Emotional Shane Crawford opens up on the heartbreak of his beloved brother Justin's tragic death
Justin, who played AFL football for both Sydney and Hawthorn, died by suicide three years ago this month, at the age of 45.
'You're trying to make me cry,' Shane said to 7NEWS, as he bravely reflected on his brother's passing.
'It's just like a wild storm that's just thrown into your face, and you just don't know how to sort of move through it.
'When I heard the news from my mother, and it took a full day for my mother to communicate with me.'
Shane hopes telling his story can inspire others to reach out for help if they are struggling.
'We've got to try and stop it. We've got to be better at dealing with it and trying to stop it before the worst can possibly happen.'
While his career never reached the heights of his elder brother Justin was an accomplished footy player.
He was recruited to play for the Swans from Murray Football League side Tocumwal and made his debut for the Swans at the age of 18 back in 1995. Justin earned himself a Rising Star nomination that same season following an excellent display against Fitzroy.
He'd return 11 goals across 17 appearances for the Swans, before joining his brother at Hawthorn in 1997, before walking away from AFL football a year later at the age of 21, citing a desire to travel. But that wasn't the end of his time on the pitch, with Justin returning to play WAFL footy with South Fremantle in 2005.
'I was very proud of him and probably needed to tell him more,' Shane added.
When asked what he would say to his brother today, he replied: 'I'd just tell him that he's always been loved and cherished and, you know, we want him around, you know, to grow into an old man, but that's not the case.
'He adored his son and had such an unbelievable relationship,' Shane added.
'Just to know that he didn't feel worthy enough to be around for that ... umm, he was obviously well and truly over the cliff.'
'We were lucky because we had a few little notes that were left and, it doesn't fix things. Does it make it easier? Probably not, but there were a few things there that explained a little bit about how he was feeling and a little of him explaining how much he loved and thanked everyone for helping.'
The former Hawthorn star is an AIA Ambassador and will now be joining up with Ironman Guy Leech and ultrarunner Sam Gash to raise money and awareness for mental health and suicide prevention as they take part in Sydney's City to Surf fun run on Sunday, August 10.
Health and life insurer AIA will donate $300 to the Blackdog Institute for every mile that the trio runs.
The Blackdog Institute is a mental health charity that conducts research into suicide prevention and mental health issues. They also provide resources and support for those who might be struggling with their mental wellbeing. You can access their resources here. https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/resources-support/
It comes as AIA reports that payments for mental health claims have almost doubled from $280million in 2023 to $557m in 2024.
Mental health expert Dr Jamie Lee said: 'It is absolutely indiscriminate and the mental health situation in Australia has been getting more and more urgent each year.'
This year, 28 per cent of total and permanent disablement claims have been related to mental health, according to the insurer.
'That's what's really concerning is that when it's a life insurance claim, it's for disability as a result of mental health, which means that they're actually unable to work or perform their normal duties at work,' AIA CEO Damien Mu said.
And so that's a real concern if we're saying one in four people are now claiming for that reason.
'Mental health knows no boundaries, is indiscriminate, but it's men in particular that seem to be fairing worse,' Mu added.
If you or anyone you know is struggling, Lifeline provides 24-hour crisis counselling support grups and suicide prevention services. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14, text 0477 13 11 14 or chat online.
The Suicide Call Back service provides 24/7 support. Call 1300 659 47.
If you or a loved one is struggling with mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or chat online.
MensLine Australia can also provide online and telephone counselling. Call 1300 78 99 78, or chat online.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
The top 10 Lions tours, ranked: Where does the class of 2025 sit and how high would a whitewash take them?
Andy Farrell's British & Irish Lions class of 2025 stand on the verge of a place in history. Already 2-0 up in their Test series with Australia, the team led by head coach Farrell and captain Maro Itoje will seal legendary status if they clinch a 3-0 clean sweep by winning Saturday's third Test in Sydney. Your browser does not support iframes.
Daily Mail
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
How Finn Russell became the Lions' Andrea Pirlo... and why his cheeky little brother has been key to his domination Down Under
In the torrential rain at the North Sydney Oval on Thursday night, Finn Russell was desperately scrambling to recover the hat he had left in the back of an . He had travelled across town by himself to watch his brother, Archie, playing in a Lions Legends match. With no headwear, Russell stood on the sidelines with his hood up. An effort to keep a low profile and avoid being mobbed by the 8,000-strong crowd of rugby diehards. He joined his family in the cold as his younger sibling - shorter in stature with bleached blonde hair - ran out alongside the likes of Leigh Halfpenny and Shane Williams.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Excelling in … Excel? Inside the high-stakes, secretive world of competitive spreadsheeting
Six years ago, Melbourne-based film-maker Kristina Kraskov read an article about an international Microsoft Excel competition and had two thoughts. The first: 'What the hell, that can't be real.' The second: 'There's got to be a film about this – I want to watch it so badly.' There wasn't a film about competitive spreadsheeting, so Kraskov decided to make it herself. The subject appealed to the director, whose work captures 'different inner worlds that are a bit unusual on the outside', including a short film titled Party in the Back, about a mullet festival. Spreadsheet Champions, which will screen at the Melbourne international film festival, follows six young competitors from around the world as they head to Florida for the 2023 Microsoft Office Specialist world championship to showcase their skills. It might sound silly, but Excel is an incredibly sophisticated application – according to the documentary, the average person uses only 10-15% of its capabilities, but would-be competitors are required to understand closer to 70% of what it can do. The competition is built and run by Certiport, a performance-based examination provider, and officially endorsed by Microsoft. It's a two-parter: the first half tests proficiency in formulas, functions and features through a series of complex questions, graded on both accuracy and speed. The second section is a more creative application of this knowledge – as Kraskov puts it, 'understanding the story of the data, or the soul of what it is actually telling you'. The championship has run since 2002 and is open to students between the ages of 13 and 22. Each competitor first has to qualify as the best in their home country. For such an esoteric endeavour, the stakes are oddly high – the MOS championship only allows competitors to enter once in their lives. 'In most sporting competitions, you have your main players that come back every year and your very set rivalries – but for this competition, they can only compete once, so everyone that's coming through can never come back,' Kraskov says. 'They qualify in their home countries at vastly different times around the world, so it made it really challenging for us – but as soon as anyone qualified in a country that we could go to, we would talk to them on Zoom, and work our way down from there.' The six competitors in Spreadsheet Champions are Alkimini, 20, from Greece; Braydon, 16, from Australia; Carmina, 16, from Guatemala; De La Paix, 19, from Cameroon (who doesn't have a laptop or wifi, so had to study at school); Mason, 15, from the US; and Nam, 21, from Vietnam. Each contestant has personality quirks which shine through in the film – from the camera-shy and stereotypically 'nerdy' to the charismatic and boisterous. 'Our intention is really about how amazing this competition is – we're not here to make fun of or disparage anyone,' Kraskov says. Kraskov and the film's producer, Anna Charalambous, spent about a week with each competitor in their home country, observing their day-to-day lives, from home to school, and spending time with their family and friends. 'People reveal themselves a lot if you just pay attention to how they live their lives,' Kraskov says. 'Teenagers are not quite fully formed adults yet, so they don't really connect things about themselves or their personalities – they just live their lives. The parents were so insightful and knowledgable about their kids – it gave us a lot of information about how they would potentially thrive or struggle, and who they really were.' Many of the contest's specifics are shrouded in secrecy, which posed another challenge for the film-makers. The competition is overseen by a man named – in a wonderful example of nominative determinism – Bing. 'It's so high-level security,' Kraskov says. 'Bing eventually trusted us and gave us questions that would be retired … At the end of the day, he has to deliver a hardcore, secure, world-expert level exam the next year, and our priority is to show the complexity of what it is and what they're doing.' Participating in the MOS Championship can set these kids up for adult life. Carmina, the Guatemalan competitor, is now 18 and studying mechatronics engineering at university. In the film, she is shown as a bubbly, bright teenager who loves One Direction (she still does) and excels at, well, Excel. Watching the documentary transported Carmina back to the competition and her younger self – and made her realise what she took from the experience. 'I knew the results already, but watching it again [I felt] a little bit of suspense,' she says. 'I tend to doubt a little bit of myself and with that experience [of competing] I learned to just go into it and try things out … It helped me a lot.' Spreadsheet Champions had its world premiere at SXSW in Texas earlier this year and five of the six students will be in Melbourne to attend Miff. Kraskov is proud to shine a light on them – everyday people doing something a little different with their lives. 'Celebrities, musicians and models get plenty of attention,' she says. 'But people that dedicate their lives to things that a lot of people don't care about – I find that so much more fascinating.' Spreadsheet Champions airs at the Melbourne international film festival from 10-24 August; see here for all dates and locations.
