Footy great Sam Newman looks jovial as wife Amanda Brown gazes into the horizon.
She seems relaxed after spending a pleasant outing on the water with her long-time partner and husband and good mates former player agent Ricky Nixon and his partner Melissa Huynh.
By all accounts, the 50-year old had been in the prime of life, both fit and healthy, when she dropped dead without warning on Saturday night.
Sam Newman’s wife Amanda Brown (left) was found dead in their Docklands apartment aged 50. She had enjoyed a wonderful day out on Port Phillip Bay with Newman in 2019
Melissa Huynh and friend Amanda Brown spent good times together on the boat
Amanda Brown ties up former player agent, and mate, Ricky Nixon
While the exact cause of the tragedy remains unclear, it is believed she may have succumbed to some kind of stroke or heart attack.
A devastated Ms Huynh shared the photos of the couple in the hours after learning her friend had suddenly passed.
The images show the happy couple enjoying what appears to be several glorious day out with friends on the water on Newman’s luxury boat.
In one image, Ms Brown is seen playfully tying up Nixon, who appears to reluctantly agree to the imposition.
Ms Huynh told Daily Mail Australia the shots were taken on Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne in 2019 before COVID-19 ended pleasant days out on the bay.
‘It is truly sad time for us all. So sudden. So young. She was always super funny and had the best sense of humour … She will be missed,’ Ms Huynh told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
Just days before she died, friends said they noted absolutely no signs that she was unwell.
‘She seemed so happy on Thursday when I was talking to her,’ a friend posted on social media.
‘How life can turn around. Thoughts are with the great man Sam now. RIP Amanda.’
Amanda Brown and Melissa Huynh in happier times. Ms Brown died suddenly on Saturday aged just 50
Amanda Brown (left) and Sam Newman enjoyed many trips on Port Phillip Bay with her good friend Melissa Huyhn and her partner Ricky Nixon
Newman and his soul mate of 20 years had enjoyed five months of marital bliss before he found her lifeless body on the floor of their apartment.
The former AFL great and Footy Show frontman had a very private relationship with Amanda Brown that spanned two decades before they finally tied the knot in November last year, just days after her 50th birthday.
On Monday, great mate and former colleague Rex Hunt paid a touching tribute to Newman.
‘I knew something was desperately wrong when I spoke to my friend Sam Newman last night. and he told me he couldn’t talk right then,’ he revealed.
‘Our phone conversation early this morning confirmed my worst gut feeling. Sam had found his wife Amanda lying lifeless in their apartment.
‘I could tell of my understanding of thousands of conversations over the past 53 years with him…that Sam was bleeding………….from a broken heart.’
Hunt said he had spent some time with Newman before driving out to Werribee – west of Melbourme – on Newman’s request for a a piece of Couta, chips and a fried dim sim from Kippers.
‘I then drove to The Marina at Werribee South where a few years ago Lynne and I were on board Sam’s Boat and crewed beautifully by Amanda,’ he wrote.
‘The photo of Sam grinning like a Cheshire cat explains what I’m writing.’
Sam Newman’s wife Amanda Brown (pictured on their wedding day on November 27) was found dead in their Docklands apartment aged 50
Sam Newman, whose wife Amanda Brown died on Saturday evening in Melbourne, had been married three times previously before marrying the ‘love of his life’ in November
Friends said the ‘bubbly’ Ms Brown made Newman the happiest he had ever been, but it was all torn away on Saturday at about 8pm when he came home after a night out with friends and found her unresponsive on the floor of their apartment.
She reportedly went into cardiac arrest and, while emergency services were called, there was nothing her distraught husband could do.
The 75-year-old, who had three previous marriages, said he is ‘just devastated’ in his only statement following her death, as people who were close to the couple divulged the intimate details of their romance.
Newman played 300 games for Geelong Football Club in the 1960s and 70s, winning the club’s best and fairest medal twice.
He was named in the club’s team of the century and is also in the club’s hall of fame.
He retired in 1980 and immediately began working in the media, commentating for radio station 3AW and Channel 7.
Newman was one of the faces of the AFL Footy Show from 1994 until 2018 where he became a controversial figure for his outspoken views.
