Daily Mail Australia sports writer Mike Colman dies after health battle

Former Daily Mail Australia sport columnist Mike Colman has died after a long health battle.

Colman, 68, passed while surrounded by his wife, Linda, and three children in Brisbane at 9pm on Friday after struggling against a rare lung disease.

The journalist of 47 years was best known for his witty takes on Australian sport – a talent he shared with the Daily Mail between 2021 and 2023.

Fellow sport columnist Robert Craddock took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a post in Colman’s memory.

‘A tribute to the late, great sporting columnist Mike Colman who has lost his brave, lengthy battle after a typically spirited fight,’ Mr Craddock wrote. 

‘Mike was truly one of a kind, the last of great larrikin columnists who could make readers laugh or cry in the same week.’

Peter FitzSimons, an outspoken journalist and partner of former The Project host Lisa Wilkinson, also shared a tribute to Colman, writing: ‘RIP Mike Colman. 

‘Veteran sportswriter, lovely bloke, great family man. Kicked around with him many times over the decades. Gone, way too soon.’

More to come.