Danny Frawley’s widow pinpoints moment AFL legend realised there was ‘something seriously wrong’

Anita Frawley has revealed she could pinpoint the moment she realised the devastating toll repeated head traumas had taken on her husband Danny.

The former St Kilda captain and Richmond took his life in 2019 and was diagnosed with CTE – a neurogenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head – after his death when his brain was examined by the Australian Sports Brain Bank.

Speaking to a Senate inquiry on Wednesday, Frawley recalled her husband burst into tears after receiving a call from AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan.

McLachlan asked Frawley where he was as the All-Australian selection committee were expecting him at a meeting, which the former Saints great had forgotten about it. 

‘I just forgot the meeting. I don’t know what is happening to my brain. There is something seriously wrong with me,’ Frawley recalled her husband saying.

Anita Frawley told a Senate inquiry the impact repeated concussions had on her late husband Danny’s life, until he took his life back in 2019

Frawley (pictured here in his final AFL game in 1995) played 240 games for the Saints and coached Richmond for four seasons

‘Soon after this incident I remember standing in our kitchen with fear in my eyes and just thinking: “I don’t know this man and who he is. This is not the man I married”.’

The Senate inquiry was launched as over 100 former AFL players are suing the league for compensation over the management of their concussions and head traumas.

The class action is led by Crows premiership star Darren Jarman, Melbourne star Shaun Smith and the family of the late Richmond great Shane Tuck. 

Tuck played 173 games for Richmond and took his own life in 2020.

‘His brain was rotting on him,’ his sister Renee told the inquiry on Wednesday. 

‘It is not going anywhere and it will be not going anywhere anytime soon. If anything comes from Shane’s death, hopefully it will be to help.’ 

Frawley told the inquiry footy codes had to intervene to prevent players who showed repeated and severe concussion symptoms from playing again.

She also called for independent doctors to be given the final word over whether players should be allowed to return to the field after exhibiting concussions symptoms.

Shane Tuck was also posthumously diagnosed with CTE after taking his life in 2020

Footy codes should also consider implementing an independent review of their playing protocols to increase the safety and welfare of the players, Frawley told the inquiry. 

‘We must act to stop players that have exhibited repeated and severe concussion symptoms from returning to play, ever,’ she said.

‘The sporting bodies need to act now – now that we know we need to act. To know and not to do is to not really know at all.’ 

The AFL has committed $2.5million-a-year to fund research studies into the long-term effects of concussion and has changed 30 rules related to high-head contact, but Frawley said the league was ‘not doing enough’.

She told the inquiry the link between repeated concussions and and CTE had long been established and changes should be implemented immediately, instead of waiting for the AFL-funded research to be completed.

A host of former AFL star, including three-time Norm Smith medallist Gary Ablett Sr, are also suing the AFL in a separate class action led by former Geelong star Max Rooke. 

The players are seeking up to $1billion in compensation for the effects of concussions.

The AFL has committed $2.5million-a-year in research into the impact of concussions

AFL Football Operations chief Andrew Dillon (middle) told the Senate inquiry on Wednesday the league remained committed to establish the link between concussions and CTE

The action, lodged by Margalit Injury Lawyers in Victoria’s Supreme Court, is on behalf of all professional AFL players who sustained concussion-related injuries while playing or training between 1985 and March 14 this year.

More than 60 former players and family members of deceased players have signed on.

Last month, the AFL recognised there was a link between CTE and concussions, but argued the impact of repeated head trauma on psychological health remained unclear.

In its official submission to the Senate inquiry, the AFL acknowledged ‘that there is an association between head trauma and neurodegenerative disease [including chronic traumatic encephalopathy – neuropathological change – CTE-NC].’