Danny Frawley remembered for his mental health advocacy

Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula has spoken of the AFL legend’s mental health battles.

Danny Frawley demonstrated courage in talking about his own mental health battles, Martin Pakula says.

Late AFL legend Danny Frawley’s willingness to talk about his battles with mental health may well be his “greatest legacy”, according to Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula.

As family, friends and the AFL community came to terms with the former St Kilda captain and Richmond coach’s death in a single vehicle car crash in western Victoria yesterday, Mr Pakula said Frawley’s strongest legacy was the “bravery and the courage” he demonstrated in speaking about his own mental health.

Mr Pakula said that at the time of Frawley’s death he had been halfway through listening to the former footballer speak in a recent episode of the Herald Sun’s “Sacked” podcast, about the experiences of AFL coaches who lose their jobs.

Victorian Sports Minister Martin Pakula says he knew Danny Frawley through the AFL community. Picture: Getty Images

“He talked very frankly about his own struggles with depression and I think the fact that someone as strong and as outwardly robust as Danny was able to open himself up in that way and talk about his own struggles hopefully will be an example to many other young men who probably struggle and suffer in silence and don’t talk about these things,” Mr Pakula said.

“If Danny’s example of being prepared to talk about it helps other young people, in particular young men, that may well be his greatest legacy of all.”

Mr Pakula, who is also Racing Minister, said he had known Frawley through his contributions to St Kilda and the AFL community more broadly, as a former coach of Richmond and former CEO of the AFL Coaches Association, as a member of the Harness Racing Victoria board, and as someone who was heavily involved at Melbourne private school Haileybury College, where Frawley’s daughters went to school and Mr Pakula’s children still attend.

“He’s gone way too soon. He was a lovely, lovely bloke and I’m very sad about his passing and I just want to express my condolences to Anita and the girls and all of Danny’s loved ones and the people in the football community that loved him,” Mr Pakula said.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Victorians and footy fans were deeply saddened by Frawley’s passing, and sent his love and best wishes to the Frawley family.

“I’d met him a couple of times, and he was not only a champion footballer but a champion bloke,” Mr Andrews said.

“I think that Victorians will be deeply saddened by his passing and we do, we send our best wishes to his family.”

Mr Andrews said Frawley had spoken “very bravely” about his mental health challenges.

“I think that every day there are clear reminders and calls to action to do more to support those in our community who live with mental illness, their carers, their families,” he said.

“It’s why we’re having the nation’s first royal commission into mental health, that will provide its first report in November, its final report in October next year, and I think that will give us a clear blueprint to invest more to change lives, to save lives.

“We’ve called time on this and said that a broken system is letting too many people down.”

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said he had been inspired by seeing Frawley speak at a junior football club.

“You could just tell he had such a passion for the game, he had such a passion for people, he was a great storyteller and the best storytellers are people who love people,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Danny Frawley is just a huge loss not just to the football community, he’s a huge loss to Victoria and to the game and my heart goes out to his wife and his three daughters, and it’s a terrible thing and now we just have to put our arms around all those people who are missing Danny Frawley today.”

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