AFL icon Tony Modra is “out of the worst” after a near-fatal freak accident, his close friend Mark Ricciuto says.

Modra suffered facial injuries when a fallen tree branch crashed through the windshield of a truck he was driving near his cattle property south of Adelaide last Thursday.

The Adelaide and Fremantle great, renowned as one of the most spectacular players in AFL history, was initially in a critical condition.

The 57-year-old has sustained facial surgeries and is still in pain, says Ricciuto, his former captain at the Crows who remains a close mate.

“He’s improving a lot,” Ricciuto told Triple M radio.

“He did not sound like the old Tony Modra, he sounded like a bloke who didn’t want to move his head - and basically couldn’t half move his head.

“He sounded completely different at this stage because of all that.

“But he still had Mods’ sense of humour which was awesome to hear, he was trying to have a laugh in super-tough times.

“He did sound like he was in enormous pain and he is, because he’s had so many operations, but fingers-crossed he’s had his last one there for a little while.”

The accident involving Modra, a popular full-forward who kicked 588 goals in 165 games for the Crows and Dockers between 1992-2001, triggered an emotional outpour among the AFL and wider community.

“He’s out of the worst the woods can be,” Ricciuto said.

“Now he’s just living with the pain and waiting to get better and dealing with all the emotional stuff that you deal with, I guess, of having an accident and remembering parts of it.

“He said he wants to chop the tree down ... we were having a few laughs, that’s typical Modra chat.

“It was just good to have a little bit of a giggle as much as he could.”