The tributes continue to flow for St. Kilda great and former Richmond coach Danny 'Spud' Frawley, who tragically passed away on Monday afternoon, just a day after his 56th birthday.
Frawley played 240 games for St. Kilda, captaining 170 of those, before moving into coaching where he led Richmond between 2000-2004.
Beyond his decorated playing and coaching career, 'Spud' was a key name in footy media, more lately renowned for his co-host role on Fox Footy's Bounce program.
After the tragic news broke late on Monday, members of Fox Footy's On The Couch recounted their fondest memories of the former Saints captain, with former Brisbane great Johnathan Brown fighting back tears as he recalled memories of junior clinics he used to conduct with his former colleague.
“My first memory of Spud was with Roosy when they used to go around Victoria and do the Victorian super clinics,” Brown said on Monday night.
“Coming to the ground and seeing Spud, and then 20 years later I was doing the same thing with him, when we were going around country Victoria on the Toyota regional bus tours.
“I looked at those kids and I thought, I saw myself in those kids. I thought, 20 years ago I was doing that.
“And Spud’s still bringing a smile to these kids’ faces. He was just so infectious.”
Former Swans premiership coach Paul Roos spoke wholeheartedly about the unique bond he shared with Frawley whilst playing at Fitzroy, despite not being teammates.
“I think what the players probably miss today is the connection with your opposition players," he said.
“For me, you have a tight bond with your teammates, the Bernie Quinlans and Garry Wilsons, but I think through state football, through the after-matches we used to have back in the early-mid 80s, there’s a really strong connection with opposition players.
“I think it was like absolutely losing one of their own. It felt like one of the Fitzroy boys passed away, not an opposition player.
“I sat in my car and you go over the Wikipedia and I was looking through Danny and you realise, basically my whole football journey was pretty much the same as Danny’s.
“It’s incredibly difficult to put into words and to Anita and the girls, I think that’s the main concern at the moment for all of us.”
Gerard Healy spoke about the personal connection he shared with the Frawley family, and spoke about the impact he had as a mentor to so many people.
“We’re all lucky to have worked in this building and some of us are on TV and people know us, and others are behind the scenes. But as one we’ve lost a really big family member,” Healy said.
“It’s hard to express the loss, it’s hard to express the shock that we’ve heard and felt when we first found out about losing Spud Frawley.
“Spud was a great footballer, he did a lot of things in football, Spud was one of us and, I think forget all the football stuff - Spud was a great mentor to a lot of people.
“I know Danielle, his daughter, very well. She’s a great friend of my daughter Loui.
“Just feeling what they’d be going through right now is almost incomprehensible.”
