CALEB Serong has opened up about the heartbreak of Fremantle's failed finals bid, believing the pain will only drive the group to greater heights next year.
The Dockers lost their last four games to slip from third on the ladder to 10th, crushing their premiership hopes for another season.
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Fremantle would have sneaked into the finals had it beaten Port Adelaide in the final round, but lost by 20 points after conceding the last three goals of the match.
Serong revealed the team held a meeting with three rounds remaining where they committed to giving the flag a red-hot crack.
"We said it would break our heart if we went all in and came up short," Serong said.
"But I'd rather that than shy away from the challenge or not give our all in that space.
"I don't think the last three weeks you can question our effort, the way we wanted to play, the intensity.
"We just didn't make the most of opportunities and came up against three really good sides (Geelong, GWS, Port Adelaide).
"We played some amazing footy throughout the year - it was just scarred by missed opportunities, and that's what hurts.
"But it won't break us. It'll make us stronger and it will teach us a lot of lessons and help us grow."
Late-season injuries to Sean Darcy (knee), Alex Pearce (broken arm) and Josh Treacy (knee) cost the Dockers dearly.
But Fremantle's ability to win just one of its eight games that were decided by 13 points or less is what ultimately cost it a finals berth.
Serong said the painful lessons learned from those close losses would burn until round one next year.
"The building blocks are there and that's hard to hear for the fans and that's hard to cop for us, because we want to be there on that last day in September," Serong said.
"We spoke at the start of the year that we were young and that was never going to be used as an excuse for us.
"That was going to be used as an advantage of an energetic, intense, vibrant group that's going to put all their strengths on display and we did that for large portions this year.
"But the consistency piece is another aspect that we need to keep working on."
Fremantle boasts arguably the most talented young list in the competition.
But what really fills Serong with confidence is the mindset of the group.
"We've got some absolute dogs in there that want to get better every day, that want to improve, that aren't ever satisfied with where they're at, where the team's at," Serong said.
"There's no ceiling on what we can achieve. We're only scratching the surface with this group. We're going to get so much better."
The Dockers are a red-hot chance to land Shai Bolton during the upcoming trade period after the Richmond star requested a move back home to Western Australia.
