One of Tony Modra’s best mates has revealed the footy legend didn’t suffer a concussion or brain injury in the catastrophic truck accident that almost killed him last Thursday night.
Modra’s former Adelaide Crows teammate Mark Ricciuto said the 57-year-old is due to have another bout of surgery after being operated on to treat severe facial injuries he suffered in the incident.
On Saturday, Ricciuto revealed that the veteran of 165 AFL games had woken up in hospital after it was initially feared he could have died when a tree branch smashed through the windscreen of his truck.
‘It’s been a positive weekend, it’s definitely fair to say,’ Ricciuto told Adelaide’s Triple M Breakfast With Roo, Ditz and Loz show on Monday morning.
‘He had a really long day on Friday, getting operations on his jaw, cheekbone and eye socket.
‘Saturday I got a great message during the football from Erica [Modra’s wife] saying that they’ve woken him up, and that was awesome.
Tony Modra (pictured playing in a legends match in 2018) has emerged from surgery showing no signs of a brain injury after almost dying in a truck crash last Thursday night
The 57-year-old (pictured at the 2025 Brownlow Medal ceremony) is out of intensive care but faces more surgery as he recovers
Modra’s good friend and former Crows teammate Mark Ricciuto (pictured) said ‘it’s a miracle not only that he’s alive, but that he’s at the point he is at right now’
‘But he was in a lot of pain, as you can imagine, after having all those operations the day before.
‘He remembered everything that happened, if you can believe that.
‘So no concussion, no brain injury, which is a huge positive… so great news he’s got no brain issues, [but it’s] a little bit tough emotionally to get through reliving what happened.’
Ricciuto added that Modra is now out of the intensive care ward, but will go under the knife again on Monday.
‘It’s a miracle not only that he’s alive, but that he is at the point he is at right now,’ Ricciuto added.
Modra, a father of two, was injured in a freak accident near his sheep and cattle farm about 90km south of Adelaide.
It has now been revealed that some quick thinking by the footy icon’s son helped save his life.
Erica Modra said she was on the phone to the footy icon when the crash occurred.
Modra’s 14-year-old son Luke helped emergency services reach his father with some quick thinking straight after the crash
The 57-year-old (pictured in his playing days with Fremantle) was rushed to hospital in a critical condition
She said their 14-year-old son Luke immediately called triple-0 and used the Find My Phone app to pinpoint his father’s location and relay it to emergency services.
Erica said her husband was able to pull over after the impact to avoid anyone else being caught up in the chaos.
She even joked about the effect of the accident on her husband’s looks once he had made it out of the woods.
‘Erica said to me just before, “He’s not going to be the same good-looking Tony Modra, he’s going to have some scars”,’ Ricciuto revealed on Saturday afternoon.
‘I said, “Well, he can be like us for once instead of being good looking as he always has been.”‘
It is understood that Modra’s surgery involved complex procedures to repair the effects of the crash on his jaw, eye socket and cheek.
He was rushed into intensive care at Flinders Medical Centre after the crash at Back Valley on the Fleurieu Peninsula.
Footy fans also paid their respects to Modra – who wore the No.6 guernsey for the Crows – by applauding at the six-minute mark of the team’s win over the Demons at Adelaide Oval.
‘We’re hearing positive thoughts, there’s a lot of positive news coming back,’ Crows coach Matthew Nicks said after his side won by 17 points.
‘But we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.’
Modra is renowned as one of the most spectacular players in AFL history after kicking 588 goals while playing for the Crows and Dockers between 1992 and 2001.
