‘Devastating’: Port Adelaide Football Family in Mourning as Former Power Forward Daniel Stewart Dies Suddenly at Just 37, Leaving Behind Wife and Two Young Sons
- Former Port Adelaide key forward Daniel Stewart has died suddenly at the age of 37, sending shockwaves through the club and the wider football community.
- The Power will wear black armbands in his honour at their first home game at Adelaide Oval in 2027.
- Stewart leaves behind his wife Laura and their two sons, Bernie and Lando, as well as his parents and brother.
- His finest moment came in the last round of 2010, when he booted four goals at Docklands to help sink Richmond.
Thirty-seven is no age at all.
It is an age when most former footballers are coaching their kids on Saturday mornings, reminiscing with old teammates and settling into the rhythms of life after the game.
For Daniel Stewart, that life has been cut brutally short.
The former Port Adelaide forward died suddenly on Friday, leaving a young family, a tight-knit circle of friends and an entire football club struggling to comprehend the loss.
The Port Adelaide Football Club confirmed the news, with chief executive Matthew Richardson describing the sudden passing as devastating and stressing that Stewart had been, and would forever remain, part of the Power’s football family.
No cause of death has been made public.
Richardson’s statement named those closest to the late forward: his mother Donna, his father Byron, his wife Laura, his sons Bernie and Lando, and his brother Leigh.
The club chief also singled out Stewart’s close mate and former teammate Matt Thomas, along with the people at North Adelaide and Labrador who had known him through the years.
The Power have pledged to support everyone affected, including former teammates, coaches and the staff who worked alongside Stewart during his time at Alberton.
When the 2027 season gets under way, Port Adelaide players will run out at Adelaide Oval for their first home match wearing black armbands in his memory.
Stewart’s path to the AFL was anything but conventional, and that is part of what made him so admired.
A Victorian by birth, the tall key forward came through the Eastern Ranges before heading north to play with Labrador in the AFL Queensland competition. He later landed in South Australia with North Adelaide in the SANFL, where his performances caught the eye of Power recruiters.
Port Adelaide took a punt on him in the 2009 rookie draft. By the end of that season, he had done enough to earn promotion to the senior list.
Across four campaigns between 2010 and 2013, Stewart pulled on the teal, black and white 36 times and kicked 31 goals.
His standout afternoon came in the final round of 2010 at Docklands.
Facing Richmond, Stewart slotted four goals as Port Adelaide held on for a tense 10-point victory, a performance that hinted at what the big man could produce when everything clicked.
It was the kind of game that rookie-listed players dream about. Proof that the long road through state leagues and interstate moves had been worth it.
Stewart’s era at Alberton coincided with one of the leaner and more turbulent stretches in the club’s modern history, a period in which young players were thrown into senior football and asked to grow up fast.
Those who shared the change rooms with him during that time formed bonds that have clearly endured well beyond their playing days.
Analysis: What This Means for Australia
The sudden death of a man in his thirties is a tragedy in any community.
When that man is a former AFL player, the grief ripples outwards in a uniquely Australian way, touching suburban clubs, state league teams and supporters who may only have watched him from the stands.
Football in this country is not merely a sport. It is a social fabric.
Stewart’s journey alone connected clubs in three states, from Melbourne’s eastern suburbs to the Gold Coast to Adelaide’s North Adelaide Football Club, meaning his loss will be felt across communities that rarely share a headline.
His death also casts a fresh spotlight on the question of how the game looks after its people once the final siren sounds on their careers.
Hundreds of players cycle through AFL lists every decade, many of them, like Stewart, playing a few dozen games before moving on.
The conversation around player welfare has grown louder in recent years, with clubs and the competition increasingly recognising that their duty of care does not simply expire when a contract ends.
Port Adelaide’s swift commitment to supporting former teammates and staff reflects that shift. A generation ago, such support might not have been offered so openly.
For the families left behind, the consequences are immediate and profound. Two young boys have lost their father.
A wife has lost her partner. Parents have lost a son far too soon.
No armband or tribute can soften that reality, but the public outpouring may offer some comfort in the dark weeks ahead.
Football industry observers say the sudden loss of a former player tends to hit hardest among those who played alongside him, many of whom are now in the same stage of life, raising families and building careers outside the game.
Club insiders note that moments like this often bring former playing groups back together, reconnecting men who may not have spoken in years and reminding them of the brotherhood forged in the change rooms.
Those familiar with player welfare programs believe clubs have become far better at reaching out to past players in times of crisis, though they acknowledge there is always more work to be done to ensure no one slips through the cracks once their playing days are behind them.
Community football figures say Stewart’s story, from the Eastern Ranges to Labrador to North Adelaide and finally the AFL, embodies the persistence that grassroots clubs hold up as an example to young players chasing the same dream.
As tributes continue to flow from Alberton and beyond, one message rings clearest: Daniel Stewart may have played just 36 games at the top level, but his place in the Port Adelaide family is permanent.
When the Power run onto Adelaide Oval next year with black bands on their arms, thousands of fans will pause to remember a big-hearted forward who was taken far too soon.