AFL great Brendan Fevola has called on the game to do more to help players adjust to life after football.
The retired 204-game forward was in tears during his radio show earlier this week after close friend Troy Selwood was found dead in a Geelong home on Monday.
Selwood's sudden death at the age of 40 rocked the game. A day later news broke of 43-year-old Adam Hunter's body being found in a home south of Perth.
Hunter was an Eagles great who played a key role in the club's 2006 premiership.
Neither death has been treated as suspicious by police.
NRL player Nicho Hynes told Wide World of Sports this week men everywhere need to start speaking up when things aren't going well for them.
Carlton great Brendan Fevola. Getty
It is a sentiment shared by Fevola, who has battled his own mental demons.
"When I was going through some problems I never told anyone," he told Fox's Fifi, Fev & Nick on Friday.
"I thought I was this big footy player star, who earned a fair bit of money, if I said something everyone was going to go 'man'… I thought they wouldn't like me and go 'there's nothing wrong with you, you're earning great money, you shouldn't be feeling that way'.
"I was embarrassed, I didn't want to say how I was feeling because I thought people would think less of me, and I think that's a general consensus with most males.
"I used to get in the car on my way home and cry to myself."
Fevola is now asking the AFL to actively help players prepare for life after football.
He also wants the league to do more to highlight men's mental health.
St Kilda now plays the annual Spud's Game, in memory of Saints legend Danny Frawley who died in 2019 at the age of 59 in a single vehicle car crash that was not treated as suspicious.
But Fevola says more needs to be done.
"When you're in footy, you are in it 100 per cent – you're training, you're meeting, you've got to be somewhere. It is like you're at an army base," he said.
"Everything is scheduled, everything is structured, and you can't be late, you've got to be there.
"Then when you finish, if you haven't been smart enough or educated enough to have something afterward – which I wasn't – you just sit there and it's such a shock.
"You go 'my footy career's over, what am I doing to do? Holy crap, I don't need to be anywhere'. You start sleeping in, you get into bad habits.
"I just feel like the AFL aren't equipped, or aren't shining enough light on mental health for men.
"I think the AFL should come out and do a mental health round to start up the conversation, not just with footy players but for young tradies, or people in the workforce who are going through tough times.
"I don't think it gets spoken about enough."
If you or anyone you know needs immediate support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or via lifeline.org.au. In an emergency, call 000