By Grant Hitzman
Demons young gun, Harrison Fraser, has claimed the Round 15 Rising Star nomination after a classy midfield display against Labrador on Saturday.
Fraser, a Southport rookie-listed player, had a key tagging role on Labrador’s Todd Featherstone, which stopped the Tigers’ danger man from taking over the game.
“I thought it was a good game, It wasn’t my best game of the year but tagging Featherstone was a great experience, he taught me a lot and gave me more contests around the ground,” Fraser said.
“I haven’t really played as a tagger until this year, but Surfers have helped me learn the shutdown role and the importance of sacrificing touches for your team.”
The pint-sized Gold Coast teenager’s work rate was first-class and a late second half goal gave the Demons a glimmer of hope to record an upset victory in a low scoring affair.
“It was a close game and we were always in it, and I haven’t kicked many goals lately so it was nice to see one go through,” Fraser said.
Despite going down by 27 points in the end to a more polished Labrador outfit, 18-year old Fraser was one of the Demons’ bright spots, playing a measured game of football well beyond his years.
Fraser attributes his new found consistency and improved match-day performances to time spent with the SUNS reserves team, where he has played seven NEAFL games this season.
“My overall fitness has definitely improved, I’m able to run out those tough games better, and my skills have gone to another level,” Fraser said.
“The QAFL is a more congested competition, where the NEAFL is more open and you need your skills to be on point if you are going to succeed.
“It’s been really good just to learn how professional you have to be, you can’t just rock up, you have to do all those extra things for recovery, because you are playing those games with AFL quality talent.”
Fraser has proved that he isn’t out of depth in the NEAFL despite his lack of experience, grabbing 19 touches and a goal against NT Thunder in Round 3 and 12 disposals along with five inside 50s against Redland in Round 13.
With three games to play in the QAFL regular season, Fraser has set himself some new goals for the weeks and months to come.
“I reckon we will make the finals, we have a tough game next week against Morningside, but it will be good to see where we are at,” Fraser said.
“My focus for the rest of the year is to just continue developing that consistency I’ve been working on and hopefully next year I can earn a proper listing with Southport.”
“But ultimately I just want to keep enjoying my footy.”
