Fremantle Dockers star Caleb Serong throws support behind coach Justin Longmuir with text message

West Australian

05-05-2025

Fremantle vice-captain Caleb Serong texted coach Justin Longmuir on Sunday to assure him that he strongly believes in the game plan and is confident he is the right man to lead the team.
It comes as pressure mounts on the Longmuir ahead of Thursday night's clash with Collingwood and in the wake of a horror defeat to St Kilda.
The Dockers lost by 61 points at Marvel Stadium and that defeat followed a thrashing from Geelong in round one and a loss to Melbourne two weeks ago.
Longmuir is in his sixth season as Fremantle's coach but the team has played finals only once. There were high expectation for the club this season yet the Dockers are 4-4 and in ninth place on the ladder.
Recognising the pressure his coach was under, Serong revealed he reached out to Longmuir to show his support ahead of a crucial week for the club.
'He's got my full belief that he's the right man. I texted him yesterday and just made sure he knew I've got full belief in the game plan and him as a coach and that I love playing for him,' he said.
'It's on us to respond and make sure we are the ones going out there and playing that game plan that he is setting up for us. It's a winning game plan in my opinion. We just haven't played it consistently enough so that's on us.
'I just know he would have been copping a bit of heat over the last couple of days. I just wanted him to know he's got my full backing as a leader and I've got no doubt that is a reflection of the whole playing group.
'In my opinion, he's got all of our backing so I wanted him to make sure he was ready to go today and coming in with full belief in himself and where he's going because he's got our full belief.'
Serong revealed a Saturday morning meeting before the team left Melbourne identified too many players weren't thinking about the team. He said it was obvious that needed to change.
And an honest Serong admitted that too many players had failed to buy into what was expected and a lot of players were focused on themselves.
'At the moment there's probably been not 100 per cent buy in from across the board and I think that's not allowing us to bring that talent out and, as a group, not allowing us to get the results we are after,' he said.
'I think the roles and the dedication to the game plan and the team will allow the talent to come out more because we will be more predictable to each other and we'll know what we're after from each individual and the group as well.'
Three of Fremantle's four defeats this season have come in Victoria. They have won just one game away from home, against lowly-ranked Richmond at Gather Round.
Serong the playing group are reviewing their preparation for away games and declared they have to get to the bottom of what is going wrong on the road.
'We need to fix it,' he said.
'The reality is we haven't changed anything with our travel schedule, routine and over the last couple of years our travel results have actually been alright, we've travelled pretty well. This year, definitely not.
'That's no beating around the bush. We have to figure out what is going on, whether that's individuals working on their own prep, whether that's team little things we can do, whether that's during the week in the lead-up to the travel.
'I'm not sure what it is, but the reality is we haven't changed anything and it has worked in the past this routine, so we are analysing everything. We are looking at it all from a player leadership point of view, from a playing group point of view, holistic leadership point of view, we are digging deep into it because we need to be better on the road.
'It's not just losing games, it's the way we're performing.'