Family ties to St Kilda were a driving factor for James Frawley to come out of retirement and join the Saints for 2021, per The Age.

The 32-year old played his last game for Hawthorn in the final round of the 2020 season before he announced his retirement.

He was then picked up by the Saints as a delisted free agent on Thursday, with the 2015 premiership player committing for next season.

His uncle, the late Danny Frawley, captained St Kilda from 1987-1995 and played 240 career games over 12 seasons.

“He (Danny) would probably come and give me a headlock and a punch in the arm and say, ‘You’ve got a big name to live up to mate, don’t stuff it up’,” he told media on Friday.

“It’s an honour to be here (at St Kilda), the Danny Frawley Centre opening up, everyone knows he went through his battles.

“It’s a great thing for the community to have somewhere they can go if they are struggling… and get some help.”

Frawley grew up supporting the Saints as a kid, something he credits his family for.

“My old man, pretty much my whole family barracks for St. Kilda,” he said.

“I used to go down to Waverley every weekend and the old man and we’d go down the rooms and hang out with the players, that’s where my passion started wanting to play footy.

"When I told Dad and he loved it … he said to me, ‘At least I can go back to barracking for St Kilda now’."

Frawley’s former teammate and current St Kilda assistant coach Jarryd Roughead first approached him in Noosa and pitched him the idea of continuing his career at Moorabbin.

“I was a bit surprised and it went from there,” he said.

“I’d had a few more beers than I usually would and a couple of meals I wouldn’t usually eat.”