JOHANNESBURG – Following his inconsistent stint with his former employers, Bidvest Wits, Reeve Frosler is banking on writing a positive chapter at Kaizer Chiefs.
Three seasons ago, Frosler was one of the reserve league’s most prominent graduates to make his mark in the elite league when he was a regular for coach Gavin Hunt’s Wits team.
However, a season later, things took a sharp turn when he was frozen out of the team and subsequently demoted to the reserves.
His then impressive exploits didn’t run dry though, as Chiefs rescued him during the January transfer window.
Six months later the 21-year-old is reaping the fruits of his labour under Ernst Middendorp, having started all three matches in the new season, Keeping Bafana Bafana international Ramahlwe Mphahlele on the bench.
Reeve Frosler of Kaizer Chiefs during the Absa Premiership 2019/20 football match between Highlands Park and Kaizer Chiefs at Makhulong Stadium, Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix
“I hadn’t played for a while leading up to the season, so it’s a new page for me to write a new chapter in my career,” Frosler said. “I am taking each game at a time, and hopefully I can improve on where I left a couple of seasons ago and just get better.”
The Port Elizabeth-born footballer is not getting carried away by being a regular under Middendorp, citing that hard work is what will make him cut the mustard at the club.
“It’s a new coach and it’s my first time working under a different coach,” he said. “So, I’ve got to learn what he likes. And in the process, I’ve got to adjust my game. I just need to keep working hard for myself, because there’s a lot of quality players at Chiefs. So, there’s no-one that’s guaranteed a spot. But if I keep working hard, hopefully I can get some minutes.”
In a league that can either break or make you as a youngster, there’s quite a number of reserve team graduates that have taken their chance in the Premiership - while some, of course, have been drowned by the pressure.
Frosler has a foot in each camp having played 26 matches for the Clever Boys in his maiden season, before kicking his heels in the stands in the next.
“It was difficult not playing (in my last six months with Wits), because if you ask any soccer player what he wants to do, he will tell you that he wants to play football at the highest level,” Frosler said. “But that’s in the past for me. I am thankful for it, but we’ll look forward to the future.”
With Chiefs drawing with SuperSport in their last encounter, they will be hoping to return to winning ways when they clash with Cape Town City this evening (7:30pm kick-off).
This will also present Frosler with another opportunity to make an impression on the Under-23 national team coach David Notoane.
Reeve Frosler of Kaizer Chiefs during the Absa Premiership 2019/20 match between Kaizer Chiefs and Black Leopards at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Frosler made the Under-23 squad that’ll square of with Zimbabwe in the first leg of the 2019 CAF eight nations qualifiers on September 5.
“It’s still early days (to think about the national teams), but with more minutes under my belt things will get better,” he said.