Latest news with #CalebSerong
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Sport
- Perth Now
WATCH: Superman Serong takes brilliant flying mark
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Caleb Serong. The Fremantle star has taken a brilliant flying mark, challenging Superman as he got completely horizontal in the air during the club's clash with Gold Coast. The gun midfielder took a slips-like catch inside 50 for the Dockers, but missed the following set shot, on the eve of the first quarter at People First Stadium on Saturday. WATCH THE MARK IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE As young teammate Matthew Johnson danced onto his right foot and put the ball into space, Serong soared to take a potential Mark of the Year contender. The grab was even more impressive given the conditions on the Gold Coast, with heavy rainfall making the ball extremely slippery and the terrain just as tricky for the Dockers and Suns. Despite Serong's kick missing to the left, the Dockers took a strong 20-point lead into the first break.
West Australian
3 days ago
- Sport
- West Australian
Fremantle Dockers Caleb Serong takes Mark of the Year contender with horizontal grab against Gold Coast
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's Caleb Serong. The Fremantle star has taken a brilliant flying mark, challenging Superman as he got completely horizontal in the air during the club's clash with Gold Coast. The gun midfielder took a slips-like catch inside 50 for the Dockers, but missed the following set shot, on the eve of the first quarter at People First Stadium on Saturday. WATCH THE MARK IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE As young teammate Matthew Johnson danced onto his right foot and put the ball into space, Serong soared to take a potential Mark of the Year contender. The grab was even more impressive given the conditions on the Gold Coast, with heavy rainfall making the ball extremely slippery and the terrain just as tricky for the Dockers and Suns. Despite Serong's kick missing to the left, the Dockers took a strong 20-point lead into the first break.
West Australian
17-05-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
Walyalup (Fremantle) Dockers thrash Greater Western Sydney in dominant victory on the road
Walyalup (Fremantle) have produced a stunning second half to create their own piece of history, beating Greater Western Sydney for the first time at ENGIE Stadium and claiming a crucial away victory by 34 points. The Dockers have been under the pump after failing to play their best footy this season and went through a week of frustration after being unable to capitalise on a mountain of inside 50s during a home loss to Collingwood last week. But this time they kept scoring after dominating the forward entries and only inaccuracy stopped them from winning by more in their 13.17 (95) to 8.13 (61) victory. The Dockers had lost all four of their previous matches at the ground, including last year when they were chasing a finals berth. They also hadn't won a genuine away game since June last year. Their only interstate victory since then was the neutral game against Richmond in Gather Round. But this was a stunning display. They conceded the first goal of the game after only 45 seconds but held the Giants to only three more goals until midway through the final term and just eight goals for the night. They won the inside 50s 56-45 on the back of a 15-8 centre clearance tally. Luke Jackson controlled the ruck with 32 hit outs and seven clearances from his 21 disposals. Caleb Serong was also superb in the midfield with 36 disposals and eight clearances. Shai Bolton relished playing for Walyalup in Sir Doug Nicholls Round with 24 possessions and three goals. The Dockers kicked six unanswered goals after leading by 11 points at half-time to guarantee victory. Walyalup could have won by more because they had a stack of opportunities. But they fought so hard in defence that those misses didn't matter. Jesse Hogan managed only one goal from 11 disposals. This was a night where Walyalup showed a combination flair, speed, grit and strength. They won the contested possessions by 25 in the second half. They overcame the disappointment of missing a series of key shots to keep the game on their own terms. They led by six points at quarter time and then seized control around the ground in the second term. Walyalup kicked four behind in six minutes and deserved to have a stranglehold on the contest. It wasn't until Jye Amiss nailed his set shot nearly nine minutes into the term that the Dockers got some reward. At that point they'd kicked 1.4 from six inside 50s for the quarter and were still vulnerable. Then, as is the way when one team misses, the Giants went straight down the other end and kicked a goal of their own. Walyalup kept missing until Bolton won a free kick for holding the ball and then kicked a goal from the most difficult shot the team. Now Walyalup led by 17 points. Could they break the game open? They tried to. They refused to be conservative. Andrew Brayshaw saw an opportunity and attempted a tough kick to centre half-forward which he instantly regretted. Finn Callaghan intercepted, the Giants surged forward and Aaron Cadman kicked the goal. Footy can be cruel. But it didn't change their attitude and Walyalup still led by 11 points at half-time after having 10 more inside 50s than the Giants. The problem with not slamming the door shut is the opposition don't need a lot of encouragement to get back into the game, especially at home. The Dockers refused to let the Giants back into the game though. Frederick booted his third after a free kick from a tackle on Callan Ward. now they led by 16 points. The game was there for the taking. Nothing summed up Walyalups attitude more than the way they approached that challenge. Karl Worner took an intercept mark in defence and refused to slow the game down. He targeted Serong in the centre corridor, the star midfielder took a difficult mark and played on with a handball to space. Frederick ran onto the ball, handballed to Corey Wagner and he found Amiss who kicked his second goal. It was lightning. It was aggressive. It was daring. It was bold. Now they had to finish the Giants off. Murphy Reid kicked a goal to extend the lead to 27 points midway through the term and the Dockers just kept playing desperate footy. The backline defended superbly, holding the Giants goalless for the quarter. Both teams were missing chances they'd normally kick but Josh Treacy didn't miss to start the final term. He nailed the knock out blow and the only question now was the big the margin would become. They kicked five goals for the final term and it became a huge celebration. Players ran from everywhere when Cooper Simpson kicked his first career goal. The Giants kicked late goals to make the scoreboard more respectable. But this was a dominant effort from the Dockers.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Dockers won't swing axe after St Kilda horror show
Fremantle won't swing the axe after their battering from St Kilda, with underfire coach Justin Longmuir saying the Dockers have "spread the burden of blame" over the demoralising loss. Criticism has come from all corners after last Friday's 61-point thumping in Melbourne, where the Saints obliterated Fremantle at stoppages. But with a tight turnaround to face second-placed Collingwood at Optus Stadium on Thursday night, wholesale changes aren't on the cards. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement "We're not going to wield the axe," Longmuir said. "We've had a calm week internally, we've learned from Friday night, we've gotta put out a more consistent effort. "But we can't get caught up in wielding the axe after a poor performance and everything being great after the Adelaide game. "We just need to calm down a little bit and we need to make sure internally we're really consistent with our behaviours, we're really consistent with the way we approach things, and that in turn will help us become more consistent on the field." Longmuir in particular has come under scrutiny, but was defended by vice-captain Caleb Serong this week. ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement "I feel everyone's support inside the four walls," he said. "What happens probably externally is the coach gets blamed for every poor performance, but realistically what happens internally is everyone takes ownership in their part in those performances. "As a playing group, coaching group, assistant coaches, me, we've spread the burden of blame across the whole footy department for that performance on the weekend and owned our part and realistically that's the only way you get better. "If you think it's all someone else's fault, you don't take ownership personally in yourself, well then you don't get better and learn from your performances." ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Longmuir insisted he didn't read external commentary around his job and had instructed his players not to either. "After a performance like that on the weekend we don't need to batten down, and after a good performance against Adelaide we don't need to go over the top and celebrate too much," Longmuir said. "We just need to make sure we lean in on our processes week in, week out, and that's what I've done this week. "The difference is I've had 20-30 text messages checking in to make sure I'm going alright, which I really appreciate. But I don't sit around reading external noise." ADVERTISEMENT Advertisement Neil Erasmus is poised to replace sidelined midfielder Hayden Young (hamstring). Collingwood are without managed trio Jordan De Goey, Brayden Maynard and Scott Pendlebury, plus Brody Mihocek (abdominal strain). Longmuir said he wouldn't use the Magpies resting players as motivation for his charges.
The Age
02-05-2025
- Sport
- The Age
AFL round eight as it happened: Saints thrash insipid Fremantle to end three-match losing streak
The Brisbane midfield masterclass that St Kilda suffered – and learned – from paid immediate dividends six days later. The Saints 'went to school', as coach Ross Lyon put it, for a refresher course on how a good midfield performs, and put that education into practice to thrash an insipid Fremantle by 61 points at Marvel Stadium on Friday night. St Kilda's victory ended their three-match losing skid and levels their win-loss ledger through eight rounds as they kept the Dockers to one goal in the first half and only five for the game. Fremantle's 5.3 (33) scoreline was the equal-10th-lowest in club history, and it took three final quarter goals to avoid being even lower. 'I was really pleased. It was a good response,' Lyon said afterwards. The vision of a relaxed and satisfied Lyon smirking in the coaches' box and leaning back in his chair, with arms crossed, spoke louder than his subdued post-match reaction. 'We know we've got a heap of work to do to improve. We're not getting carried away,' he said. 'We've already spoken about [moving on] to Carlton next week. We're not a get-carried-away group, and I'm not a get-carried-away coach; good or bad. I'll leave that to the others.' Ex-Bulldog Jack Macrae starred for the Saints with video-game numbers of 38 disposals, 25 contested possessions, 14 clearances, 10 score involvements and eight tackles. Macrae was also by Caleb Serong's side at most stoppages, and with help from Jack Steele and Hugo Garcia, he held the Dockers ball magnet to 15 disposals - his lowest tally since his rookie season five years ago. Serong entered the night averaging 29.6 disposals and a competition-best 15.9 contested possessions. Garcia (19, 10 tackles) and debutant Hugh Boxshall (16, four clearances) played strong complementary midfield roles. Steele and St Kilda also limited Andrew Brayshaw to a modest 18 touches, while the third of Fremantle's three-headed on-ball monster, Hayden Young, exited the match before half-time with what his coach Justin Longmuir said was a 'serious' hamstring recurrence. Lyon hailed, too, Liam Stocker's job on Dockers recruit Shai Bolton, who mustered only seven scoreless disposals at 43 per cent efficiency. The raw numbers illustrated the massive gulf between the teams; the Saints dominated disposals (379-286), inside 50s (61-34), clearances (50-22), centre clearances (13-5), contested possessions (151-103) and uncontested possessions (233-175). 'Caleb Serong is one who's been a great player over the years, in terms of his contested ball and clearance,' Steele told this masthead. 'We didn't have a direct tag or anything on him, but we just wanted to make sure we limited his damage around stoppage. That was a big part of the game: win the midfield battle, to win the game – and Andy Brayshaw, too. I thought we did a really good job on him. 'They're both really great midfielders in their own right, and sometimes it's very hard to stop contested players, but we were able to just be a little bit harder at the ball on most occasions.' Steele was pleasantly surprised to learn the context of Serong's modest output, and said the pressure-filled performance needed to be the 'standard' for their midfield group. Like Lyon, St Kilda's captain did his best to keep the result in check, preferring not to even broach the topic of finals. 'I know we're looking at next week already,' Steele said. 'It's a big game against Carlton, but I think if you were to tell us at the start of the year, with the injuries we had, and the young players we had in that we would be four and four after the tough scheduling we had, I'd say we'd be pretty happy.' The Saints hauled in 15 marks inside 50 to the Dockers' four, with Cooper Sharman (four) and Mitch Owens (three) combining for seven goals. At the other end, Callum Wilkie kept Josh Treacy goalless, while both Jye Amiss' goals came in the last quarter when the game was effectively over. A disappointed Longmuir said his 10th-placed team's inconsistency was 'not good enough' and that everyone, including himself, should be 'questioning themselves'. They have lost all three of their matches in Victoria this season. 'The first thing I look at after a performance like that, and any good leader should, is, 'What did I get wrong?',' Longmuir said. 'I'm not sitting here blaming the players. I've got to look at my own performance this week, and, 'Am I contributing to us being an inconsistent team?'. So, of course, I'm going to question myself. You can't just sit here and say it's all on the players.'
