The wife of AFL icon Tony Modra has thanked emergency services “who saved his life” as the Crows legend remains in hospital following a truck crash in South Australia.
Fellow Crows great and breakfast radio host Mark Ricciuto, who described the former champion forward as “one of my best mates”, read out a statement provided by Modra’s wife Erica on Triple M Adelaide on Friday morning.
“[Erica] said he’s going alright — it’s pretty amazing he’s got through it,” an emotional Ricciuto said on the show.
“She said to me just before, he’s not going to be the same good-looking Tony Modra, he’s going to have some scars.
“And I said, ‘well, he can be like us for once instead of being good-looking like he always has been’.
“So, he’s going okay, and we’re fingers crossed he’s going to get through it okay at the moment.“
Police were called to the scene of the crash about 5:15pm on Thursday. (Supplied: SA Police)
Modra was seriously injured in a crash on Thursday afternoon, when the truck he was driving hit a tree at Back Valley, near Victor Harbor on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula.
In a statement, SA Police said a 57-year-old man from Waitpinga had been taken to hospital.
Ricciuto, who played alongside Modra at the Crows in the 1990s, said he was “in good care” in the intensive care unit at Flinders Medical Centre.
“[Erica] just wants to say a very big thank you to the first responders … who saved his life and helped talk through to Erica while things were going down,” he said.
“He’s in the ICU at Flinders [Medical Centre] now, and he’s in good care, so we’ll keep you updated – say a prayer for Mods, and all the best.”
Mark Ricciuto played alongside Tony Modra in the Adelaide Crows. (ABC News)
Modra played a total of 165 AFL games for the Adelaide Crows and Fremantle Dockers.
He debuted for Adelaide in 1992, and was the club’s leading goalkicker for five straight seasons, winning the league’s Coleman medal in 1997.
It was in the same year he seriously injured a knee in the preliminary final and missed the club’s historic first AFL premiership.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas told 891 ABC Adelaide Modra was an “extraordinary South Australian” who has had an enormous impact on people both on and off the field.
“It’s hardly a surprise that [the news of the crash] has captured the attention of many, given the impact that Mods had on a lot of people, whether he met them or not,” he said.
Today, current Crows captain Tex Walker told reporters outside the club that “we’re just hoping he’s OK.”
Well-wishes have also flown in from Western Australia from former Fremantle teammate and now coach Justin Longmiur, who spoke to reporters after the Geelong Cats v Dockers match.
“It’s pretty fresh for me like it is for everyone, obviously a big part of the Freo family and all I can say is I wish him and his family well,” he said in the post-match press conference.
“I’m thinking of him, we’re all thinking of him and his family and thoughts are with them.”
Among his achievements, Modra kicked 440 goals for Adelaide and won the AFL’s mark of the year three times, including once after he joined Fremantle.
He finished his career at the Dockers before returning to country SA, where his football career first began.
