The 27-year-old believes that the 2009 team, currently sitting in third place with one match left in the home-and-away season, is the best he has played in since he arrived via the number one overall pick in the 1999 draft.
Fraser declared on Pie Cast on Thursday morning that the side is in a better position than in years past due to the spread of leadership the club possesses, “I think this side is better. I think we have a better spread of leadership at the club.
“Back then we only had Bucks (Nathan Buckley), Burnsy (Scott Burns) and Anthony Rocca as key figures. Now if you look at the club we probably haven’t got that top end at 30 plus guys that are leaders but more 28-24 year olds. There are probably eight or 10 guys that have stepped up as leaders and have led the club well all year.”
Click HERE to download the podcast and listen to the full interview with Josh Fraser on iTunesThe 202-centimetre big man also attributed the abundance of talented players on the current list as a key ingredient in the side’s success this season.
“We have better depth now than we have ever had. If we lost a key position player back then you would be stretching to find a replacement but now Nathan Brown went down (with injury) and Leigh Brown went to the backline to do his job.”
Fraser believes the level of depth and leadership has amounted to a new approach taken in the 2009 season.
“In the past there has been some excitement but at the moment it’s almost business like the way we are going about it. We are turning up to training expecting to train well and setting high standards.
“We are turning up to match day expecting to win because we know what we have to do to win. In ’02 and ’03 there was almost an element of surprise that we were there.
"We are more mature, more seasoned. We are in a better position from just the sheer fact that we know what we have to do."
Click HERE to download the podcast and listen to the full interview with Josh Fraser on iTunes
