Fremantle Dockers star Caleb Serong has taken his game from inside to out to become even more damaging

Caleb Serong is changing before our eyes. The Fremantle star’s consistency and ability to win the ball has turned him into a dual All-Australian and dual best-and-fairest, yet his game against Essendon on Friday night highlighted the evolution of his game. Serong produced a career-high 783 metres gained on a night where he had an equal career-high 24 kicks. Throw in two goals and this was an attacking, dynamic, powerful, running Serong who gave Essendon headaches all night. Serong averaged 399 metres gained during 2023 and increased that to 403 metres gained last season. But across the first eight games of this season, that figure dropped slightly to 368 metres. But his last six matches have now seen him gaining an average of 625 metres per game. That’s 76 metres per game more than Jordan Clark over the same period and he’s consistently been the man the Dockers have relied upon for run, carry and drive. Serong’s average kicks have risen from 11.5 per game across the first eight weeks to now kicking the ball an average of 18 times from his last six games. Meanwhile, his average handballs have dropped from 16.25 to 13. Then there’s his scoreboard impact. Serong kicked 1.1 from the first eight matches and both scores came in the same game. He’s scored 3.3 in his last six games and hit the scoreboard in five of those. The Dockers changed Serong’s role in the second half of last season and he kicked 11 goals from the last 12 games. Coach Justin Longmuir said they were now able to put him in similar positions this season. “We’ve been short through the middle of the ground at times this year,” he explained. “At the back end of last year, when we had a lot of numbers going through the middle of the ground, Caleb and Andy were going forward a little bit more and they started hitting the scoreboard. That’s dried up a little bit on the back of them having to play large midfield minutes. the role we’ve been asking Caleb to play, probably doesn’t allow him to hit the scoreboard. “Whether it’s them kicking goals or maximising their kicks inside 50, as long as their possessions are contributing to scores, I don’t mind. I’d like their kicks inside 50 to get a little bit more bang for buck if you’re looking at it across the season. But I thought Caleb’s ability to hit the scoreboard was really strong.” THE SERONG EVOLUTION AVERAGE METRES GAINED KICKS TO HANDBALLS