute while Kade Chandler will fill the role for Melbourne.

Earlier, Dockers staff inspected the playing surface, much of which has been relayed.

As much as 1000sqm of turf has been replaced, with a large part of the grass on the interchange bench side being replaced after the stadium played host to two high-profile soccer friendlies and West Coast’s clash with St Kilda last week.