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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Sunshine | VFA | heart failure (during a practice match) | 1971 | ||
| 27 | North Melbourne | VFL | 1946[1] | |||
| 24 | North Fremantle (formerly South Melbourne) | WAFL (formerly VFL) | run over by a train | 1913[2] | ||
| 25 | Perth (formerly Carlton) | WAFL (formerly VFL) | suicide (overdose) | 1990 | ||
| 24 | Melbourne | AFL | drowning (2004 Asian tsunami) | 2004[3] | ||
| 29 | Hawthorn (formerly Fitzroy and Carlton) | VFL | suicide (hanging) | 1933 | ||
| 28 | Hawthorn | VFL | cancer (testicular) | 1976[4] | ||
| 23 | South Fremantle | WAFL | on-field injury | 1932[5] | ||
| 24 | Carlton | VFL | heart attack | 1921[6] | ||
| 26 | South Melbourne | VFL | illness | 1914[7] | ||
| 24 | Numurkah (formerly South Melbourne) | MFNL (formerly VFL) | struck by motor vehicle | 1936[8] | ||
| 23 | University (formerly Melbourne) | VFL | sudden illness | 1909[9] | ||
| 28 | Katandra (formerly Richmond) | PDFNL (formerly VFL) | on-field injury | 1946[10] | ||
| 29 | Rupanyup (formerly South Melbourne) | WFL (formerly VFL) | motorcycle accident | 1953[11] | ||
| 24 | Richmond | VFL | motorcycle accident | 1953[12] | ||
| 26 | Footscray | VFL | car accident | 1959[13] | ||
| 29 | , Melbourne | VFL | cancer (Hodgkin's lymphoma) | 1983 | ||
| 19 | Footscray | AFL | waterskiing accident | 1990 | ||
| 21 | Footscray | VFL | car accident | 1969 | ||
| 20 | Port Melbourne (former West Coast rookie) | VFL (formerly AFL) | car accident | 2013[14] | ||
| 22 | Port Adelaide | AFL | accidental fall in Las Vegas | 2012 | ||
| 29 | South Melbourne | VFL | peritonitis (from burst appendix) | 1897 | ||
| 26 | Collingwood | AFL | car accident | 1991 | ||
| 28 | Melbourne | VFL | railway accident | 1903 | ||
| 26 | Warrnambool (formerly Richmond) | HFNL (formerly AFL) | car accident | 1992[15] | ||
| 23 | Carlton | VFL | pleurisy | 1935 | ||
| 24 | Ballarat (formerly Melbourne) | BFL (formerly VFL) | car accident | 1955 | ||
| 21 | St Kilda | VFL | typhoid fever | 1902 | ||
| 34 | Port Melbourne (formerly Collingwood) | VFA (formerly VFL) | died while playing | 1912[16] | ||
| 27 | Hawthorn | VFL | blood poisoning | 1933 | ||
| 23 | South Fremantle | WAFL | heart failure following on-field injury | 1940[17] | ||
| 20 | South Melbourne | VFL | car accident | 1970 | ||
| 25 | Carlton | VFL | car accident | 1965 | ||
| 35 | Norwood | SANFL | pleurisy | 1935 | ||
| 26 | East Perth (formerly North Melbourne) | WAFL (formerly AFL) | drowning in Bali | 1996[18] | ||
| 26 | Williamstown (formerly South Melbourne) | VFA (formerly VFL) | pneumonia resulting from an on-field injury | 1921 | ||
| 24 | North Melbourne | VFL | 1942 | |||
| 28 | Port Melbourne (formerly Carlton) | VFA (formerly VFL) | tetanus | 1965 | ||
| 28 | Woodville-West Torrens (formerly Richmond and Collingwood) | SANFL (formerly VFL) | car accident | 2003[19] | ||
| 24 | Essendon | VFL | car accident | 1970[20] | ||
| 26 | Yallourn (formerly Essendon) | GFL (formerly VFL) | motor bike accident | 1935[21] | ||
| 26 | Kyabram (formerly Carlton) | GVFL (formerly AFL) | drowning | 1996 | ||
| 26 | Port Adelaide | SANFL | building accident | 1988[22] | ||
| 23 | St Kilda | VFL | railway accident | 1901[23] | ||
| 21 | Footscray | VFL | 1951[24] | |||
| 20 | Birdwood | HFL | cardiac arrest on-field | 2023 [25] | ||
| 23 | Carlton | VFL | tetanus | 1926 |