Robert Harvey may have a room at RSEA Park with his name on the door, but his late mate Danny Frawley would be chuffed to know he’d have bragging rights with an entire facility and game named in his honour.
Those fond memories of Spud’s character aren’t forgotten by Harvey and the many who knew him, with the next few weeks set to tug on the heartstrings further as the late club champion’s legacy continues to grow.
St Kilda yesterday confirmed the third iteration of Spud’s Game: A Match for Mental Health as part of Round 15 against Brisbane on Friday 23 June, which aims to raise funds for mental health initiatives run through the Danny Frawley Centre (DFC).
The past two Spud’s Game fixtures have raised close to $1 million for the DFC, seeing over 200 mental health and wellbeing programs delivered to the community and reaching over 8000 people in its first year of operation.
“We ex-players catch up enough... but (the loss of Spud) doesn’t get any easier for us,” Harvey told SEN.
“There have been some great initiatives off the back of Spud’s Game and the Danny Frawley Centre at Moorabbin, but we still miss him. We still catch up and it’s not the same because he’s not there and that’s always there, but out of such tragedy has come some positivity and that’s one thing the awareness has created.
“People are having conversations more, and Spud has raised that awareness for people to be comfortable to talk about these issues. I know that’s something Anita (Frawley) and the girls are passionate about and that we’re really hoping to get right behind and continue that legacy as it gets stronger.”
Two in five Australians will experience a mental health disorder in their lifetime, with Spud’s Game serving as the vehicle to bring the difficult conversations surrounding mental ill-health to the fore while also honouring Frawley’s legacy.
Honouring a legend, championing a legacy
2 in 5 Australians will experience mental ill-health in their lifetime. It’s a statistic that affects far too many. Help us change the game by donating to the Danny Frawley Centre Community; now an independent charity to make it easier than ever to support.
Donate now“It’s not isolated to AFL footy, it’s an issue in the community and we’re just a part of that,” Harvey said.
“You just want this to be able to be handled (by individuals), because there’s no one that doesn’t come in contact with some sort of mental health issue.
“That’s unfortunately the world we live in now, so we’ve got to deal with it and these initiatives that have been created really bring these to the fore.
Spud’s Game: A Match for Mental Health is still a fortnight away, with the Saints to face Sydney and Richmond on the road before their meaningful marquee fixture.
Harvey has backed in a recharged St Kilda outfit to rekindle its dynamic style from the opening rounds of the year, starting with a prime-time outing against Sydney tomorrow evening.
The Saints sit a game outside the top-four in fifth position following their scheduled bye last week, however ended the first half of the season off-kilter with losses to Adelaide and Hawthorn sandwiched in-between a gritty win over GWS.
“We feel like we’ve recharged the batteries a bit,” Harvey said.
“We weren’t playing our best footy even leading into the Hawthorn game, so we feel like we’ve addressed a couple of things, we’re still very much in the hunt and we’re still playing some decent footy.
“All you can do is control what you can. Every team gets looked at, every team is going to come up against challenges, but the good ones get through it. That’s all we’re building to be, a really great team, and Ross talks about that all the time.
“We know it’s a resilience game this, it’s not one for the faint-hearted. We just want to get back to playing our best footy.”
