After moving to the forward line in recent years, Bailey Banfield returned to the role of tagger in the RAC Derby and delivered a ‘vital’ performance against West Coast on Sunday, according to senior coach Justin Longmuir.

Young gun midfielder Caleb Serong has been Fremantle’s go-to tagger in 2021, but with Banfield taking on the role it freed Serong to star and win the Glendinning-Allan Medal with 31 disposals and two goals.

Meanwhile Banfield moved to another Glendinning-Allan Medallist in Tim Kelly, who won the award in round seven with a 42 disposal performance.

Kelly was restricted to just seven touches this time around before he came off at half time with an injury.

Longmuir said Fremantle had preferred to use Banfield as a forward since he returned with a three-goal performance against Hawthorn in round 17, but added that tagging was another string in the 23-year-old’s bow.

“Bailey’s shown that he can do that (tagging) in the past. He started at our football club as a tagger and we've moved him to the forward line for a number of different reasons over the last couple of years,” Longmuir told SEN WA.

“He's probably channelled his inner self of a couple of years ago for that role.

“Kelly was the best player on the ground last time we had an RAC Derby when we didn't put any time into him, so he did a vital job for the team.

“(It was) mentioned he copped a bit off the ball as well, which was all fair, but we have to make sure that we support him through that.”

Despite having a reputation of being one of the friendliest players on Fremantle’s list, Longmuir said Banfield had the hunger to play the aggressive role.

“He's a nice kid, but he's ultra-competitive in everything we do and he wants to be a part of AFL football and will do anything to do it,” Longmuir said.

“I didn't have to motivate him much at all. There's been a number of players that are nice guys off the field and as soon as they cross that white line, their competitiveness shines through.

“He's one of them and I thought he executed his role really well on the weekend.”

Fremantle face St Kilda on Sunday at Blundstone Arena with an early start time of 12.15pm EST (10.15am WST).

The team will fly in Hobart on Friday leaving less than 48 hours to acclimatise to the new time zone, and Longmuir said the starting time would be a particular focus going into the game.

“It’s an unusual time to get going,” Longmuir said.

“We just need to make sure we prepare for that.

“We’ll get the boys up a little earlier today, get them up early tomorrow, and get them used to that time, because it comes around really quickly.

“We’ve had a couple of early starts this year, but none as early as this. We just need to be prepared for it.”

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