St Kilda assistant Danny Frawley has given a positive update to the progress of talented youngster Nathan Freeman, believing his AFL debut is right around the corner.
The 22-year-old’s battles with chronic hamstring injuries have seen him yet to play a senior game, despite sitting on an AFL list for four seasons at two different clubs: Collingwood and his current side.
Freeman has put together his longest run of consistent games at VFL level this year, with a combined 54 disposals from two standout games in recent weeks pushing him to the brink of a long-awaited AFL debut.
Frawley says that the club are wrapped with his determined effort to get over his injury problems and realise the potential that saw him taken at pick 10 in the 2013 AFL National Draft.
He believes that if St Kilda weren’t in the midst of a top eight challenge, with a key game against top four aspirants Richmond looming this weekend at Etihad Stadium, Freeman would already be playing for the senior side.
“It’s been a great effort and one of resilience. He’s playing some really good football and getting a lot of the ball,” Frawley said on SEN Breakfast.
“If the Saints weren’t in the eight, he’d probably be playing now. You don’t want to bring the kid into a cut-and-thrust game like the Maddie Riewoldt game on Saturday night.
“He’s going extremely well, they’re wrapped with him down there at the moment.”
The former Saints defender believes that Freeman would likely see most of his time in the midfield should he debut in the near future, with occasional stints in the backline.
“I think he can be a midfielder who can do a defensive type role and work off (his opponents),” he said.
“He runs quite well and he accumulates a lot of the ball. He’s probably a distributor more than a run-and-carry (player).”