AFL superstar Jarryd Roughead and wife Sarah announce they’re expecting a baby – after his cancer scare which rocked the footy world
- AFL champion Jarryd Roughead and wife Sarah expecting second child in July
- Sarah showed off baby bump at 2020 AFL season launch on Tuesday night
- Comes four years after Roughead took indefinite leave from AFL to fight cancer
- Roughead retired last season but remains involved in game as St Kilda co-coach
Retired AFL superstar and cancer survivor Jarryd Roughead and his wife Sarah have announced they’re expecting their second child.
The stunning couple graced the red carpet at the AFL 2020 season launch in Melbourne on Tuesday night shortly after sharing their exciting news on social media.
‘A special night tonight celebrating with our littlest love on board,’ a glowing Ms Roughead captioned a photo showing off her baby bump in a glamorous gold gown.
The post was inundated with messages from well wishers, including AFL stars Buddy Franklin and Patrick Dangerfield and WAGS Emma Hawkins and Nadia Bartel.
Sarah Roughead showed off her growing baby bump when she and husband Jarryd attended the 2020 AFL season launch on Tuesday night
The new arrival will be a younger sibling for the couple’s daughter Pippa Mae, who turned two in February.
Ms Roughead later confirmed she’s five months pregnant.
‘We’re equally thrilled and excited as we are nervous,’ the WAG told the Herald Sun.
‘We can’t wait for Pip to begin her role as a doting big sister.’
Roughead was forced to take indefinite leave from the game in 2016 after four melanoma lumps were found on his lung.
The Australian sporting world was rocked by the news of the diagnosis for the four-time premiership Hawthorn Hawks star ruck/forward who had a melanoma on his lip removed a year earlier.
Sarah said two-year-old Pippa (pictured at Roughead’s final match) is looking forward to her role as big sister
Aged 29 at the time, Roughead had married Sarah just six months earlier.
Following his May 2016 diagnosis, Roughead said he would be moving forward with a ‘head down and bum up’ attitude and that he won’t lose his hair or suffer the side-effects of chemo treatment.
He continued to train while he underwent an immunotherapy clinical trial, which started just weeks after his diagnosis before getting the all-clear to return to the field in 2017.
He later told AFL commentator Hamish McLachlan for the Herald Sun that surviving cancer made him a better person and forced him to realise there’s more to life than ‘two hours of footy on the weekend’.
‘A special night tonight celebrating with our littlest love on board,’ Sarah captioned a photo of the couple on Instagram earlier on Tuesday night
Jarryd Roughead booted six goals for Hawthorn in his final game last August (pictured)
‘You finally understand that footy’s not everything, even though you’ve always thought that it is, and you’ve been living a very selfish life assuming it is,’ Roughead said in 2018.
You can get caught up in the hustle and bustle, especially here in Melbourne, but when you go through something like cancer, you understand that it isn’t everything. It’s bloody important to me, but you do see that there’s more to life than the results of two hours of footy on the weekend.
Roughead retired from footy at the end of 2019 season after 283 games, 578 goals, a Coleman Medal in 2013 for most goals kicked in a season and four premierships.
He recently signed a three-year deal as St Kilda co-coach.
‘Jarryd’s been a new man, the pressure is off and we can enjoy this next chapter,’ Sarah said last month.
New St Kilda co-coach Jarryd Roughead (pictured with eldest child Pippa and wife Sarah) is looking forward to becoming a dad for a second time