Southern United ended up being the benefactor of that.
The 18-year-old midfielder linked with the team for this year’s national women’s premiership.
It was not an insignificant commitment from one of the country’s most promising players, who was key in the 2018 under-17 World Cup team that finished third.
After spending four years playing for her hometown Canterbury United, she moved to Wellington after lockdown.
There she has been training at the Ole Academy, alongside a group of top male players.
However, she remained open as to who she would play for.
After talking with four teams, she decided Southern would provide the best opportunity.
"[Coach] Ignacio [Sande] said basically what I wanted to hear from a coach," Fraser said.
"Me just being able to be creative and push myself in his environment, so I decided to play with Southern."
That has meant flying to Dunedin every Friday to train and stay with the team until after the game.
It had been tougher than she expected, although she said it was good to experience the travel, particularly as that was a big part of playing professionally overseas.
While Southern had struggled so far this season — it has scored just one goal in four games — she was enjoying the set-up.
"I do have a bit of freedom at Southern.
"It’s a bit harder because we’re not getting the ball as much as I’m used to.
"It’s still getting me work on my defending game, which isn’t the best.
"So I’m getting a lot of work in, I’ve just got to push myself and work hard."
Fraser said training at the Ole Academy, while also studying to be a personal trainer through the Open Polytech, had been a great move.
The level and intensity of training around boys was higher, which helped her.
She had also got to train with top women’s players Maya Hahn and Helena Errington.
Alongside that, futsal was another way to challenge herself.
She loved playing the indoor version of the game, while finding its pace was great for her reactions and footwork.
It was a sport she has represented New Zealand in too, having been to China with the Futsal Ferns.
National representation had been put on hold this year, due to Covid-19, although she hoped to be involved in the next New Zealand under-20 team.
Before that, she was hoping to help turn around Southern’s fortunes.
Two games remain — against WaiBOP and Central, the former travelling to Logan Park Turf tomorrow.
Southern has beaten both teams the past four times they have played, although WaiBOP is a much improved team this year.
It upset Northern last week and has quality players in the likes of Kelli Brown and Grace Wisnewski.
Fraser said Southern’s struggles had come partly from not finishing its chances, but she also felt it needed to do a better job of retaining possession.
Kick-off is at 11am.
