Serong the clear winner as judges bypass Rowell
JUDGES did not award Gold Coast’s Matthew Rowell a single vote in this year’s Rising Star Award as they almost unanimously settled on Fremantle midfielder Caleb Serong as the winner.
Eight of the 10 judges gave their top votes to Serong, while Kevin Bartlett and Chris Johnson ranked the Docker second behind Gold Coast midfielder Noah Anderson.
Serong tallied 48 votes to win from Anderson (39), Saint Max King (28), Gold Coast’s Izak Rankine (16) and Hawk Will Day (12).
The No. 8 pick in last year’s national draft, Serong played the final 14 games of the season after being overlooked in the first three rounds.
The 19-year-old rose to prominence after beating Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield in a head-to-head battle in just his fifth game in Round 8, recording 22 disposals and one goal while holding Dangerfield to only 18 touches.
“I think those first four games I was getting a lot less minutes but giving me that starting point (on Dangerfield) … that showed a lot of confidence in me,” Serong said.
“JL (coach Justin Longmuir) and Carry (assistant coach Josh Carr) giving me that role to play on Danger, he’s one of the best players in the comp. I took a lot of confidence out of that — that they had confidence in me to do the role. So if they had confidence in me to do the role, then why shouldn’t I? That was a big stepping stone and turning point for me for the year in terms of my confidence and my ability to win the ball but also try to beat or at least match some of the guys that I’ve come up against.”
Serong averaged 10.8 disposals and 59 Super Coach ranking points in his four games before the clash with the Cats, but averaged 19.3 disposals and 90 ranking points in his final 10 matches.
From Warragul in Gippsland, Serong had never stepped foot in Western Australia before joining Fremantle but said he could not have asked for better mentors than he has had at the Dockers. “I’ve learnt a lot, especially from the midfield guys like Dave (Mundy) and Nat (Fyfe) on-field,” he said.