List of Australian rules footballers who died during their careers

This is a list of Australian rules football players who have died either during their respective playing careers or due to career-ending injury or disease incurred during their playing career. It includes both on-field and off-field deaths. People who had announced their retirement from playing despite still being at an age when they could still have been active, or who only continued to play in low-level amateur or exhibition matches are not listed.

Player	Age	Club	Competition	Cause of death	Year
George Allen	22	Sunshine	VFA	heart failure (during a practice match)	1971
Jack Allister	27	North Melbourne	VFL	pneumonia	1946[1]
Dave Barry	24	North Fremantle (formerly South Melbourne)	WAFL (formerly VFL)	run over by a train	1913[2]
Rhett Baynes	25	Perth (formerly Carlton)	WAFL (formerly VFL)	suicide (overdose)	1990[3]
Troy Broadbridge	24	Melbourne	AFL	drowning (2004 Asian tsunami)	2004[4]
Norm Collins	29	Hawthorn (formerly Fitzroy and Carlton)	VFL	suicide (hanging)	1933[3]
Peter Crimmins	28	Hawthorn	VFL	cancer (testicular)	1976[5]
Ron Doig	23	South Fremantle	WAFL	on-field injury	1932[6]
Lyle Downs	24	Carlton	VFL	heart attack	1921[3]
Bill Eastick	26	South Melbourne	VFL	illness	1914[7]
Jock Fahey	24	Numurkah (formerly South Melbourne)	MFNL (formerly VFL)	struck by motor vehicle	1936[8]
Ted Fleming	23	University (formerly Melbourne)	VFL	sudden illness	1909[9]
Eddie Ford	28	Katandra (formerly Richmond)	PDFNL (formerly VFL)	on-field injury	1946[10]
Arthur Fox	29	Rupanyup (formerly South Melbourne)	WFL (formerly VFL)	motorcycle accident	1953[11]
Ray Gibb	24	Richmond	VFL	motorcycle accident	1953[12]
Brian Gilmore	26	Footscray	VFL	car accident	1959[13]
Wayne Gordon	29	Collingwood, Melbourne	VFL	cancer (Hodgkin's lymphoma)	1983
Ron James	19	Footscray	AFL	waterskiing accident	1990
Doug Magor	21	Footscray	VFL	car accident	1969
Michael Mascoulis	20	Port Melbourne (former West Coast rookie)	VFL (formerly AFL)	car accident	2013[14]
John McCarthy	22	Port Adelaide	AFL	accidental fall in Las Vegas	2012
Dinny McKay	29	South Melbourne	VFL	peritonitis (from burst appendix)	1897
Darren Millane	26	Collingwood	AFL	car accident	1991
Dan Moriarty	28	Melbourne	VFL	railway accident	1903
Richard Nixon	26	Warrnambool (formerly Richmond)	HFNL (formerly AFL)	car accident	1992[15]
Terry Ogden	23	Carlton	VFL	pleurisy	1935[3]
Max Orr	24	Ballarat (formerly Melbourne)	BFL (formerly VFL)	car accident	1955
Arthur Pearce	21	St Kilda	VFL	typhoid fever	1902
Harry Pears	34	Port Melbourne (formerly Collingwood)	VFA (formerly VFL)	died while playing	1912[16]
Fred Phillips	27	Hawthorn	VFL	blood poisoning	1933
Stanley Poole	23	South Fremantle	WAFL	heart failure following on-field injury	1940[17]
Bruce Reid	20	South Melbourne	VFL	car accident	1970
Maurie Sankey	25	Carlton	VFL	car accident	1965[3]
Jack Sexton	35	Norwood	SANFL	pleurisy	1935
Jeremy Silcock	26	East Perth (formerly North Melbourne)	WAFL (formerly AFL)	drowning in Bali	1996[18]
Phil Skehan	26	Williamstown (formerly South Melbourne)	VFA (formerly VFL)	pneumonia resulting from an on-field injury	1921
Jim Stewart	24	North Melbourne	VFL	appendicitis	1942
Denis Strauch	28	Port Melbourne (formerly Carlton)	VFA (formerly VFL)	tetanus	1965[3]
Jamie Tape	28	Woodville-West Torrens (formerly Richmond and Collingwood)	SANFL (formerly VFL)	car accident	2003[19]
Doug Tassell	24	Essendon	VFL	car accident	1970[20]
Jock Turner	26	Yallourn (formerly Essendon)	GFL (formerly VFL)	motor bike accident	1935[21]
Peter White	26	Kyabram (formerly Carlton)	GVFL (formerly AFL)	drowning	1996[3]
Anthony Williams	26	Port Adelaide	SANFL	building accident	1988[22]
Gerry Williams	23	St Kilda	VFL	railway accident	1901[23]
Brian Willis	21	Footscray	VFL	Brain haemorrhage	1951[24]
Antonio Loiacono	20	Birdwood	HFL	cardiac arrest on-field	2023 [25]
Les Witto	23	Carlton	VFL	tetanus	1926[3]

See also

• List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service