By all accounts from family, friends and colleagues, Queensland football great Paul Green showed no signs of struggling with his mental health before he took his life on August 11.
"Paul wasn't depressed, [he] showed no signs of mental health issues, his family was everything to him," his wife Amanda Green told The Weekend Australian.
Just a day before his death, they were celebrating their son's 10th birthday — laughing and discussing Green's future career plans over birthday cake, pizza and a few glasses of wine.
The next day, the 49-year-old was found unresponsive in his Wynnum home and died shortly afterwards.
"I came home and found him … that was it," Ms Green said.
"There were no signs. We often talked about our future and what that looked like. I never once doubted that we would spend the rest of our lives together."
Now, two months on from his death, new findings from a post-mortem brain scan may reveal why he died.
Green's brain was donated to the Australian Sports Brain Bank.
Post-mortem scans reveal brain disease
Associate professor Michael Buckland led the examination and last week handed down the results.
The neuropathologist said he had discovered one of the most severe forms of pure CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) he had ever seen.
"[This] is a progressive brain disease which, at this stage, the only known cause for is exposure to repetitive head impacts," Dr Buckland said.
"Often in the early stages of CTE, some people can be asymptomatic, but most families report that their loved ones have anxiety or apathy, impulsivity, explosiveness, aggression, thoughts of self-harm.
"As the disease progresses, it tends to manifest … with difficulties in thinking and planning, and difficulties in memory."
Paul Green played for five rugby league clubs and competed in seven Origin matches over the span of his career, before moving into coaching.
But the rugby league great existed in a time where the "toughen up, she'll be right" attitude prevailed, and getting up and continuing to play after a head knock was met with applause.
In Ms Green's interview with The Weekend Australian, she said the diagnosis has given her and her children, Emerson, 13, and Jed, 10 some closure.
"I was able to sit Jed down and explain 'Daddy's brain was sick, that's why he did what he did'. The diagnosis has helped them understand what happened," she said.
"For my daughter, Emerson, it's also given her a sense of relief because of what's being said out there [that Green had depression].
"She now understands that he wasn't in that space and there's nothing we could have done, because he was sick. We just didn't know it."
More research needed: NRL
Professor Buckland said while sporting codes were starting to crack down on concussion policies, there was still a long way to go.
"I know Paul and Amanda love the game and they want to make sure the game can be as safe as possible for the next generation," he said.
"I really think that's going to be an important legacy of Paul Green's, in addition to his other achievements.
"We're doing this for the next generation and the generation after that."
In a statement, NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said the NRL puts player welfare first and has head injury protocols in place.
"We know this is an area of considerable debate and requires ongoing scientific research," he said.
"We are investing resources to monitor and evaluate the current scientific evidence."
