St Kilda great Danny Frawley has lauded the work ethic of key defender Jake Carlisle ahead of the former Bomber’s first appearance in red, white and black this weekend.
After a widely publicised false start last summer, Carlisle overcame a delayed start to his pre-season due to hip surgery to regain fitness on the track and then rediscover touch in the JLT Community Series.
Frawley predicted that Carlisle, who has inherited the former Saints’ skipper’s guernsey number, will get better by the week after more than 16 months between appearances at AFL level.
“His pre-season’s been really good; he’s kept his head down and his bum up; he’s been first to the club and last to leave; his work rate’s been good,” Frawley told saints.com.au on Thursday afternoon.
“He was a little bit rusty early, obviously having not played an AFL game for 17 months. I think he’ll add a lot of height and a lot of footy nous to our backline.
“His form over the JLT got better each week and we still won't see the best of him to about Round 4 or 5, but in saying that he’s ready to go.”
Frawley, who is St Kilda’s second longest serving captain and one of the club's assistant coaches, said the inclusion of Carlisle and full-back Nathan Brown will fill a gaping hole in the Saints defence.
“I think one of the Achilles heels of the Saints over the last couple of years has probably been a lot of height and strength and a little bit of aggression, so those two boys will bring that to the table, which is something all St Kilda supporters will look forward to,” he said.
While Frawley wore the No. 2 with distinction across his career, he isn’t the only one at the club to have worn the number for the Saints. Senior Assistant Coach Aaron Hamill and Player Welfare Manager Tony Brown also wore the famous number. Now, Frawley says, it’s Carlisle’s turn to build his own legacy.
“He’s just got to make that his own, obviously ‘Sammy’ Hamill wore number two at the club and Tony Brown as well at the club,” he said. “The number’s irrelevant, it’s when people talk about the number you know you’ve had a pretty good career so let’s hope we talk about the number two with Jake Carlisle in many years to come.”
