![\"Danny](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/14200608ab3621357a740646c1e6f58c8cefb511.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
August 9, 2026 \u2014 5:30am<\/p>\n
Save<\/p>\n
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n
Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Stewart Loewe remembers the late Danny Frawley in different ways at different times.<\/p>\n When Loewe sets foot on a golf course, he thinks of his old teammate, the larrikin \u2013 the version of Frawley that \u201cnever lost a ball\u201d, despite spraying them all over the course.<\/p>\n He would be the first to emerge from the bushes, having always found \u201chis\u201d ball.<\/p>\n When Loewe heads north for a holiday, he remembers Frawley the practical joker.<\/p>\n It reminds him of the times he spent with Frawley, the late Trevor Barker and their partners on Hamilton Island on a yacht owned by Anita Frawley\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n Loewe would leave a fishing line in the water overnight, not knowing that his teammates had anchored his hook with a sneaker when he went to bed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d wake up in the morning, and I can hear them giggling now, and I\u2019d go, \u2018I\u2019ve got one, I\u2019ve got one\u2019, and I\u2019m just dragging up a dead weight, which is my shoe,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n But as the AFL enters the sixth edition of Spud\u2019s Game at Marvel Stadium on Sunday night, a clash between St Kilda and Carlton to support the mental health message, Loewe remembers the shade as much as the light.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a very complex person behind, you know, the Bounce [on Fox Footy], and you know his persona on Triple M,\u201d Loewe says.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a proud father and a proud spud farmer, and someone who was trying to make a mark in corporate AFL and coaching, and he was wrestling all those demons and wrongly thinking that he failed in a lot of them, as we all do when we don\u2019t win a flag, or you\u2019re not a successful premiership coach.\u201d<\/p>\n Frawley, the 240-game veteran and much-loved former captain of the Saints, took his own life in 2019<\/a>. He was 56.<\/p>\n It is why it is important, Loewe says, to treat Spud\u2019s Game as a reminder that it is OK to talk to people about your own vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cMy life hasn\u2019t been rosy,\u201d Loewe says. \u201cI lost a sister to suicide three months after Danny [in December 2019].<\/p>\n \u201cI had a [family member] who was diagnosed bipolar, and I\u2019d lived my whole childhood kind of burying it deep down inside and not really talking about it and being totally embarrassed by it.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, you know, I think it is liberating to see what Danny did [in discussing mental health]. He was so brave to come out and try and talk about it, and take it all on headfirst and front on.<\/p>\n \u201cSome days are pretty shit, and you know we can express that and deal with it the right way, healthily, and move on to the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n Loewe said his sister Elizabeth had tried to take her own life 22 years earlier on the eve of the 1997 grand final \u2013 St Kilda lost to Adelaide by 31 points after leading by 13 points at half-time. Loewe and Nathan Burke were co-captains.<\/p>\n \u201cI have not talked about it apart from privately to a few people, and I just buried it,\u201d Loewe says.<\/p>\n \u201cI buried it in \u201997, and didn\u2019t even contemplate talking about it until probably, you know, after Danny\u2019s death, and it affected me greatly.<\/p>\n \u201cThe way I dealt with it was, you know, taking it from a, \u2018You\u2019re selfish\u2019 and the wrong angle and not really having any empathy and understanding and appreciation \u2026 which is probably very common, rather than just listening and understanding.<\/p>\n \u201cI loved my sister, and I\u2019ve only got one sibling, and it was tragic, but you know, it\u2019s taught myself and my mother and my father, and our immediate family, a lot about ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n Loewe says he is happy to talk about his sister now in the \u201ccontext of what we\u2019re doing this week \u2026 because, you know, I\u2019m quite a private person and haven\u2019t really wanted to talk about it [publicly], having already talked about it with the right people\u201d.<\/p>\n Loewe\u2019 story has been entwined with Frawley since his former captain\u2019s death.<\/p>\n He spoke at St Kilda\u2019s best-and-fairest night two days after Frawley died, spoke at his great mate\u2019s funeral the following week, and remains \u201cvery tight\u201d with Anita Frawley and her and Danny\u2019s daughters \u2013 Chelsea, Danielle and Keeley.<\/p>\n Loewe has often addressed the St Kilda playing group, but will have only one official duty on Sunday.<\/p>\n He will take part in The Hardest Kick charity challenge alongside Brendan Fevola, weather guru Jane Bunn and social media personality DJ Checkers on Marvel Stadium between the Sunday double-header \u2013 St Kilda and Carlton\u2019s AFLW sides trade blows from 4.35pm, while the men\u2019s team will fight for a finals berth from 7.20pm.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I\u2019ll go into the function with Anita [Frawley] and the kids, and celebrate a great day with a few friends and family, and reminisce a little bit, and hopefully watch the Saints get a victory,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Loewe says he remains happy to help promote Spud\u2019s Game \u2013 which raises money for the Danny Frawley Centre and Black Dog Institute \u2013 because it helps promote discussion about mental health.<\/p>\n![\"St](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/464986636e88e790b48f2cbeef159e838611967b.jpeg\")
St Kilda teammates and friends Stewart Loewe (left) and Danny Frawley after beating Fitzroy by one point at Moorabbin in 1990.The Age<\/p>\n![\"Loewe](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/b9dd78a1e5d93cc60cf5884571c0aefa73032bf5.jpeg\")
Loewe (right), Garry Lyon, Tony Lockett delivered a stirring pre-match address at the inaugural Spud\u2019s Game in 2021.AFL Photos<\/p>\n![\"Saints](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/834c17555057d76cbaf344c000f082497eec60a3.jpeg\")
Saints player Dan Butler and assistant coach, and former teammate of Frawley, Robert Harvey at the Danny Frawley Centre in Moorabbin.Penny Stephens<\/p>\n![\"Anita](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/35b6e75bf0660a9e20c5174ea6a28c0302e95477.jpeg\")
Anita Frawley has spoken during a public hearing for the inquiry into concussion and repeated head trauma in contact sports.AAP<\/p>\n
![\"Danny](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5f01b4bb2b14df635f0ebef401185726253fa326.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n