Former Wallabies player and Brumbies captain Owen Finegan says former team-mate Dan Vickerman confided in his friends about the difficulties he faced after retiring from the game.
Vickerman died, aged 37, at his family home in Sydney on Saturday night.
"I think everyone was shocked by it. It was devastating - we all play on an old boys team called the Silver Foxes and Dan had expressed a number of times how difficult his transition was and it is difficult for a lot of professional sports people, especially when you've had 10 or more years at the top of the game," Finegan told ABC news.
Finegan said Vickerman's wife and children will be offered help.
"I'm sure the whole rugby community will come around them. I've only heard for about - well it hasn't even been 24 hours and you think to yourself could you have done anything to help him," he said.
