West coast Eagles champion and the brother of Sam Kerr has been jailed after setting fire to his parent’s home

West Coast Eagles champion and the brother of Sam Kerr has been jailed after setting fire to his parents’ home. Daniel Kerr, who played 220 AFL games and won the premiership with the Eagles, was charged with criminal damage by fire and appeared in Perth District Courtr.

Kerr’s lawyer Kate Turtley-Chappel told the court that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia while in custody. The former footy star caused nearly $250,000 worth of damage to the property and was arrested an hour after the incident at his car wash business, where he told officers he had no recollection of driving there.

The court heard that Kerr, 40, drove to the family home in Kardinya on February 17, 2021 and set fire to the back rooms, then drove off while yelling and waving his hand out of the driver window. The house was empty at the time.

The prosecution described the act as ‘nonsensical and chaotic’. Kerr has endured an up-and-down relationship with his superstar younger sister Sam Kerr, one of the leading names in women’s football.

His family initially refused to post his $5000 bail and the siblings did not speak for two years after the ordeal. ‘I didn’t speak to him for two years,’ Sam Kerr said in 2020. He had a well-documented struggle with alcohol and drugs following his retirement in 2013, culminating in a five-day stint in prison after he breached a violent restraining order.

‘All our family’s close but me and Daniel are super-close … he always says, ‘that’s the thing that brought me back onto the road, that everyone spoke to me except you’. ‘I just really needed that reassurance that things were going to go back to normal.

‘I had to watch mum and dad be stressed out about their 30-year-old son, which isn’t normal and it affected me. I don’t let things bother me but seeing my parents have to deal with it, that was probably the hardest thing.’

‘That’s what hurt me the most … when you do things that affect yourself, it also affects other people. Daniel has previously told of how Sam’s tough love was the kickstart he needed ‘to behave again, to get my family back’ before the February 2021 incident.