With a relatively healthy list and a deep talent pool, Fremantle’s best 22 is far from set in stone, especially when it comes to the outside midfield roles.

Versatile midfielder James Aish believes selection will come down to individual performances in the upcoming practice games against Adelaide on 24 February and Port Adelaide on 2 March.

Aish played 23 of a possible 24 games in 2022 as Senior Coach Justin Longmuir used the 26-year-old in a variety of roles, including on the wing, inside midfield and in defence.

The 143-gamer has continued to feature in the centre of the ground in match sims this summer.

As well as likely midfield selections Andrew Brayshaw, Caleb Serong, Will Brodie and Jaeger O’Meara, the likes of Aish, Sam Switkowski, Nathan O’Driscoll, Neil Erasmus and Matthew Johnson have also rotated through the middle.

Two-time Brownlow Medallist Nat Fyfe is also expected to play a mix of midfield and forward after spending the summer working on his forward craft.

“At this stage (my role) is looking like wing/mid,” Aish said.

“Like all the good teams, we’re trying to build a group of seven or eight mids each game who can rotate around.

“I think that’s going to be pretty important this year.”

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Aish believes there will be a selection crunch between several players for the two wing roles, including Ethan Hughes, who has been used as a defender for most of his 81 games to date.

“(There’s) Driz (O’Driscoll), Liam Henry, Hughesy and myself and we still have guys like Michael Frederick and Trav Colyer coming up as well, it’s definitely not decided,” Aish said.

“We’ve got a lot of options, even the young mids (Neil Erasmus and Matthew Johnson) are trying to get a game as well, they’re great options there.

“Like the team as a whole, we’re in a really good spot and the practice games will help decide.”

Aish added to the excitement building around both Erasmus and Johnson.

“They’re young guys trying to come into a relatively strong team, you’ve got to fight pretty hard,” Aish said.

“They’ll definitely get their chances in the practice games coming up. They’re really impressive, I think they’re going to have great careers.”

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