Former Essendon champion and AFLPA Executive Committee member Simon Madden launched the campaign at Brunswick Oval in Fitzroy on Thursday. He was joined by triple Brownlow Medallist Bob Skilton, Peter Daicos, Michael Roach, James Clement and AFLPA CEO Brendon Gale.
Gale said the campaign aimed to locate around 3500 former players who were not AFLPA members to advise them of health and wellbeing benefits available to them.
An AFLPA survey of past players indicated 66 per cent of them suffered football related injuries after their career, with 50 per cent needing surgery for those injuries.
Madden said the AFLPA already offered health and medical benefits to its 1500 members.
Former Fremantle and North Melbourne player Matthew 'Spider' Burton said the AFLPA served an important function for retired players, particularly during the first few years after leaving an AFL club.
“To totally remove yourself is really quite hard. That’s probably the biggest thing that is missed, is that camaraderie and sense of team,” Burton said.
“It’s interesting when different players react when they finish. Some really struggle, mentally. I really look out for those players, especially one to two years out that I know and can assist them through any times they’ve had.”
Skilton encouraged players from all eras to contact the AFLPA. It was an opportunity to reunite with old friends, he said.
“Some of my closest friends today are the guys that I played against – the Norm Browns, the Kevin Murrays, the Allen Ayletts – you can just keep rolling them off,” Skilton said.
Skilton said it had been great to have a support mechanism and social outlet beyond his playing days.
"A lot of the guys are a little too proud to come forward and say, ‘Listen, I’m not doing so well’, or whatever the case may be,” Skilton said. “We want to get together and we want to know them and we want to help them if we can.”
