Hawthorn are poised to follow in the footsteps of St Kilda and Sydney and put a hard clamp on Fremantle star Caleb Serong.

Finn Maginness, who had been used regularly as a genuine tagger before this season, has been recalled to Sam Mitchell’s side for their clash at Optus Stadium on Saturday night.

Serong was kept to just 11 disposals in the Dockers’ loss to Sydney on Sunday, which left teammates admitting they didn’t do enough to support him.

The Hawks have moved away from their regular tags this season, but coach Sam Mitchell said a blueprint had been set for stopping the gun Dockers midfielder.

And Maginness’ recall for his 12th game this season is an indication they could turn to it again.

“Serong has been a great player for a long time now and (Andrew) Brayshaw has probably hurt us a couple of times in the past,” Mitchell said.

“So (we’re) balancing up those two match-ups and I’m still having nightmares about Nasiah (Wanganeen-Milera), but Clark has been in fantastic form as well, they did a really good job on him as well last week Sydney.

“Looking at managing those things, weighing up getting their key players out of the game, but also playing our own way and making sure we are playing a game of footy we think will be sustainable and get success this weekend, but also ongoingly.

“Hopefully we can quell their influence while still playing their own way.”

Maginness has been recalled to the side in place of Seamus Mitchell, who is injured. He famously kept Collingwood’s Nick Daicos to just five disposals from 60 per cent game time during a match in 2023.

Impressive second-year forward Calsher Dear has been recalled for just his second game of the season.

Former Hawthorn player Jaeger O’Meara admitted the Dockers hadn’t done enough to help Serong work through close attention. And he admitted it was an issue that dates back beyond this season.

“It’s something we haven’t done well, particularly over the last couple of weeks, they’re coming hard for Caleb, and it’s been Andy at times as well this year,” he said on SEN.

“We’ve let Caleb down a little bit, and they’re clearly coming hard for him because he’s an absolute weapon.

“We need to look to support him more particularly around stoppage and also look at how we can manipulate that tag and explore some different things with that.”