St Kilda and Essendon pay emotional tribute to Saints legend Danny Frawley in ‘Spud’s Game’
St Kilda and Essendon pay emotional tribute to Saints legend Danny Frawley in ‘Spud’s Game’ as AFL stars come together before Friday night clash at Marvel Stadium
- St Kilda and Essendon paid tribute to Danny Frawley in emotional scenes
- The Saints legend tragically died after slamming his car into a tree back in 2019
- Spud’s Game: Time 2 Talk helps raise funds for mental health awareness
- St Kilda great Nathan Burke lauded his old teammate before kick off on Friday
<!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
(function (src, d, tag){ var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0]; s.src = src; prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev); }(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle–.js”, document, “script”));
<!– DM.loadCSS(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2159/video_bundle–.css”);
<!–
St Kilda and Essendon put together a touching tribute to AFL legend Danny Frawley ahead of their clash on Friday night, imploring men to talk about their mental health.
Frawley was killed when his vehicle slammed into a tree near Ballarat, Victoria, just before 1.30pm on September 9, 2019 – a day after his 56th birthday.
The footy legend – who had been battling mental health problems – was declared dead at the scene, leaving behind his wife Anita, and three daughters Chelsea, Keeley, and Danielle.
St Kilda and Essendon came together to pay their respects to Danny Frawley on Friday night
The St Kilda legend and TV personality died in 2019 after battling mental health problems
Post-mortem brain scans found that Frawley suffered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, possibly caused by repeated knocks to the head during his career. CTE can trigger depression and suicidal thoughts.
Last year, his family launched a new mental health charity: ‘Spud’s Game: Time 2 Talk’ and on Friday players from the Saints and Bombers came together to raise awareness surrounding mental health.
‘To the St Kilda boys … I want you to channel the spirit of Spud,’ Saints great Nathan Burke addressed the group out on the ground. ‘The spirit of Spud is courage; it is fearless; it is relentless; it is about making your teammate the best player on the ground; it is selfless.
‘Wherever you can in a contest tonight, I want you to carry that spirit of Spud with you and if you do that, nothing can stop you from greatness.’
St Kilda coach Brett Ratten (R) and Bombers counterpart Ben Rutten (L) link arms on the oval
Nathan Burke and Tim Watson both addressed the players ahead of kick off at Marvel Stadium
The centre square is lit up at Marvel Stadium in a poignant moment before Friday’s kick off
St Kilda players run through the banner which reads ‘It’s Time 2 Talk’ in honour of Spud
‘Danny Frawley was my captain for nine years … (with) no leadership group, just one man out the front leading the way,’ he said.
‘He led with passion, with loyalty, he wore his heart on his sleeve.
‘He carried a large burden on his shoulder, he did it so well that we thought he didn’t need help. Now he needs help more than ever, he needs help from us to continue the fight.’
Proceeds from Spud’s Game: Time 2 Talk helps raise funds for mental health and suicide prevention programs delivered via the Danny Frawley Centre for Health and Wellbeing.
