James Frawley’s long-time girlfriend Kasey Todd teaches meditation and mindfulness. Frawley reckons she’s a spiritual person, “a bit of a hippie”. He admires her passion, the work she does with young girls who struggle with mental health, body image and other issues.

Her business is called Eunoia, which loosely translates as having the audience’s interests at heart. Every now and then, if he’s been feeling a little anxious, Frawley allows himself to be that audience. He likes switching off, trying something different, losing himself in Kasey’s calming voice. “It’s not for everyone, but it might work for you.”

Asked if an ability to slow the mind is a difficult skill to acquire, Frawley drops the salesman’s pitch. “I’m pretty relaxed – it’s not moving that quick anyway!”

In a football sense Frawley has had little to get worked up about in his time as a Hawk. The stressful and draining days of his last season at Melbourne, when speculation and gossip tugged at his jumper throughout 2014, are a distant memory. He changed clubs in pursuit of a premiership, and like Brian Lake before him he didn’t have long to wait.

“Winning a flag, obviously it can’t be (any better than that),” Frawley says of the notion that he could possibly have scripted a better mid-career move. “Maybe not getting injured (twice in 2015), but I don’t really care about that now. Looking back I was pretty frustrated at the time, but to get the end results, celebrate with the boys, my family, my girlfriend, it was unbelievable.”

Just how blissful Frawley’s time in brown and gold has been was underscored a few weeks ago, when he found himself in a team that sat on top of the ladder for the first time since he was a Ballarat boy playing TAC Cup with the Rebels.

In eight seasons and 139 games as a Demon he experienced just 36 wins. If not for the two four-game stints on the sidelines last season with pectoral and shoulder injuries, he’d be about to better that figure in less than two campaigns as a Hawk.

“It is different. It gets pretty frustrating and hard sometimes when you’re not winning games of footy. But a footy club’s a footy club – there’s different things that happen inside them, (and) it’s the small things that can make a difference I guess.”

His arrival at a new workplace last November was marked by typical first-day nerves. Of the 2014 Hawks he knew only former Melbourne teammate Kyle Cheney – and he departed for Adelaide as Frawley walked in the door. “For anyone, change of jobs, it’s always going to be tough. Especially early, it’s the fear of the unknown.”

He was grateful to get a fortnight of training under his belt with the youngest Hawks before the senior players returned. The grinding, roll-out-of-bed-and-get-on-with-it routine of a pre-season made the adjustment relatively smooth. “You just get on with it and try and prove that you belong at a great team like Hawthorn.”

Adapting to a different game style, finding his place in a foreign structure surrounded by defenders he’d admired but not played with, took time. Those injuries didn’t help, but Frawley was content by midway through last season that he was singing from the right song sheet.

“You’re just one of the blokes at a footy club – try to have a laugh, work hard when you have to work hard. I feel like I can fit in with most people in most places.”

On reflection he can see now how the speculation of the previous year unsettled him. Stuck in the media crosshairs, he found the numbers being attached to him staggering. He knows that’s the way things work, and is just glad his turn is over and he’s slipped quietly back into the shadows.

“I haven’t spoken about it lately, but it was tough. I was just used to playing footy, going out there and enjoying it. But when you’re under so much scrutiny from the media and everyone about what you’re doing, it magnifies the focus on your performances, how you’re doing. Which I found pretty tough.”

Back in the real world with Kasey in Richmond, he likes nothing better than strolling down to the park with their French Bulldog Frank. Like a handful of other Hawks he’s studying project management, is interested in property and investment, sees a future path once football is done.

At 27 he has plenty more to give, and is at peace of mind and body that he’s in a great place. “Couldn’t have been a better story I guess,” Frawley says of the move. “The end result was perfect.”