{"id":868069,"date":"2026-08-25T17:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T17:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868069\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T17:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T17:02:18","slug":"afl-2026-jordan-dawson-speech-on-mental-health-after-tragic-passing-of-brother-jaryd-video-most-courageous-player-award-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868069\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Jordan Dawson speech on mental health after tragic passing of brother Jaryd, video, Most Courageous Player Award, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was no player more deserving of this year\u2019s Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award<\/a> than Jordan Dawson. <\/p>\n

And the inspirational Adelaide captain delivered a crucially important mental health message on Tuesday night that captured the heart of the All-Australian captain. <\/p>\n

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On Tuesday night at the AFL Awards<\/a>, Dawson came away with three honours: AFLPA Best Captain, AFLPA Most Courageous Player, and a third All-Australian blazer. <\/p>\n

But it was the speech he gave upon receiving the Most Courageous award that had teary eyes welling up all around Centrepiece Melbourne. <\/p>\n

Because Dawson, who tragically lost his brother, Jaryd, in April, picked himself back up in the toughest of circumstances to keep leading finals-bound Adelaide. <\/p>\n

And he did so in the same way he has since being named the Crows\u2019 captain in 2023; by example, with no fuss. <\/p>\n

Asked by Fox Footy host Jonathan Brown how he has continued to navigate the traumatic loss, an emotional Dawson said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a struggle; it\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s a range of emotions. They come at different times.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he spoke, the big-screen camera panned to the 29-year-old\u2019s wife, Milly, and father, Tony. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll probably have to take them off the screen, otherwise I\u2019ll start crying,\u201d he smiled, trying not to choke up. <\/p>\n

\u201c(It\u2019s) just about creating a safe place within the footy place, within home. Understanding that there\u2019ll be times where I struggle to come into work, but the footy club\u2019s been awesome in that space. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlso me understanding that it\u2019s OK to feel a certain type of way, and to also talk to the people that are close to me and the ones that I love, and make sure that we\u2019re having ongoing conversations about how we\u2019re all dealing with the events that have happened. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still pretty raw, to be honest, mate, like it\u2019s always going to be hard to talk about, I think. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just so fortunate I\u2019ve got such great support around me in the footy club, but also my loving family and my wife\u2019s family \u2014 I definitely wouldn\u2019t be here without them.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘I want to get behind Jordan Dawson’ | 01:13<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/p>\n

AWARDS WRAP: Superstar cements legacy with historic feat as All-Aus side unveiled<\/a><\/p>\n

CONFIRMED: Young star wins Rising Star race over teammate as four-man voting tussle revealed<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018TRULY HUMBLING\u2019: Pies superstar in rare air as courageous skipper doubles up<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, before leaving the stage, Dawson delivered an important message regarding mental health. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to say, obviously the mental health space is something that\u2019s pretty new and pretty raw to me at the moment, but it\u2019s definitely something that I want to learn a bit more about,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to wish anyone who\u2019s struggled with mental health out there, or who is struggling with mental health, to know that you are definitely loved, and the world is a better place with you in it. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that you are enough, and that we all love you, and that you have beautiful family and friends around you. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, it\u2019s a space that I really want to get into, and when the time\u2019s right, I\u2019ll enter that. But like I said, you are enough, and you are loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The moving speech was felt by all in attendance and by those watching on TV screens, with newly-minted nine-time All-Australian Max Gawn aptly recognising that later in the night. <\/p>\n

When Melbourne\u2019s history-making skipper gave his captaincy acceptance speech, he couldn\u2019t help but tip his cap to his courageous Crows peer. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I think we probably saw one of the better captain\u2019s speeches here tonight already,\u201d Gawn said on Awards Night. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know the accolades with my nine times (All-Australian) allows me to be in the position to get captain, but I think we saw some leadership tonight. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think for Jordan to get up and do what he did, to speak about mental health, to lead his side through the tragedy that happened with his family, and then to show vulnerability in front of a group of strangers that he hasn\u2019t got it right, he hasn\u2019t got it perfect and asking for help, that\u2019s a captain that I want to be behind. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I appreciate the gesture, but I want to get behind Jordan Dawson, and I would allow him to do the speech, because his speech was perfect tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown joked: \u201cWe\u2019ve had the first All-Australian captain to ever rescind the captaincy live on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was no player more deserving of this year\u2019s Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award than Jordan Dawson.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,85,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-868069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868069","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=868069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}