Campbell Brown has been photographed exercising and chatting with a friend in a Melbourne park on Christmas Eve, days before he is set to make Australian sporting history.
The 41-year-old Hawthorn premiership winner wore a T-shirt and shorts as he walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens, spoke with his companion and stopped for coffee.
Daily Mail Australia does not suggest there is any romantic connection between Brown and his friend.
Brown and a group of other football greats are set to create an Australian sporting first on Saturday when they face a top team in kabaddi, the hugely popular Indian sport.
The former AFL star, who now works as a commentator covering football and horse racing for SEN and Channel Seven, made headlines last year amid rumours he was dating Grace Hayden, the television personality and daughter of cricket great Matthew Hayden.
Hayden was 21 at the time. The pair were photographed dancing together in November while serving as ambassadors for the Ladbrokes Summer Racing Festival in Tasmania.
Brown and Hayden were both represented by TLA Worldwide, a prominent talent and marketing agency that links athletes and entertainers with brands and audiences.
The pair are understood to have known each other for three years, and both attended Royal Ascot in June 2023.
Campbell Brown and a friend were seen taking a Christmas Eve walk through Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens
The former footballer and his companion appeared in good spirits as they exercised and grabbed a coffee
Brown is preparing to make a slice of Australian sporting history this week
Brown currently works as an AFL and horse-racing commentator for Seven and SEN
The speculation linking Brown and Hayden emerged only weeks after he separated from his wife of 10 years, Jessica Johnson.
Their split was reported shortly after Johnson gave birth to their third child, Bailey, in late August 2023.
Johnson was reportedly left “devastated” and “blindsided” by the separation.
“It’s all so raw and came out of nowhere,” a source told News Corp at the time.
The couple’s eldest son, Boston, is six, while their middle son, Baker, is two.
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The family has lived at Kangaroo Grounds, outside Melbourne, where they keep retired racehorses.
At just 22, Grace Hayden has already established herself in television and fashion.
Her breakthrough came in 2022, when she was named Channel Seven’s Oaks Day ambassador and stepped into the public spotlight.
She later joined Seven’s horse-racing team, working as a fashion reporter during the network’s spring carnival coverage.
Since being linked to Brown, Hayden has moved on with her boyfriend, Wilson Statham. She went public with their relationship in June, when they were photographed embracing during a walk in Sydney’s exclusive Woollahra.
Statham is the son of Queensland cotton entrepreneurs Danielle and David Statham.
Brown was rumoured last year to have been involved with Grace Hayden (pictured), the television personality and daughter of cricket great Matthew Hayden
The Hawthorn premiership winner separated from his wife of 10 years, Jessica (pictured together), in August last year, shortly after the birth of their third child
Alongside his racing work, Brown is a presenter on SEN radio and co-hosts The Browny Podcast with AFL great and media personality Jonathan Brown and broadcaster Dean “Deano” Thomas.
He is the son of AFL legend Mal Brown and built an accomplished playing career of his own with Hawthorn and the Gold Coast.
Brown played 205 first-grade matches between 2002 and 2013, winning the 2008 premiership with Hawthorn and earning All-Australian selection in 2007.
He was known for his aggressive, uncompromising approach and served a total of 29 weeks in suspensions during his career.
On Saturday, Brown will join fellow football figures, including former Sydney Swans star Josh Kennedy, for a match in the traditional Indian sport of kabaddi.
Brown will serve as captain-coach of the Australian team, which will make history when it faces an Indian side at Melbourne’s John Cain Arena.
“A big day for Australian sport as a nation,” Brown told SEN.
“Australians love their sport. It doesn’t matter whether it’s football, cricket, badminton, boxing or hockey — they really get behind their national side.”
Kabaddi, which is followed by hundreds of millions of people in India, is often likened to a blend of rugby, tag and British bulldog.
