Paul Green's wife in shocking reveal about cause of NRL icon's death

Paul Green's wife Amanda has described the devastating moment she found her late husband unresponsive in their Brisbane home, with a leading professor also revealing that Green had one of most “severe forms” of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) they've ever seen.

Green's death at age 49 in August left the rugby league community devastated, with police confirming there were no suspicious circumstances.

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Speaking to The Australian in an article published on Saturday, Amanda Green revealed how her husband had been considering a full-time “corporate” career or taking up an assistant coaching role under Wayne Bennett at the Dolphins before his death.

Amanda said she left her 'sleepy' husband in bed on the morning of his death and found him when she returned from pilates.

“I’m going to do a quick class, I’ll see you when I get home, get yourself going," she said.

“I came home and found him … that was it."

Amanda said there were "no signs" that her husband was suffering from mental health issues.

“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," she said.

Michael Buckland of the Australian Sports Brain Bank (ASBB) contacted Amanda in the days after Green's death and asked if the family would donate Paul’s brain for research.

Professor Buckland told Amanda last week that he’d discovered one of the more “severe forms of pure” CTE in her husband's brain.

Professor Buckland said Green had “an organic brain disease which robbed him of his decision-making and impulse control”, adding Green would likely have been “symptomatic for some time”.

“It was not him, it was the brain disease,” he told The Australian.

“The only known cause for the organic brain disease is exposure to repetitive head impacts.

“I suspect he would have been coping with stuff he didn’t understand for quite a while. He didn’t have mental health problems; he just couldn’t control stuff that was going on in his head.”

Family at peace with Paul Green's devastating death

Amanda said the diagnosis has given the family some closure and explained how she broke the news to children Emerson (13) and Jed (10).

“I was able to sit Jed down and explain: ‘Daddy’s brain was sick, that’s why he did what he did’," she said.

"The diagnosis has helped them understand what happened.

"For my daughter Emerson it has 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."

Former AFL players Danny Frawley and Shane Tuck were both diagnosed with CTE following their own deaths, while South Sydney great Mario Fenech is currently living with the condition.

Amanda Green said she would continue to raise awareness of CTE.

"My goal is to shine a light on Paul's diagnosis, so we can advance our approach to detection, education, treatment and support for people suffering from CTE," she said.

The ASBB, a partnership between Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the University of Sydney and the Concussion Legacy Foundation, was formed to understand CTE and other brain pathology associated with repetitive head injury in sport and elsewhere.

Green's mother Patricia previously said she no saw no signs that he was struggling when she saw him just hours before his death at Jed's birthday party.

“I had just left Paul a few hours before it happened. I kissed him and said goodbye, ‘I love you Paul, catch ya later’. Then off we went home,” she said.

“We couldn’t fathom why he would do it. We still can’t. It is against his beliefs. It is so hard to accept.”

Green coached the Cowboys from 2014 to 2020, leading the club to their maiden premiership in 2015.

He became Queensland State of Origin coach in 2021, but lost the 'dream job' after the Maroons' series loss to NSW.

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