# 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 |
| Dave Barry | 24 | North Fremantle (formerly South Melbourne) | WAFL (formerly VFL) | run over by a train | 1913 |
| Rhett Baynes | 25 | Perth (formerly Carlton) | WAFL (formerly VFL) | suicide (overdose) | 1990 |
| Troy Broadbridge | 24 | Melbourne | AFL | drowning (2004 Asian tsunami) | 2004 |
| Norm Collins | 29 | Hawthorn (formerly Fitzroy and Carlton) | VFL | suicide (hanging) | 1933 |
| Peter Crimmins | 28 | Hawthorn | VFL | cancer (testicular) | 1976 |
| Ron Doig | 23 | South Fremantle | WAFL | on-field injury | 1932 |
| Lyle Downs | 24 | Carlton | VFL | heart attack | 1921 |
| Bill Eastick | 26 | South Melbourne | VFL | illness | 1914 |
| Jock Fahey | 24 | Numurkah (formerly South Melbourne) | MFNL (formerly VFL) | struck by motor vehicle | 1936 |
| Ted Fleming | 23 | University (formerly Melbourne) | VFL | sudden illness | 1909 |
| Eddie Ford | 28 | Katandra (formerly Richmond) | PDFNL (formerly VFL) | on-field injury | 1946 |
| Arthur Fox | 29 | Rupanyup (formerly South Melbourne) | WFL (formerly VFL) | motorcycle accident | 1953 |
| Ray Gibb | 24 | Richmond | VFL | motorcycle accident | 1953 |
| Brian Gilmore | 26 | Footscray | VFL | car accident | 1959 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Terry Ogden | 23 | Carlton | VFL | pleurisy | 1935 |
| 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 |
| Fred Phillips | 27 | Hawthorn | VFL | blood poisoning | 1933 |
| Stanley Poole | 23 | South Fremantle | WAFL | heart failure following on-field injury | 1940 |
| Bruce Reid | 20 | South Melbourne | VFL | car accident | 1970 |
| Maurie Sankey | 25 | Carlton | VFL | car accident | 1965 |
| Jack Sexton | 35 | Norwood | SANFL | pleurisy | 1935 |
| Jeremy Silcock | 26 | East Perth (formerly North Melbourne) | WAFL (formerly AFL) | drowning in Bali | 1996 |
| 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 |
| Jamie Tape | 28 | Woodville-West Torrens (formerly Richmond and Collingwood) | SANFL (formerly VFL) | car accident | 2003 |
| Doug Tassell | 24 | Essendon | VFL | car accident | 1970 |
| Jock Turner | 26 | Yallourn (formerly Essendon) | GFL (formerly VFL) | motor bike accident | 1935 |
| Peter White | 26 | Kyabram (formerly Carlton) | GVFL (formerly AFL) | drowning | 1996 |
| Anthony Williams | 26 | Port Adelaide | SANFL | building accident | 1988 |
| Gerry Williams | 23 | St Kilda | VFL | railway accident | 1901 |
| Brian Willis | 21 | Footscray | VFL | Brain haemorrhage | 1951 |
| Antonio Loiacono | 20 | Birdwood | HFL | cardiac arrest on-field | 2023 |
| Les Witto | 23 | Carlton | VFL | tetanus | 1926 |