Paul Hasleby: The key decision Fremantle must make around superstar Caleb Serong for 2026 AFL season

At this time of the year the best AFL clubs are looking to be proactive not reactive. You only need to look at the four that played in the preliminary finals this weekend. Even before Hawthorn made the preliminary final, Sam Mitchell was meeting with Zach Merrett. Geelong have been linked with free agent James Worpel and ruckman Rowan Marshall. Brisbane have already attracted Oscar Allen and Sam Draper, and no doubt Collingwood are up to something. All of them do not wait to have to make a move; they implement change well before it’s needed and it’s why they’re never far away from September action. Fremantle are at a point in their history where they should be aspiring to become one of these powerhouse clubs and this means they must make tough decisions, no matter the outside noise. It doesn’t look like at this stage that the Dockers are going to be big players throughout the trade period, but it doesn’t mean they can’t make a big move. It’s why I believe now is the right time for Alex Pearce to hand the captaincy over to Caleb Serong. This is not a shot at Pearce. He’s been a great leader since he took over from Nat Fyfe in early 2023 but after three seasons, it’s time to change the direction of the leadership. And a move like this would only benefit Pearce, who still has such an instrumental part to play in the Dockers’ premiership aspirations. You only need to look at the fantastic job he did in curtailing the influence of the incredibly talented and dangerous Sam Darcy in their must-win clash against the Western Bulldogs in the final game of the home-and-away season. However, the reality is that Pearce’s body is still not a commodity he or Fremantle can rely on every week, and it should be his focus going forward for the betterment of their flag hopes. Pearce has played only 15 and 16 games in the past two years, respectively, because of injury and will be 31 in the middle of next season. He needs to shed all the added responsibility and weight that comes with being the skipper of a club in a two-team town and focus on being the key defender Fremantle need him to be if they are finally going to have success in September. And the replacement is an obvious one. Serong is the natural successor. The appointment of the star midfielder as skipper is important on two fronts. Firstly, he is the ideal leader for this young group hungry for more than just wins. Word from inside the club is that Serong is ruthless in his mindset to be a premiership player and will stop at nothing to achieve the goal. And it’s evident in the incredible resume he is already putting together. Next month, he will almost certainly win a third consecutive Doig Medal as the club champion. Add that to three consecutive All-Australian berths, four Glendinning-Allan Medals and a Rising Star award all by the age of 24, and it is as impressive as they come for players of his age bracket. Should he continue this trajectory, Serong will be spoken about alongside Matthew Pavlich and Fyfe as among the best to ever pull on the purple chevrons when his career is all said and done. There might be a second and even more important reason to hand Serong the captaincy, though. And it has to do with a team that is not even playing in the AFL yet. Serong is out of contract at the end of 2027 and likely will be the hottest free agent on the market by then. At the same time, those running the new Tasmanian franchise will be busily building their list for their inaugural season of 2028. They would be silly not to throw an outlandish offer at a Serong to try to lure him to the Devils, offering him the captaincy and a contract worth more than $2 million a season. Serong is the kind of player and person you can build a club around, and he would fit perfectly in that environment. And given he is Victorian, it could be attractive, given the proximity to Melbourne and the fact he can take the short flight back and forth weekly to see family and friends. Losing Serong would be disastrous for the Dockers, given his importance to the team’s fortunes right now. The captaincy should never be disrespected and used as a tool to keep a player at a club. But when the club’s best player is primed and ready to lead it would be foolish for the Fremantle players and hierarchy not to act. It just might be the biggest and most influential move of any club during the off season.