Fremantle Dockers star Caleb Serong reveals he struggles with self-doubt after winning third Doig Medal

Three-time Doig medallist Caleb Serong has made the extraordinary admission that he feared for his position in the team during the pre-season, saying self-doubt has been one of the biggest driving forces behind his success.

Serong is at the peak of his powers having been selected in the All-Australian team for the last three years and winning the Doig medal in each of those seasons. Former Fremantle captain Matthew Pavlich is the only other man to have won a hat-trick of Dockers’ best and fairest.

But despite his sustained brilliance, Serong said he constantly questions his talent, even to the point of wondering if he would be selected.

“Doubts - they’re everywhere,” Serong explained.

“I have a lot of fear and a lot of doubts every week throughout the preseason. I do a lot of work with a sports psychologist. It’s funny. You’re halfway through preseason, and you’ve got guys like Matt Johnson, Neil, Erasmus and Murphy Reid coming in, hungry as anything to improve, to get better to take your spot, and I’m sitting there doubting whether I’m going to be able to hold my spot in the side next year.

“That kind of thought process has to be monitored and make sure it doesn’t drain you, but it’s also what pushes me and drives me to try and get better every single day, and train my backside off to make sure that isn’t the case.

“It’s not very often you go out there - and there’s guys that are very different than me - like, ‘I’m the best player in this field’. I’ve got to work through that mindset and make sure that I do have that belief going in, because the fear and the doubts are always there, and everyone has them.”

Serong edged out Andrew Brayshaw to win the Doig Medal. It was the third year in a row Brayshaw finished runner-up.

Serong said the pair were constantly driving each other and revealed they were already training together to prepare for next season.

The 24-year-old also paid tribute to his partner Chloe, saying her tough love midway through the season helped him to change his attitude after the team slumped to a 4-5 record.

“The first couple of months were tough. We didn’t start the way we wanted. There’s a lot of pressure on the football club, and as a leader, you feel that. “I felt a real responsibility to problem solve and try and fix it and have all the answers, and you’re never going to,” he said.

“When you’re in the midst of it, at times it’s really tough to have that perspective. And I definitely didn’t have it at times, and that’s why it kind of takes you down that path a little bit, and it’s pretty tough to get yourself out of.

“There were times in that first couple of months where Chloe had to call me out on a bit of my s..t that I was kind of going through, and pull me out of it.

“I know that she’s always in my corner, and that she’ll always have my back. But she knows the exact moment that I’m going down a rabbit hole that I need to be pulled out of, and she calls me out on it pretty quick.”