Rex Hunt: What Happened to the AFL Star and Fishing Icon

Full name: Rex James Hunt ·
Born: 7 March 1949 ·
Age: 75 (as of 2024) ·
Height: 191 cm ·
VFL/AFL games: 687th most games played ·
Catchphrase: “Yibbida!”

Seven key facts, one pattern: the public record on Hunt’s career is solid, while the personal record — spouse, home, daily life — remains largely blank in sourced reporting.

What ever happened to Rex Hunt?

Rex Hunt’s public slide began in January 2023. Victoria Police said officers attended an incident involving a 73-year-old man near Little River at about 2.15am on 17 January, and the man was taken to hospital for assessment. Sports broadcaster Fox Sports Australia identified the man as Hunt and reported that he was admitted to a private mental health hospital in Geelong, where he spent seven weeks.

Hunt had previously spoken publicly about living with bipolar depression. In a later interview, he said his mental health decline began about seven years earlier, after he became dependent on opioid painkillers following neck surgery. The disclosure, carried by Fox Sports Australia, reframed years of public behaviour that had begun to puzzle fans as a documented health struggle rather than a personality shift.

In December 2023, the diagnosis arrived. The West Australian newspaper reported that Hunt had been diagnosed with dementia; free-to-air network 7NEWS carried the same news; and Fox Sports Australia reported that his family had confirmed it. Hunt was 74 at the time, The West Australian noted. The diagnosis came less than a year after his January breakdown; according to the same Fox Sports report, Hunt had attended an AFL finals function in September and, days later, returned to private care. The news also placed Hunt among Australian football figures confronting serious health battles in retirement — a subject we have examined in the case of AFL great Jonathan Brown’s brain surgery and CTE.

How old is Rex Hunt now?

Born 7 March 1949, Hunt turned 75 in March 2024; he was 74 when the dementia diagnosis was reported in December 2023 (The West Australian).

Are Rex Hunt and Sam Newman friends?

• Newman publicly said Hunt was “not in a good place” after the January 2023 health scare, according to Fox Sports Australia.
• Both men came from the same football-and-television generation and have been linked publicly for decades.
• Neither has given a detailed public account of the friendship’s current state.

Newman’s comments sounded like concern from someone close to Hunt, not a distant observer. Beyond that, the public record is thin.

The pattern: the health crisis explains much of the behaviour that made headlines before the diagnosis was public.

What is Rex Hunt doing today?

• Hunt remains active on Instagram (@therealrexhunt), where his bio declares: “Australian Television and Broadcasting personality Yibbida.”
• His bio also promotes a weekly program: “Join me from 11pm each Saturday night.”
• A website and a YouTube channel are linked from the same profile.

His profile at Saxton Speakers Bureau, which still lists him for speaking engagements, recounts the same dual career — footballer, then television fisherman — that made him a national fixture.

No public updates have followed on Hunt’s day-to-day condition, and his family has not issued statements beyond the diagnosis reports. His Instagram remains the clearest signal that he still intends to work.

Where does Rex Hunt live now?

• The January 2023 police incident occurred near Little River, Victoria.
• He was treated at a private mental health hospital in Geelong after the incident.
• No source has confirmed his exact current address.

The Little River report and the Geelong hospital stay both point to the same region of Victoria. “Where he lives now” is, strictly speaking, an unanswered question.

The pattern: Hunt’s public footprint has narrowed dramatically, but his social channels insist the show still goes on — even if no one else is saying much about it.

Was Rex Hunt a police officer?

No. The claim appears to be an internet-era mix-up, and it collapses under the lightest scrutiny.

• Hunt’s football career is documented from 1968, when he made his VFL/AFL debut at age 19, according to the AFL Tables statistical archive.
• He played for Geelong from 1968 to 1980 and finished at Richmond in 1981, per his Wikipedia biography.
• He then moved into media, becoming a fishing-show host and television personality.

Police work never appears in that record. The mistake probably stems from Hunt’s commanding, older-generation broadcasting voice and his frequent on-air bluster — the kind of figure who sounds like he once wore a uniform, even though he never did.

What are some of Rex Hunt’s controversies?

• Fox Sports Australia reported Hunt made a Facebook rant calling for Wayne Carey to replace Daisy Pearce on Channel 7’s AFL coverage.
• The same outlet reported an alleged July road-rage incident in Victoria in which Hunt was caught on camera appearing to wield a garden fork.
• It also reported an on-air blow-up that ended Hunt’s return to radio.

Those controversies cluster in 2023 — the same year as his hospitalisations, and months before the dementia diagnosis became public. In that light, they read less like a personality turning sour and more like a man struggling while the people around him tried to keep up.

Who is Rex Hunt’s wife?

Hunt’s wife is not named in the sources reviewed. Recent reporting has focused on his health and career rather than his marriage, and his family has largely stayed out of the public conversation.

• Fox Sports Australia’s report on his diagnosis references a “busted-up family” under strain.
• Hunt has at least one son, according to the biographical summaries reviewed.
• Full details of his wife and children are not publicly documented.

Does Rex Hunt have children?

• Yes — at least one son.
• Names, ages and careers are not confirmed in the sources reviewed.

The lack of public family detail is itself a finding: while Hunt’s career played out on television screens, the people closest to him have largely stayed off camera.

What was Rex Hunt’s catchphrase?

• “Yibbida!” — his signature exclamation on fishing shows.
• Often doubled for emphasis: “Yibbida yibbida!”
• So linked to his persona that he still signs his Instagram bio with it: “Australian Television and Broadcasting personality Yibbida.”

For a generation of Australian viewers, the word is inseparable from Hunt. It worked as a verbal autograph — a flash of joy that said something big was about to happen on screen.

What did Rex Hunt used to say?

• “Yibbida!” — the catchphrase that became his calling card.
• “Join me from 11pm each Saturday night” — the sign-off on his current Instagram bio.
• The word fitted fishing TV because that genre runs on excitement — and Hunt was always the one shouting first.

The word outlived the shows. It appears in his bio, in his headlines, and in the memories of anyone who watched him — which is exactly the kind of legacy most television personalities can only hope for.

Rex Hunt’s life and career timeline

Eight turning points, one narrative: a football career, a fishing legacy, and a final chapter written in hospital rooms rather than boats.

The faster the chronology runs, the clearer the pattern: the public controversies of 2023 were not a late-career personality shift. They were the visible edge of a health crisis that had been building for the better part of a decade.

Confirmed facts vs. what’s still unclear

With seven unclear items against six confirmed ones, the balance of this story is sobering: the public knew Rex Hunt’s voice, but the private details — the ones that now matter most — have stayed out of reach. For another case of a sports personality at the centre of health rumours, see our fact-check on Beau Ryan’s brain cancer rumour.

What Hunt and those close to him have said

Two voices, one contrast:

“Australian Television and Broadcasting personality Yibbida. Check out our website and YouTube channel. Join me from 11pm each Saturday night.”

— Rex Hunt, Instagram bio

“Rex Hunt is not in a good place.”

— Sam Newman, quoted by Fox Sports Australia

The contrast between the two quotes is the whole story in miniature: Hunt still projecting the cheerful brand he built over decades, and the people around him quietly describing a man in decline. Both things are true at once.

The takeaway

Rex Hunt gave Australians a catchphrase that became part of the national vocabulary, then spent his final years in the spotlight fighting battles he never signed up for. The dementia diagnosis reframes everything — the rants, the road-rage report, the strange late-night posts — as symptoms of a man in decline rather than a personality turned sour. For Australian audiences who grew up with “Yibbida!” echoing from the television, the choice is clear: remember the joy he brought, or let the controversies of his final years define his legacy.

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