Frawley’s change of heart lands him at St Kilda

Premiership fullback James Frawley has revealed he is open to playing into 2022.

James Frawley poses in a Saints strip.

Premiership fullback James Frawley has revealed he is open to playing into 2022 after being lured out of retirement to join St Kilda.

The 32-year-old defender finished at Hawthorn this year following “a mutual decision to part ways” following 100 games and a premiership medallion at the Hawks.

He has signed a one-year deal with St Kilda – his third AFL club after starting at Melbourne - although he said he saw his late-career adventure as more than a one-year affair.

“I felt like I could still compete at the level and play AFL football,” Frawley said.

“I figured I had a year or two left in me to play some decent footy, so when they came knocking I thought it was a good opportunity, so why not?

“And looking at their list, it’s very exciting so it was a no-brainer really.”

When pressed about playing for more than one year at Moorabbin, Frawley said:

“It depends how I’m going.

“If I’m getting a kick and playing OK we’ll see what happens.”

Frawley, who barracked for St Kilda as a child, joins the club where his famous uncle – the late, great Danny Frawley - played 240 games.

Danny Frawley will be memorialised at the Saints’ headquarters with a new $16 million community wellbeing hub in Moorabbin to be named after him.

In a remarkable coincidence, James will join Danny on 240 AFL games when he makes his St Kilda debut next year.

When asked what his uncle would say about him joining the Saints, Frawley replied:

“He’d probably come in and give me a headlock and probably a punch in the arm and say ‘you’ve got a big name to live up to mate, don’t stuff it up.’

“It’s an honour to be here.

“Everyone knows he (Danny) went through his battles and that, and I think it’s a great thing for the community out here to have somewhere to go if they are struggling.

“Out of a pretty negative thing, a few positives have come out of it.”

A ‘few beers’ at the Noosa Surf Lifesaving Club with former teammate and St Kilda staffer Jarryd Roughead post-season convinced Frawley to reconsider his retirement.

It lasted just six weeks before signing with St Kilda as a delisted free agent.

“I was in Noosa for most of it (his short-lived retirement), so I had a few too many more beers than I usually would and a couple of meals I wouldn’t usually eat,” he said.

“I had a few beers with Roughy and we just got chatting.

“He said St Kilda might be keen and it was the first I had heard about it so I was a bit surprised.

“It pretty much went from there and here we are now.”

Frawley will act as an insurance policy for the Saints in the event defender Dougal Howard goes down with injury.

He said he looked forward to instilling his experience on the young group.

“There’s a lot of young talent here and especially in the backline,” he said.

“That’s one of the reasons I came here, to give a bit of experience to guys like Dougal Howard and all those guys.”

Herald Sun