Fremantle midfielder Neil Erasmus on why he knocked back rival interest to stay at the Dockers

Neil Erasmus can pinpoint the exact moment he decided to stay at Fremantle. Throughout a turbulent 2025 season, Erasmus says he never let his mind settle on re-signing at the Dockers or moving elsewhere. In his first extensive interview since extending his stay at the club, Erasmus revealed the exact moment he realised he wanted to stay in purple. It came as he sat with ice on his ankle in the changerooms at Marvel Stadium after the Dockers’ season-defining win over the Western Bulldogs in round 24. With their backs against the wall and needing to win to play in September, Fremantle defied the odds to claim a 15-point upset win in enemy territory. Erasmus doesn’t reflect on that game as fondly as he does because he played well — the 22-year-old kicked a goal from 20 touches and six clearances — but for the feeling he got as the club celebrated making finals. “I didn’t really let my mind get to areas where I was making the decisions when we’re in the heat of playing some pretty big games and the coaches relied on me and picked me in those teams,” Erasmus told The West Australian. “The feeling I had after the Western Bulldogs win, that was the turning I would say. I rolled my ankle pretty bad in that game but I completely forgot about it afterwards. “It was all smiles and the plane ride home was unreal. And even though I did injure myself pretty bad, I wasn’t thinking about that. I was just living in the moment, it was a good feeling and I just wanted that again. “We’re such a young team, there’s not many of us that have had a win that has been so consequential and for us to stand up in that moment. The year before that, we’d lost quite a few close games in the lead up to finals so to get that, get the four points and lock in a spot was unreal.” Erasmus was true his word, waiting until November before putting pen to paper on a three-year contract extension to remain at Fremantle. Even the most rusted on of Dockers supporters would not have blamed the Subiaco product if he’d made a different decision. Since being drafted with pick No.10 in 2021, the midfielder has played only 39 games, having been a victim of not only a star-studded midfield but a durable one, with the likes of Caleb Serong and Andrew Brayshaw rarely missing. And it’s why cross-town rivals West Coast and the Western Bulldogs came circling to see if he could be tempted to look for greener pastures. “I’d be lying if I said that (thinking about what it would be like at another club) didn’t happen but I am also quite a realistic person,” he said. “Although the grass does look greener at times when things might not be going your way, I was able to understand that the struggles that potentially I was having with selection and things like that at Freo, you’re going to likely get that at another club. It’s not just going to be all roses. You’ve got to weigh up the positives and the negatives. “I’ve done so much work here, I thought it would be silly of me to go somewhere new. A fresh beginning would’ve been nice but I would have had to build those relationships with coaches and players up again.” Erasmus is coming off a career-best season when he played 16 games, including the last six that included the heartbreaking one-point elimination final loss to Gold Coast. Primarily known as an inside midfielder, the Hale School product had to adapt to a role on the wing to break into the team. While Erasmus said that gave him confidence, his was aware that he’s not guaranteed that spot come round one next year. “It’s a blank sheet, we’ve got some new good recruits and some new draftees and everyone’s spot is there for the taking,” he said. “You can feel that out on the track including myself and definitely with the rest of the midfielders. We’re all competitive and wanting to prove ourselves.” Should Erasmus find himself on the outer at any stage, he has a history of not letting giving up which is reflected in his consistency down at WAFL affiliate Peel Thunder. And it was this persistence that was acknowledged by coach Justin Longmuir at the end of the season. “I remember in the exit meeting last year, it was something that JL brought up and one of the things he was really quite proud of was exactly that — every time that I went back to Peel you wouldn’t have known that I had such selection pressures or such a let down the week before,” he said. “He said ‘that’s probably why you are where you are coming into the back end of the year and a lot of players could’ve potentially taken it differently’. So it was nice of him to say that.” While Fremantle lasted only one week in September, there is an air of optimism around the group ahead of next year that they can go to another level. And Erasmus said the biggest learning they received from their defeat to the Suns was not that their footy didn’t stack up. “We need to work on our mental game,” he said. “It wasn’t the fact we didn’t play good footy that day, we let ourselves down in one quarter and they scored 45 points. That was the difference in the game. “We have to talk about it, we have to grow from it. And the main thing coming out of it was our ability to stay focused for 120 minutes. “We have a psychologist now we work closely with and we’ve got to put measures in place to make sure everyone on the field is focused.” For the first time in nearly two decades, the Dockers will head into a season without Michael Walters or Nat Fyfe in the changerooms after the two club greats hung up the boots. And while Erasmus said the pair of champions had done the work to ensure the transition was smooth, there was now an opportunity for the next generation to shoulder more responsibility. “Both Nat and Sonny facilitated that transition as well. When they were potentially on their way out they gave a lot of information and advice in the past few years,” he said. “Their experience is going to be missed but they’ve put measures in place that we have their knowledge. “It’s actually quite refreshing to have all the young boys speak up. Not that they couldn’t before, but having everyone feel included in meetings and at training because we’re also close with each other, we hang out off the field, it’s building a strong connection.”