Adam Hunter said he ‘needed to change my lifestyle choices’ before West Coast Eagle found dead in Bunbury

Adam Hunter had tried to turn his life around, but it appears he was unable to beat the demons that plagued his post-AFL career.

The West Coast Eagles premiership player, who famously kicked the winning goal in a thrilling 2006 flag win over Sydney, was found dead on Tuesday at a home 175km south of Perth in the coastal town of Bunbury.

Detectives seized an amount of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia from the scene.

They are not treating the death as suspicious.

The 43-year-old, who had trained with the South Bunbury club hours before his death, had faced domestic violence charges in 2021 and was fined $400 in 2014 for possessing a small amount of cocaine.

The domestic violence case was discontinued after prosecutors told Perth Magistrates Court there was “no longer reasonable prospects of conviction”.

Hunter had been accused breaking into his partner’s Perth home before assaulting her and preventing her from leaving.

The charges were one count each of aggravated home burglary, aggravated common assault and deprivation of liberty.

If the matter had proceeded and he was found guilty he was facing a maximum 14-year jail term for the deprivation of liberty charge.

It paints a stark picture of how far he had fallen after reaching such great heights with the Eagles.

He had been on $5000 bail and had been ordered by the court not to contact or come within 50 metres of his partner.

In a frank interview in 2018, Hunter revealed how he had struggled to adjust to life after the AFL when his career was cut short in 2009 due to a chronic shoulder injury.

“I got to a point where I realised I was going down a pathway I didn’t want to be going down and needed to change my lifestyle choices,” he told The West Australian.

“You’ve got to make mistakes to improve, and fail to succeed, and I had to learn from what I was doing and get better. Football can give you everything but it can also take everything away from you.”

“It was hard to accept and took me several years to get over the frustration of not being still out there.

“It left a massive hole, and trying to chase that feeling again is very hard to replicate. It took a bit of time to recognise that’s what I was feeling because football was all I knew. I hadn’t experienced life away from it and I didn’t have much direction.”

Hunter said he had found peace with himself during the interview while also defending criticism the 2006 Eagles flag win was tainted by rampant drug use by several members of the team.

“It definitely took some time to find something else to put my mind to and that dedication I had towards my football into,” he said.

“But everything you’ve done to this point makes you who you are and if you’re happy with who you are now, then you can’t complain about the past.”

“But people who say it was tainted don’t realise how much it takes to win a flag and the dedication, intense work-rate and pure talent that team had.

“If they really want to look at culture, they should look at the extra work some of the guys were doing and how hard they trained.

“I don’t give those comments much traction because the guys who were there know the truth. I actually feel sorry for the current players because of the scrutiny they get now and that’s only going to get worse.”

Hunter’s premiership-winning mentor John Worsfold, who this year returned to West Coast as Head of Football, said he had not coached a more passionate player.

“I was lucky enough to coach ‘Hunts’ for a long time and he was just one of those players who put in 100 per cent into everything he did at the club,” he said.

“All he wanted to do was play footy with his mates and share success with them. I know a lot of his teammates are reflecting on what he brought to them as a group and as footballers.

“Out of all my time in footy, which is a long time now, he’s probably the player that loved the game more than any player I’ve ever seen.

“I understand that he went to footy training last night and had a kick for South Bunbury, because that’s just what he does.”

Hunter played all but 10 of his 151 AFL matches under Worsfold.

Hunter’s death continues a tragic week for the AFL, after former Brisbane Lions player Troy Selwood and Essendon VFL coach Dale Tapping both died on Tuesday.

Selwood’s twin brother Adam and younger brother Scott were teammates of Hunter’s at West Coast.