{"id":709209,"date":"2026-06-01T23:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709209\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T23:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:18:19","slug":"dave-hughes-on-his-shock-afl-comeback-hopes-after-nearly-dying-in-front-of-30000-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/709209\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Hughes on his shock AFL comeback hopes after \u2018nearly dying\u2019 in front of 30,000 fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: Dave Hughes<\/a> is considering making a shock return to the football field less than a year after a horrific AFL collision left him in intensive care<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The 54-year-old was left with five broken ribs and a punctured lung after a brutal on-field collision at last year\u2019s AFL<\/a> Legends charity match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/p>\n

Dave Hughes talks to nine.com.au about returning to the AFL field\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

But now the father-of-three tells nine.com.au that not only has he been asked to return, but he\u2019s considering going ahead with it \u2013 that is, if his wife Holly<\/a> gives the go-ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll probably play again this year, to be honest,\u201d he says with a wry smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve asked me to do it. I haven\u2019t gone completely across the line yet with my wife, but you know, we\u2019ll see.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The injury<\/a> occurred in late August during the annual AFL Legends match at Marvel Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the oldest player on the turf, Hughes endured a bruising impact early in the Thursday night game<\/a> but pushed through the pain to finish the match.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His wife Holly then drove him to the hospital in the early hours of Friday morning and the shocking extent of the damage was realised.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember lying on the ground with 30,000 people laughing at me,\u201d he recalls. \u201cThey didn\u2019t realise I had broken ribs. Why I got up and kept playing was pretty crazy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The comedian and broadcaster was put in intensive care after an AFL charity match went wrong.\u00a0Supplied\/@The Fox<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hughes broke five ribs and punctured a lung during the match.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be an AFL star as a kid; it didn\u2019t happen for me, so I didn\u2019t want to miss this moment of 30,000 people watching me play footy<\/a>. And for that, I nearly let 30,000 people watch me actually die. It was pretty silly.\u201d <\/p>\n

While he\u2019s aware of the seriousness of what happened, his new mantra in life is actually one from his daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my daughters has got a poster on her wall that says: \u2018Do it for the plot.\u2019 So whatever you do, whenever you say yes, you do it for the plot. Keep moving along.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems that same logic applies to his 19-year marriage to his journalist wife, with whom he shares three teenage children with: Rafferty<\/a>, Sadie and Tess.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hughes says the key to his successful 20-year marriage to wife Holly is never keeping score.\u00a0Instagram \/@dhughesy<\/p>\n

According to Hughes, the secret to their happy marriage isn\u2019t just a magical spark \u2013 it\u2019s the active decision to stop keeping score.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just stopping, just giving up on the resentments,\u201d he notes, pragmatically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day you can find a list of reasons to leave your partner. You\u2019ve got to ignore the basics and hope they ignore your faults.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is just realising that the grass probably isn\u2019t greener on the other side. You take your own bulls–t wherever you go. You know, get divorced if you want to lose half your stuff. Otherwise, just battle it out.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Hughes, the stage has become the ultimate testing ground for his new mental approach to life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently travelling the country for his Cooked stand-up live tour, the comedian admits his carefree philosophy has fundamentally transformed his performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of my new attitude of not caring, I\u2019m more relaxed on stage,\u201d he explains. \u201cI\u2019m getting better and better, and loving it more and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m going to be completely honest, stand-up comedy is where I get my real joy, and it always has been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Hughes\u2019 new stand-up show, Cooked, is currently touring nationally until the end of August. For tour dates and tickets, visit davehughes.com.au<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Dave Hughes is considering making a shock return to the football field less than a year after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-709209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=709209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}