‘So full of life and love, so sad inside’: how Jacinda Barclay’s death could help us understand concussion in sport

When the fearless, open-hearted athlete took her own life in October, the shock was immense. Now her family is determined to find out why

• Damage found after late AFLW player Jacinda Barclay donates brain for concussion research
• Explainer: what we know about concussion in Australian sport

Tall, whispering gum trees line the driveway of the Barclay property. The homestead sits nestled into a gentle slope up a lightly wooded hillside. It's a green oasis under the hot Perth sun - a bath is filled with flowering pansies, a huge stone vase bubbles with water, hanging plants trail leaves on to the deck of a yawning veranda. Paved brick pathways weave under ferns and arching foliage to a bungalow, a garage and a fire pit surrounded by old train sleepers.

This is where Jacinda Barclay grew up. She rode motorbikes over these paddocks with her friends, practised her baseball pitch and threw the ball for her dog. This veranda is where she drank wine in the evenings, laughed with her boyfriend, got bitten by mosquitoes. Under it, she confided in her mother and dreamed.