Caleb Serong said the midfield group is looking forward to the challenge of minimising Marcus Bontempelli’s impact in Saturday’s clash with the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.

“We’ve played the Bulldogs already this year and we had some plans in place for him (Bontempelli) that we felt like were able to kind of work pretty well (reducing his impact),” Serong said during his Monday morning media conference.

“Obviously he’s still going to have impact on games, he’s a star and in my opinion is the best player in the competition with what he’s able to do both offensively, defensively, as a team player and as a leader.

“He’s someone that I look up to as a player and he’s going to have impact either way but it’s how we as a group, and whoever may get the role manages that and maintains it, but as a group we’ve got plans that will be put in place like we do every week.”

Serong’s impressive first 12 games of the season sees the star midfielder ranked as one of the premium players in the league, but the 23-year-old was adamant he was more concerned with team success over individual performance.

“There is an awareness and obviously it gets spoken about a little bit (Serong’s start to the season), but my attention is solely focused on how we are going as a group and also as a midfield group,” the midfielder said.

“For me personally (the bye round came at a good time), you have different parts of the year where you start to feel fatigued, overloaded, or mentally fatigued or whatever it is, and I’ve felt like the last week has been really good.

“I’m feeling really refreshed, re-energised and all the boys have come back feeling the same way.

“The training standard today (Monday) with the intensity and on Saturday as well has been through the roof, which is exciting.”

Fremantle play the Bulldogs at 11.45 am WST on Saturday 15 June at Marvel Stadium, with a win potentially seeing Fremantle sit as high as third on the ladder at the conclusion of round 14.