Preview 2025 Best 22 Discussion

[Megalon]

 

[E Shed]

I've got no doubt Erasmus can have at least the same output this season as Fyfe. And having jusr turned 22 he'll only get better from here while a banged up Fyfe is on the decline.

Fyfe is literally a legend of the club but my head says Erasmus has to get first crack at it.

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While the substance of what you say is true it ignores the fact that Erasmus has nothing like Fyfes athleticism, ball handling skills or any of the overhead ability he once had. Perhaps more importantly he doesn’t have Fyfes football brain.
I would dearly love to be wrong but I don’t see Erasmus reaching much more than Matt DeBoar level. Which can still mean a solid career.

 

[Dockeroo]

While the substance of what you say is true it ignores the fact that Erasmus has nothing like Fyfes athleticism, ball handling skills or any of the overhead ability he once had. Perhaps more importantly he doesn’t have Fyfes football brain.
I would dearly love to be wrong but I don’t see Erasmus reaching much more than Matt DeBoar level. Which can still mean a solid career.

100%. The 23 afl games Erasmus have played so far have been pretty underwhelming. Yes some were sub appearances but there’s been very few flashes to make you think, wow there’s something here, this guys a player.
There hasn’t been a game where he even looked a contender for a rising star nomination, if he were eligible.
Some posters were saying that players like Cerra, Brayshaw Serong etc got opportunity earlier because our team was weaker then. That misses the point that they were all vastly superior in their first 3 seasons. Cerra won Brownlow votes and had over 30 touches a number of times in his first 3 years and we knew then, he was a long term afl quality midfielder from very early on.
I would even say players like Matt Johnson and NOD are well ahead of Erasmus at the point as they have shown very good signs in a number of games at AFL level.
It was good to see Neil dominating the WAFL grand final but plenty of great WAFL players in recent times like Hamish Brayshaw looked lost at the higher level so it’s no guarantee of anything. Connor Blakely is another the comes to mind - a former great white hope for freo fans too.

As for Matt deboer he was a 12 or 13 year player in the afl playing over 200 games. He had a fine career in the end.
The position that Erasmus is trying to establish himself in is so difficult (inside mid). You can’t really be a fringe player and also be a long term inside midfielder for a good afl team. The competition for selection is just too tough.

 

[Jezzitizle]

100%. The 23 afl games Erasmus have played so far have been pretty underwhelming. Yes some were sub appearances but there’s been very few flashes to make you think, wow there’s something here, this guys a player.
There hasn’t been a game where he even looked a contender for a rising star nomination, if he were eligible.
Some posters were saying that players like Cerra, Brayshaw Serong etc got opportunity earlier because our team was weaker then. That misses the point that they were all vastly superior in their first 3 seasons. Cerra won Brownlow votes and had over 30 touches a number of times in his first 3 years and we knew then, he was a long term afl quality midfielder from very early on.
I would even say players like Matt Johnson and NOD are well ahead of Erasmus at the point as they have shown very good signs in a number of games at AFL level.
It was good to see Neil dominating the WAFL grand final but plenty of great WAFL players in recent times like Hamish Brayshaw looked lost at the higher level so it’s no guarantee of anything. Connor Blakely is another the comes to mind - a former great white hope for freo fans too.

As for Matt deboer he was a 12 or 13 year player in the afl playing over 200 games. He had a fine career in the end.
The position that Erasmus is trying to establish himself in is so difficult (inside mid). You can’t really be a fringe player and also be a long term inside midfielder for a good afl team. The competition for selection is just too tough.

Agree with a lot of this, except that at times I thought Erasmus’ ability to disrupt inside the contest, by tackling and getting a hand in has been excellent. Doesn’t sound sexy, but just noticed he’d have a knack of preventing the opponent clearing the ball. Similar to Libba for the Dogs in some sense.

He also showed much more composure last season in his afl games.

If he can break into the side, I can see him having a career as a gut runner who just shows up at every contest and fights for the ball.

May even start racking it up, as he has at WAFL level. Maybe a little like Tom Mitchell - little hurt on the outside, but pure work rate, and being clean has some nice benefits.

 

[ImperialPurple]

All this talk of Erasmus replacing Fyfe reminds me of the talk of Connor Blakely replacing Lachie Neale.

 

[Jezzitizle]

All this talk of Erasmus replacing Fyfe reminds me of the talk of Connor Blakely replacing Lachie Neale.

Definitely in the range, but you could say that Fyfe 2019 has been replaced by Serong already, and 2025 Fyfe is a far lower bar than Neale set at his departure.