Competing against the best teams in the AFL means little without four points to show for it, according to midfielder Caleb Serong following Fremantle’s 27-point loss to Richmond at Metricon Stadium on Wednesday.
Serong was one of Fremantle’s best in the clash with 22 disposals, nine contested possessions, six marks, five tackles and five clearances as Freo won the midfield battle with 38 clearances to 19.
But the 19-year-old had no desire to hold his head high, especially after Richmond ran away with the contest with a four-goal final term.
“Whenever you lose a game no one’s really happy. For us, we don’t want honourable losses. We want wins,” Serong told 6PR.
“(Senior coach Justin Longmuir) did praise our effort during the week, a four-day break coming off a very disappointing game against the Giants.
“So he did praise our efforts and that professionalism during the week to get up the way we did.
“But no one’s really happy with an honourable loss at the moment. We want wins.
“We were in the game until three-quarter time and then the Tigers took it up a notch and we just couldn’t match it with them.
“It’s happened a couple of times now which is pretty disappointing. We’re kind of in it until three-quarter time and then we don’t get it done.
“We’ve got to work for it and we’ve got to get better.”
Fremantle head to Cairns on Thursday morning where they will be stationed for the rest of the season.
While finals are out of the question for Freo, Serong said the hunger remained to have a successful run home against Melbourne, North Melbourne and the Western Bulldogs in the final three rounds.
“We’re really focused on just winning as many games as we can. We’ve got three more games to go and we just want to win all three of them,” he said.
“We’re looking to win games and become a real contender in the next few years. So for our development we want to win as many games as we can in the last three games.”
