Bailey Banfield’s years of service to the community have earned the Fremantle veteran the AFL Jim Stynes Community Leadership Award.
During Monday night’s Brownlow Medal count, Banfield was announced as the winner of the award, which recognises the player determined to have best honoured the late Melbourne champion and administrator’s charitable legacy.
Banfield is a long-time volunteer for the club’s charity, the Purple Hands Foundation, as well as the Starlight Children’s Foundation and Worthy Australia.
This year, he spearheaded the creation of Freo Cares, an initiative designed to get Fremantle’s players into the community.
Some of the community groups supported by the program this year include seriously ill children, people experiencing homelessness, women and children escaping domestic violence and disengaged youth.
Banfield reserved his first set of thanks to Stynes’ family and said being associated with his legacy was an “incredible honour”.
“The people that are at these organisations, they’re doing the really hard work, day-to-day, and they give us the opportunity to give back,” Banfield said.
“Footy has given me so much. To be able to have this platform to give back a little bit of what I’ve got now through this sport is an incredible honour.
“All of these programs work so hard to provide for kids and their families who, through no fault of their own, have suffered circumstances that are tough.
“That’s Starlight, putting smiles on the faces of sick kids. That’s Worthy, who are helping survivors of domestic abuse find their new normal and it’s Purple Hands, who are providing opportunities to kids in rural and remote communities which they might not otherwise get.”
As part of winning the award, Banfield has received $40,000 to donate to a charity or cause of his choosing.
Before it was announced that he had won the award, Banfield’s wife Julia Edwards took to social media to social media to reveal the pair were expecting their first child.
“Five months of growing our little girl. First outing: Brownlow,” Edwards’ post on Instagram read.
Fremantle’s chief executive Simon Garlick said Banfield richly deserved the recognition which came with the honour.
“Bailey has worked tirelessly with the Freo Cares program he established and continues to drive, which is built on genuine relationships, sustained effort and a real desire to leave things better than he found them,” Garlick said.
“He leads by example, brings teammates and our staff along with him, and does the vast majority of this work without any expectation of recognition.
“We are immensely proud to see his quiet, tireless work for others acknowledged on the public stage it deserves.”
Banfield is the first Fremantle player to win the award, which was taken out by West Coast’s Beau Waters in the final year of his AFL career in 2014.
The utility has played 119 senior games over his nine-year career but has fallen out of favour for senior selection this season, making only one appearance for the Dockers.
He has been in fine form for Peel Thunder in the WAFL and starred in their grand final win over Claremont on Sunday, finishing with four votes in the Simpson Medal.
Stynes, who started the Reach Foundation to help young people develop mental health skills in the midst of a Brownlow-winning playing career, died in 2012 after a battle with cancer.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails