Daniel Patrick Frawley (8 September 1963 – 9 September 2019) was an
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...
player, coach, administrator, commentator and media personality. He played 240 games for the
St Kilda Football Club
The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league.
The club ...
in the
Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
(VFL)/
Australian Football League
The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...
(AFL) from 1984 to 1995,
captaining the club for nine seasons, and won
All-Australian
The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...
selection and the
St Kilda best and fairest award in 1988. Frawley coached the
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...
from 2000 to 2004, with his most successful season coming in 2001, when he coached Richmond to a preliminary final. He later served as chief executive officer of the
AFL Coaches Association
The AFL Coaches Association (AFLCA) is the representative body for Australian Football League coaches.
History
The AFLCA was founded in 2002, and as of 2015 had 178 members. Every year annually since 2003, the AFLCA has released a set of awards ...
from 2008 to 2014, and had part-time roles with the
Hawthorn Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...
and St Kilda.
Following his coaching career, Frawley was an AFL commentator for
Fox Footy
Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited, operated out of their Me ...
,
Triple M
Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations.
The network dates back to th ...
and
1116 SEN, and also appeared on ''
The Sunday Footy Show'' on the
Nine Network
The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...
. On television, he is best remembered for his work on the Fox Footy program ''
Bounce
Bounce or The Bounce may refer to:
* Deflection (physics), the event where an object Collision, collides with and bounces against a plane surface
Books
* Mr. Bounce, a character from the Mr. Men series of children's books
Broadcasting, film and ...
'', which he co-hosted alongside contemporary
Jason Dunstall
Jason Hadfield Dunstall (born 14 August 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Dunstall is arguably the greatest Australian rules footballer to come from ...
for over 350 episodes from 2007 to his death in 2019; on radio, he is best remembered for his work on Triple M, most notably his appearances on ''The Saturday Rub'', from 2005 to 2016. Frawley quietly struggled with mental health problems throughout most of his time in football, but he became more open in his later years, leading him to host his own podcast on SEN dedicated to mental health, ''No Man Should Ever Walk Alone'', from 2017 to 2018.
Frawley died in a single-vehicle car crash in
Millbrook, Victoria, on 9 September 2019. His death devastated the wider football community and led to tributes from footballers, coaches, media and fans alike, including a private but broadcast memorial service on 18 September 2019.
Early life and family
Frawley was educated at
St Patrick's College,
Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...
, and played country football for
East Ballarat in the
Ballarat Football League
The Ballarat Football League (BFL) is an Australian rules football competition that operates in the Ballarat region of Victoria, Australia.
The competition formed in 1893 as the Ballarat Football Association and was renamed Ballarat Football ...
(BFL) and
Bungaree
Bungaree, or Boongaree ( – 24 November 1830), was an Aboriginal Australian from the Guringai people of the Broken Bay north of Sydney, who was known as an explorer, entertainer, and Aboriginal community leader.Barani (2013)Significant Aborig ...
in the
Central Highlands Football League
The Central Highlands Football League is an Australian Rules Football League in the Ballarat
Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, B ...
(CHFL).
He grew up and worked on a potato farm in
Bungaree
Bungaree, or Boongaree ( – 24 November 1830), was an Aboriginal Australian from the Guringai people of the Broken Bay north of Sydney, who was known as an explorer, entertainer, and Aboriginal community leader.Barani (2013)Significant Aborig ...
, which led to his nickname of "Spud".
Frawley was the nephew of former player
Des Tuddenham
Desmond Vincent Tuddenham (born 29 January 1943) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for and in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s.
Early years and football career
Tuddenham was born and raised in Ro ...
and the uncle of , and player
James Frawley
James Joseph Frawley (September 29, 1936 – January 22, 2019) was an American director and actor. He was a member of the Actors Studio since around 1961. He was best known for directing ''The Muppet Movie'' (1979) and ''The Monkees'' television ...
.
His brother Tony was the chief executive officer of
AFL Northern Territory
AFL Northern Territory is the governing body for Australian rules football in the Northern Territory of Australia. It supervises multiple leagues, but is mainly concerned with the co-ordination of the Northern Territory Football League. Th ...
from 2005 to 2015.
Playing career
St Kilda
Frawley initially played as a forward but soon became a renowned
full back.
He captained the
St Kilda Football Club
The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league.
The club ...
for nine seasons over his 240-game playing career from 1984 to 1995. He was the club's best and fairest winner in 1988 and was named in the All-Australian team the same year. He was the longest serving
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of the St Kilda Football Club. He was inducted into the Saints' hall of fame in 2007.
Honours and achievements
Individual
* St Kilda Football Club Hall of Fame (inducted 2006)
*
St Kilda captain: 1987–1995
*
All-Australian team
The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...
: 1988
*
St Kilda best and fairest: 1988
* 2×
Australia representative honours in
international rules football
International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed ...
:
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...
,
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
Coaching career
Collingwood Football Club assistant coach (1996–1999)
After his retirement from playing, Frawley spent four years as an assistant coach at
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...
from 1996 until 1999 under senior coach
Tony Shaw.
Richmond Football Club senior coach (2000–2004)
Frawley became the senior coach of the
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...
in 2000 when he replaced
Jeff Gieschen
Jeff Gieschen (born 22 September 1956) is the former National Umpire Manager of the Australian Football League (AFL) and a former Australian rules football player and coach who played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1974 and 1978 ...
.
In his first year in the
2000 season, Richmond under Frawley just missed out of the finals by finishing ninth. In the
2001 season, he took the Tigers into the finals, where, in the preliminary finals, they were eliminated by the
Brisbane Lions
The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL).
The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...
, who were the eventual premiers. Under Frawley, the club moved to fourth on the ladder and their first preliminary final since 1995.
In the
2002 season, however, Richmond under Frawley struggled and finished 14th. At the start of the
2003 season
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
, the initial signs were positive, with Richmond under Frawley starting with six wins and two losses to start the season; however, the club's on-field performance dropped when they lost 13 of their next 14 matches and finished 13th.
In the
2004 season, Richmond under Frawley kept struggling and finished 16th for the "
wooden spoon Wooden Spoon may refer to:
* Wooden spoon, implement
* Wooden spoon (award)
A wooden spoon is an award that is given to an individual or team that has come last in a competition. Examples range from the academic to sporting and more frivolous e ...
", which was the last position on the ladder at the time. Midway through the season, Frawley announced that he would resign at the end of the season.
Richmond under Frawley lost their last 14 matches of the 2004 season.
Frawley was then replaced by
Terry Wallace
Terry Wallace (born 13 December 1958) is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach.
As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn where he played in three premierships. After one season with ...
as Richmond Football Club senior coach.
Hawthorn Football Club assistant coach (2008–2014)
From 2008 until 2014, Frawley worked at
Hawthorn
Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to:
Plants
* '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae
* ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...
as a part-time assistant coach.
St Kilda Football Club assistant coach (2014–2018)
He rejoined as a backline and key-position assistant coach in November 2014. Later, and until 2018, Frawley was a part-time specialist defence coach at the St Kilda Football Club.
Post-coaching roles
After leaving senior coaching, Frawley was a special commentator for
Triple M
Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations.
The network dates back to th ...
. In June 2006, he coached a winning Victorian
state of origin
A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...
side in the
E. J. Whitten Legends Match and became the chief executive of the AFL Coaches Association.
Media career and post-football
During his playing career, Frawley was a regular cast member on ''AFL Squadron'' alongside
Garry Lyon
Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mai ...
. When he transitioned to being a commentator primarily, Frawley was a commentator for
Fox Footy
Fox Footy (stylised as FOX FOOTY) is an Australian rules football subscription television channel dedicated to screening Australian rules football matches and related programming. It is owned by Fox Sports Pty Limited, operated out of their Me ...
and was a co-host of ''
Bounce
Bounce or The Bounce may refer to:
* Deflection (physics), the event where an object Collision, collides with and bounces against a plane surface
Books
* Mr. Bounce, a character from the Mr. Men series of children's books
Broadcasting, film and ...
'' with
Jason Dunstall
Jason Hadfield Dunstall (born 14 August 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Dunstall is arguably the greatest Australian rules footballer to come from ...
and
Cameron Mooney
Cameron Mooney (born 26 September 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the North Melbourne and Geelong Football Clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL). A forward, tall and weighing , Mooney is renowned for hi ...
, as well as a part of the
1116 SEN Footy team on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.
Earlier in his career, he was also involved with the
Nine Network
The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...
and
Triple M
Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations.
The network dates back to th ...
as a commentator and a regular co-host on ''The Saturday Rub''.
He also hosted a Monday night show on SEN called ''No Man Should Ever Walk Alone'' on men's health topics including mental health, addiction, and lifestyle.
Personal life and death
Frawley was married to Anita,
who made regular appearances on the
Fox Footy Channel
The Fox Footy Channel was a channel exclusively dedicated to Australian rules football. It was owned by Foxtel and operated out of their Melbourne based studios. From 2002 - 2006 it was available on Foxtel, Austar, Optus Television, TransTV ...
program ''Living with Footballers''. They had three daughters: Chelsea, Danielle, and Keeley.
On 9 September 2019, a day after his 56th birthday, Frawley died in a single-vehicle car crash in
Millbrook, Victoria
Millbrook is a rural district in the state of Victoria, Australia, located north west of Melbourne. It was formerly called "Moorabool" but the name was changed to avoid confusion with a locality near Geelong. The name "Millbrook" was adopted ...
.
The incident occurred shortly after 1:30 pm when his car left the road and struck a tree on Old Melbourne Road between Ryans and Chapmans Roads. He was the only passenger and died at the scene of the crash.
The corner ruled his death a suicide. An examination of his brain nearly a year later found that Frawley had stage two
chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets worse o ...
(CTE), a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head injuries; his wife Anita said she had "strongly suspected there was more going on with Danny than straightforward depression".
Tributes
The
Trevor Barker Award
The Trevor Barker Award is an Australian rules football award for the player voted the St Kilda Football Club best and fairest player during the home and away season in the Australian Football League by a voting panel.
The St Kilda Best & Fair ...
, St Kilda's award for best and fairest player, proceeded two nights after Frawley's death and was filled with tributes to him, including speeches from teammates
Stewart Loewe
Stewart Loewe (born 23 May 1968) is a former Australian rules football player for the St Kilda Football Club.
Nicknamed "Buckets" for his big hands and the way he was able to mark the ball with ease, Loewe debuted in 1986 for the St Kilda F ...
and
Robert Harvey.
The AFL announced that a moment of silence would be observed in Frawley's honour before both semifinals the following weekend (
Geelong
Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...
–
West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to:
Geography Australia
* Western Australia
*Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia
* West Coast, Tasmania
**West Coast Range, mountain range in the region
Canada
* Britis ...
and
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
–
Greater Western Sydney
Greater Western Sydney (GWS) is a large region of the metropolitan area of Greater Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), Australia that generally embraces the north-west, south-west, central-west, and far western sub-regions within Sydney's metropoli ...
), with all four teams also wearing black armbands. The
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria in Australia that participates in the National Rugby League. The first fully professional rugby league team based in the state, the Storm entered the competition in 1998. ...
and
Canberra Raiders
The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...
also observed a moment of silence for Frawley before their NRL qualifying final at AAMI Park. AFL CEO
Gillon McLachlan
Gillon McLachlan (born 1973) is the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League (AFL). He was appointed to the role in 2014, succeeding Andrew Demetriou, having previously served as his deputy. In 2022 he announced his resignatio ...
also revealed that it was being considered that the Golden Fist award, an award for best defender that Frawley had famously created on ''Bounce'', should become an official AFL honour. A Change.org petition about the matter had garnered 33,000 signatures in less than 48 hours.
Both radio stations Frawley had worked at—Triple M and SEN—broadcast a special joint edition of ''The Saturday Rub'' in Frawley's honour with his co-hosts
James Brayshaw
James Antony Brayshaw (born 11 May 1967) is an Australian media personality and retired cricketer working in television for the Seven Network and radio for Triple M. For Seven Sport, he hosts and calls Test cricket during summer and Australian F ...
,
Brian Taylor,
Damian Barrett
Damian Barrett is an Australian journalist who works for AFL Media and covers Australian rules football.
Career
Barrett has worked in the Australian sports media, covering a variety of sports, for over 30 years. He has worked for the Herald Sun, ...
and
Garry Lyon
Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mai ...
.
A private but broadcast memorial was held for Frawley, followed by the hearse travelling to Moorabbin Oval for a lap of honour.
In November 2020, St Kilda and the Victorian and federal governments announced the plans for a $16 million (AUD) Moorabbin Oval centre, including classroom spaces, consultation suites and breakout areas to be named the Danny Frawley Centre for Health and Wellbeing. The center launched on 1 March 2022, with the attendees including St Kilda greats Loewe and
Nick Riewoldt
Nicholas Fredrick Riewoldt ( ; born 17 October 1982) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was the first draft selection in the 2000 AFL draft. He was the ...
, club CEO Matt Finnis, Frawley's broadcast colleagues Lyon and
Jason Dunstall
Jason Hadfield Dunstall (born 14 August 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Dunstall is arguably the greatest Australian rules footballer to come from ...
, actor and former St Kilda #1 ticket holder
Eric Bana
Eric Banadinović, (born 9 August 1968), known professionally as Eric Bana (), is an Australian actor and comedian. He began his career in the sketch comedy series '' Full Frontal'' before gaining notice in the comedy drama '' The Castle'' (19 ...
, AFL CEO
Gillon McLachlan
Gillon McLachlan (born 1973) is the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League (AFL). He was appointed to the role in 2014, succeeding Andrew Demetriou, having previously served as his deputy. In 2022 he announced his resignatio ...
, Victorian Tourism Minister
Martin Pakula
Martin Philip Pakula (born 7 January 1969) is a former Australian politician. He has been a Labor Party member of the Parliament of Victoria since 2006: in the Legislative Council for Western Metropolitan Region from 2006 to 2010, and then in ...
and Senator
Jane Hume. Frawley's #2 was also retired by the club and hangs in the centre. In January 2021, it was announced that Frawley's nephew
James
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
, who had joined St Kilda after a brief retirement at the end of the 2020 season with , would wear the #24 guernsey, which Danny had worn from 1985 to 1987 before switching to #2.
In March 2021, St Kilda announced that their Round 2 game, beginning that season against
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, would be called "Spud's Game: Time 2 Talk" in partnership with
Movember
Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. It is a portmanteau of the Australian-Engli ...
to promote mental health. Prior to the match, the game was delayed by two minutes with Frawley's close friends Lyon, Loewe and
Tony Lockett
Anthony Howard Lockett (born 9 March 1966) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Nicknamed "Plugger", he is considered one of the greatest f ...
paying tribute to Frawley in the middle of the ground and asking for those that were watching to check with their mates with both teams surrounding them and his family watching on.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frawley, Danny
1963 births
2019 deaths
Trevor Barker Award winners
St Kilda Football Club players
Richmond Football Club coaches
Triple M presenters
Australian rules football commentators
All-Australians (1953–1988)
Victorian State of Origin players
Australian rules footballers from Ballarat
East Ballarat Football Club players
People educated at St Patrick's College, Ballarat
Australia international rules football team players
Sportspeople with chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Road incident deaths in Victoria (Australia)