The best friend of late West Coast premiership player Adam Hunter has publicly accused the Australian Football League (AFL) of failing the former athlete as the sport grapples with increasing scrutiny over its handling of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Dave Andrews, a childhood friend of Hunter, penned an open letter to AFL Commission chairman Craig Drummond and other senior league figures. He asserted that the league has both a legal and moral obligation to enhance player protection against CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repetitive head impacts.
Hunter died in February 2025 at the age of 43. A subsequent coronial inquiry determined the cause of death was methamphetamine-induced heart failure. Following his death, his parents donated his brain to the Australian Sports Brain Bank, where researchers diagnosed him with Stage 2 CTE. This condition can only be definitively confirmed posthumously.
Hunter played 151 AFL games for the West Coast Eagles between 2000 and 2009, notably kicking the team's final goal in their 2006 premiership victory. He continued to play football at a local level after retiring from the AFL.
In his letter, Andrews described Hunter's struggle, stating that the former player had unknowingly battled the effects of CTE for years. "You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move, you can't breathe, because you're in over your head," Andrews wrote, recalling Hunter's description of life after football. "That was CTE taking hold. Adam didn't have the language for it then, but we know now what was happening to his brain."
Andrews directly addressed the AFL, stating, "The organisations that put him on the field had a duty to understand that risk before he did. They failed him. You have failed him."
The letter follows an investigation by ABC's Four Corners, which reported that 33 former Australian Rules players have been diagnosed with CTE after death. Hunter's case is among these, alongside other notable players such as Shane Tuck, Danny Frawley, and Graham 'Polly' Farmer.
Andrews stated that comments made by AFL executive Laura Kane during the Four Corners program prompted his letter. Kane had reportedly said the AFL's "job is not to communicate every single aspect of risk that exists in our game" and described player safety as a "shared responsibility."
Andrews rejected this stance, arguing in his letter, "I am not a lawyer, but I know enough to tell you that the position Ms Kane articulated on national television is untenable. The duty is on the organisations, not on the players, to inform, protect, and provide safe systems of play. Ms Kane's statement on Four Corners is directly inconsistent with this obligation at every level of the game."
He drew a parallel between the AFL's approach to CTE and the James Hardie asbestos scandal, urging football administrators to act on scientific evidence linking repeated head impacts to neurodegenerative diseases. "The parallel to James Hardie is unavoidable," Andrews wrote. "I am asking the AFL Commission and each club board to stop treating duty of care as a discretionary matter to be shared or deferred. It is a non-delegable obligation."
Hunter's mother, Joanne Brown, also expressed belief that the AFL remains "in denial" and stated the family had not been contacted by the league since the investigation aired. She recalled her son enduring numerous head knocks and suspecting he suffered from CTE before his death.
The AFL responded by stating that player health and safety is its highest priority and that it would review Andrews' letter upon receipt. A spokesperson for the league said they continue to "undertake significant work to make the game safer" and that "as an industry, we continue to learn, develop and grow to ensure we do everything we can to keep players and the game as safe as possible."
The league noted that head trauma is a consideration for all contact sports globally and that the AFL has established governance, policies, and guidelines for the game. It also stated that considerable resources have been allocated to understanding the link between repeated head trauma and neurodegenerative disease. The AFL highlighted that over 30 rule changes have been introduced in the past two decades to enhance player safety and plans to implement reduced contact training starting with the 2027 pre-season.