“Brett (Ratten) rang me to let me know,” Frazer said following Thursday’s training session at Visy Park. “He congratulated me, but told me there’s still a long way to go.
“It was a bit out of left-field. I didn’t expect it at all. I was lucky enough to get the call-up because of circumstance and I view it as just a stepping stone.”
Frazer fills the vacancy left by Sam Rowe, who has now been placed on the long-term injury list as he continues his bold battle with testicular cancer. Though he and Sam are yet to have crossed paths since the former’s elevation, Frazer truly empathizes with his teammate.
“I haven’t yet spoken to Sam, but I know that his is an unfortunate case,” Frazer said. “But he has been around the club a couple of times recently and he’s going pretty well.”
Born in Benalla and rookie drafted to Carlton from Calder Cannons, Frazer’s formative years were spent at Myrtleford, the gateway to the Victorian Alpine region and the place from which 1968 premiership full-forward Brian Kekovich originally hailed.
The sporting pedigree is there of course. Frazer’s father Andrew Dale represented Melbourne in two senior matches in 1986 sporting the lofty No.59, while Uncle Adam wore the baggy green, sending down his seamers to Tendulkar and Lara in the Bangalore and Antigua Tests of 1997 and ’98.
Not surprisingly, they were amongst the first to get wind of the good news “and they were rapt,” Frazer said.
The 2010 and ’11 seasons saw Frazer commit his energies to Calder, initially as a forward flanker then later as defender. In joining Carlton, he followed Eddie Betts, Luke Mitchell and Matthew Watson from Calder into the fold.
Frazer made the flight with team members to AAMI Stadium late last week, even though he knew on the Thursday that he wouldn’t be running out.
But the level-headed 18 year-old gained much from the foray, as ill-fated as it was for those who lined up for the match with Port.
“I was sort of close (to selection) and yet it was a good experience to go over and be there with the team,” he said.
