FREMANTLE star Caleb Serong has won the 2024 Doig Medal after an outstanding individual season, becoming the Dockers' first back-to-back club champion since midfield teammate Nat Fyfe 10 years ago.
The 23-year-old won the award from runner-up Andrew Brayshaw for the second year in a row, with third-placed Hayden Young making it a clean sweep on the podium for the Dockers' midfield trio.
Serong, whose season was awarded with a second All-Australian blazer, also became just the fourth Docker to win consecutive Doig Medals, joining Fyfe and former captains Matthew Pavlich and Peter Bell.
His 2023 rise as one of the competition's best midfielders was cemented in a 2024 season that saw the vice-captain average a career-high 7.6 clearances (No.4 in the AFL) while dealing with opposition attention.
Coach Justin Longmuir paid tribute to the young leader's ability to evolve as well as his revered workrate.
"Consistency doesn't come on game day, it comes from trying to look for areas you can improve on week in, week out," Longmuir said.
"We've seen that from Caleb since he came to the club, he's been able to evolve in every aspect of his game to be one of the best midfielders in the competition.
"He was able to evolve as the year went on too. At the start of the season he was dominant with how many possessions and clearances he was winning.
"Then he started getting some attention towards the backend and he dealt with that.
"If he wasn't getting a heap of the ball, he was making sure he was able to manipulate the tag to be able to help his teammates influence the game at a higher level."
Under the Dockers' voting system this year, Longmuir and assistants Jaymie Graham, Matthew Boyd and Joel Corey each allocated up to five votes to each player after every game, based on how they performed their role. Each player can receive a maximum of 20 votes for each game.
Brayshaw (231 votes) finished nine votes behind Serong after an excellent end to the season and secured the fifth top-five finish of his career after also winning the Doig Medal in 2022.
Third-placed Young (200 votes) was rewarded for a terrific season that saw him move from half-back into the midfield in a career-best year that also saw him named in the 44-man All-Australian squad.
Breakout key forward Josh Treacy (185) and small forward Sam Switkowski (168) rounded out the top five, with Switkowski edging half-back Jordan Clark on a countback after tying on 168 votes.
In other awards announced at the function held at Crown Perth, defender Josh Draper was recognised as the club's most promising young player after playing 20 games as a 20-year-old key defender.
Captain Alex Pearce received the Players' Award, while recently retired forward Josh Corbett was named the Best Clubman for the second year in a row in recognition of his community work and as a specialist coach with the AFLW team.
2024 Doig Medal Top 10
Caleb Serong – 240 votes
Andrew Brayshaw – 231
Hayden Young – 200
Josh Treacy – 185
Sam Switkowski – 168
Jordan Clark – 168
Luke Ryan – 154
Alex Pearce – 144
Luke Jackson – 130
Brandon Walker - 118