FREMANTLE'S ability to rotate its frontline midfielders through the forward line during the second half of the season has them fresh and ready to launch into a crucial final month before finals, according to star onballer Caleb Serong. 

The Dockers have emerged as the best clearance team in the AFL this season by a large margin and benefited from the consistent presence of Serong, Andrew Brayshaw, Hayden Young and Nat Fyfe. 

However, through a five-week stretch of form since round 16, all have rotated forward for at least 10 per cent of their playing time in a tactic that is both helping the team's performance and allowing the group to hit the end of the season in good shape. 

Matthew Johnson has been the midfielder most often stepping in to provide relief from the wing, while fellow wingman Jaeger O'Meara, defender James Aish, and half-forward Sam Switkowski are others who have pinch hit. 

It's left Serong, who has maintained his elite midfield output, feeling as good physically as he did early in the season as the third-placed Dockers target a top-four finish. 

"I'm feeling really good and really excited to launch into the back part of the year because you can get to this point of the year sometimes, and I've experienced it, and you're pretty banged up, you're pretty sore, and you're kind of waiting for the end," Serong said. 

"But I definitely don't feel like I'm in that space. I'm feeling as good as I did at round five.

"As a midfield group, you see Andy now physically starting to feel like he's in a really good space and that's just contributing to what he's doing on game day. 

"His last six weeks have been amazing and you can see that he's getting a lot more trust in his body, which is great."

By comparison to other leading clearance players this season, Brisbane's two-time Brownlow medallist Lachie Neale has spent 100 per cent of his playing time in the midfield for the past five weeks, with Carlton star Patrick Cripps (97 per cent) also rarely rotating. Sydney gun Isaac Heeney has shifted forward for nine per cent of his playing time.

The Dockers midfielders have not just rotated forward for a rest, but given the team a strong contest when they are forward of the ball, as shown by Serong's impressive contested mark against West Coast and long-range goal. 

The 23-year-old has kicked a goal in six of his past eight games, while all have been able to contribute with inside 50 tackles and pressure during their stints in attack. 

"I don't know exactly the specific impact it has, but I know that when we're in there on game day we're fresh and we're ready to go and it's definitely contributing to our intensity in there," Serong said. 

"I feel like it's helping the team as well and I don't think 'JL' (coach Justin Longmuir) would let us do that if it was negatively affecting the way we're going about it and if we're getting intercepted and we're getting smashed down there when we go forward. 

"So I think we're having an impact when we go down there … and the forwards are putting us exactly where we need to be and they're helping us a lot."

Another striking element of Fremantle's recent form has been the aggressive handball game that has seen the team attack in waves through the corridor at a more frequent rate. 

While it has always been the Dockers' intent in 2024, Champion Data stats show their metres gained through handball has spiked in recent weeks after hitting season highs for handball differential in their past two matches, against Melbourne (+60) and West Coast (+69). 

Serong and Brayshaw were central to the Dockers' high handball style against West Coast, sharing 37 handballs and 36 handball receives as they chained out of stoppages, with the Dockers No.1 in the AFL for handball clearances (59 per cent). 

"It's been an intent for us to do that for a while, and if you look at the amount of handballs we've had compared to kicks over the last few years, it's what we want to do," Serong said.  

"We want to use our numbers. We feel like we're a high workrate team that support contests, and then from that we feel like we outnumber at those contests.

"I feel like what you're seeing now is the result of a lot of hard work throughout the pre-season, a lot of hard work with our touch and ball handling pre-season and during the week."