West Coast coach Andrew McQualter says Caleb Serong has been on his mind all week as he attempts to find a way to curtail the star Fremantle midfielder in the western derby.
Serong has already won three Glendinning-Allan medals for being best afield in a derby, and the 24-year-old has the chance to equal Paul Hasleby's record mark of four on Sunday.
McQualter was a tagger during his 94-game AFL career, and he's seriously weighing up whether to send someone to clamp down on Serong.
The tactic worked a treat for Sydney last week when James Jordon held Serong to just 19 disposals, five clearances and a goal in the Swans' three-point win over Fremantle.
"It's certainly been on our minds all week," McQualter replied when asked about curtailing Serong.
"We'll have plans for sure. You have to, but there's also some other pretty good players for the Dockers.
"I was a scrappy little tagger myself, so I probably should employ it a bit more.
"But I think there's just horses for courses.
"Sometimes you really need it, and the game requires you to do it, and sometimes it maybe takes away a bit too much from your system."
Some Fremantle players tried to disrupt Jordon from his tagging role on Serong last week, but Dockers coach Justin Longmuir feels more could have been done.
"I think we can help Caleb through those tags on the field a little bit more," Longmuir said.
"Support him with blocks. He's really selfless when a tag happens. But I think we can support him a little bit more to free him up
"He understands that his game is at a level now where he's going to cop attention each week.
"He's up for that challenge."
Fremantle (0-2) and West Coast (0-2) are both winless, and Sunday's clash marks the first time the two teams have met while occupying the bottom two rungs on the ladder.
It's led to the phrase 'cellar dweller derby', but neither coach is panicking just yet given how early in the season it is.
McQualter is looking forward to his first derby, and it's been a big learning curve this week.
"It's funny. Being a Victorian, I hadn't been involved in a derby before," McQualter explained.
"But on Tuesday in our match review, I actually said something like, 'I can't wait for this week, but it's just another game'.
"And (Elliot) Yeo came straight up to me afterwards and just said, 'No, it's not another game'.
"So I'm on a steep learning curve there, but our players are super excited.
"There's definitely a certain feel that's different with this, with playing Freo in a derby."
Fremantle will unleash small forward Isaiah Dudley for his AFL debut, while West Coast have recalled tall forward Jack Williams alongside the returning Jack Graham (hip).
