Frawley gave Raines first break
15 April 2006
Herald Sun
Mike Sheahan
DANNY Frawley gave Andrew Raines his first taste of senior football in his last game as Richmond coach in Round 22, 2004.
"I'd committed to playing everyone who was available when I resigned during the year," Frawley said yesterday. "The young fella came up to me a few weeks later, about Round 17 or 18, and said, `You know when you said you'd give everyone a game, does that include me?'
"I said, `I've got one pencilled in for you, young man'.
"I decided to play him in the last one. I wanted to give him a taste but I didn't want him killed.
"I reckon he was about 69kg dripping wet, but the Swans were going into the finals and they wouldn't have wanted anyone getting reported.
"He's a ripper, Andrew; he's going to be a very good player. Before we drafted him, Gavin McGuane, Mick's uncle, who coaches up on the Gold Coast, said, `Look, he's just a natural footballer'."
The Tigers took him in the eighth round of the 2003 national draft with selection 76.
"He's come from a long way back compared with most of the under-18 kids but his workrate was first-class," Frawley said.
He recalled how the Richmond coaching group marvelled at the striking family resemblance, to father Geoff, when he first arrived.
The similarities weren't only physical, either, Frawley added.
"He came down in all the designer gear; he was chirpy like his old man, too," he said.
"I got a real kick out of having a beer with Rainsey and Roachy (Michael Roach) after that last game.
"I used to play against both of them."
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