AFL icon Dermott Brereton’s secret battle after shocking cancer diagnosis

AFL star Dermott Brereton has revealed he has been treated after receiving the shocking news that he has skin cancer.

The legendary soccer character has revealed he underwent surgery and chemotherapy in an ordeal that “ripped the shit out of him”.

The popular Fox Footy analyst told The Herald Sun he recently had two melanomas removed from his thigh and chest and also underwent chemotherapy for a sunspot in his eye.

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The Hawthorn Premiership hero said he gave up chemotherapy drops to treat his eye cancer because the effects on his body were too terrible.

“I’ve been through the wringer,” Brereton said.

“Melanoma on my thigh and one on my chest so they cut them out and that made me very vigilant to look for any forms of cancer due to overexposure to the sun.

“I had another sunspot cancer cut off my eyeball. We tried getting it with chemotherapy drops but in the end I just gave up, they were too terrible.

“I’ve had my treatment cream morning and night for the past few weeks so it’s starting to settle down a bit now. It rips the shit out of you, but we all have to deal with things.”

The 58-year-old has now publicly advocated simply being checked out.

Brereton has become a strong voice for sun protection, with his reputation as a tough guy, a perfect example of how ‘weak’ it is for Australians to be sun-alert.

Brereton returns to Fox Footy this week ahead of Thursday night’s AFL season opener.

The Herald Sun reports that Brereton’s role on the AFL-only channel will include working with the Monday night flagship show On the Couch.