As someone who has been in the newspaper game for far longer than one may wish to remember, you think you have experienced it all when it comes to handling the most difficult of assignments concerning a death. From the days as a cadet having to ask a grieving widow of mere hours for a photograph of her husband whose body still lay across an airfield following a Cessna crash so it can appear on the front page of the afternoon's newspaper, you become immune to the emotion. Some may say hardened. It's your job, as it is for a police officer or a paramedic. But the July 3 media conference Chapman called at 2pm was entirely different because Walsh had befriended us all. "How's the golf?" he'd ask. "Not good," was the usual reply. Personally, not even the death of my father, also in horrible circumstances, was preparation. Nothing could have been. With some club staff members in the background, the hard questions at this extraordinary "presser" were needed, and amazingly Chapman and Fagan held back most of their tears. It was an unrelenting invasion of their emotions, seeking every conceivable line starting from the time the SA Police deputy commissioner Linda Williams rang Chapman just after 3am and told him of the news to the immediate consoling process. Everything flowed from there; it was tough, but the media as a whole handled it professionally and with dignity. Upon completion of the conference Chapman asked the members of the media to remain as the room was being cleared, and to cease recording. He asked us if we also would like to receive counselling. In all these years or reporting, never had there been knowledge of such an offer while covering a story; the thought that the media could also be affected.

Unintentionally, the media constantly referred to the tragedy as a death of a football coach, but to his dear wife Meredith and family members – indeed the Crows players – this was not a football story; they had lost Phil Walsh the husband, father, close friend and mentor. It is why the Crows have delicately chosen to keep their respects private during this commemoration; they are for a wonderful man, who just happened to be a much-admired coach. Australian Test cricketer Wayne Phillips believes the Crows' players will never get over the death of Walsh, just as he has continued to struggle to accept the senseless death of his (and everyone's) great mate, David Hookes, on January 19, 2004 when he was punched by a hotel bouncer on a St Kilda street. Phillips, who was among the few there alongside Hookes at the fatal scene, said from his personal experience he knew straight away the Crows players were suffering the sickening feeling of losing a close mate. "Something like this is always bordering on family... the way Phil Walsh embraced the club and the players embraced him," Phillips said. "He was much more than a football coach to these young men. He was someone they relied upon and trusted; he was a mate to many. It is why the healing process can be particularly tough for some; everyone else seemingly referring to Phil as a coach and not simply as a person. "The brutality of it all is really confronting; it is so sad like it still is with Hookesy. You don't get over it; there are always situations that present themselves that tend to remind you of what occurred and that is a challenge."

As widely reported, Phillips has endured issues with depression triggered by the death of Hookes and his father within 14 months – he's doing really well now – and he said there was no doubt players within the Adelaide Football Club were facing their own personal challenges. On a cold Saturday afternoon several months ago Matthew Jaensch was struggling to get a kick for Hahndorf, his first club in the Hills Football League. A year earlier he was among the Crows' best players lists until rupturing his ACL, six weeks before the death of Walsh. Jaensch was making good progress when he gave the AFL away in March. "He's not the same Jaenschy as we always knew him," a good mutual friend noted this particular day. But then, no one has really been the same since the morning we woke up to the news that Phil Walsh had been murdered. For the record, no one in the media took up the club's offer of counselling. Perhaps there are those who should have.