sport news Paul Green death: BMD building magnate Mick Power recalls last conversation ... trends now
A close lifelong friend of Paul Green has opened up about their last conversation less than 48 hours hours before the NRL great was found dead inside his garage.
The death of the 49-year-old player and premiership coach, who is understood to have taken his own life at his Brisbane home on Thursday, has thrown the footy world into shock and mourning.
His death completely blindsided family and friends, who have said they had no inkling he was in such a bad state of mind.
They include Queensland building magnate and BMD Group chairman Mick Power, who had known Green for more than three decades, ever since he first sponsored the then schoolboy prodigy.
'There is simply no rhyme or reason for what has happened. It's just surreal. The whole mental health issue is so difficult to understand,' Power told the Courier Mail.
The sporting world is still reeling from the shock death of NRL great Paul Green (pictured with wife Amanda)
The pair also shared a bond as proud long-time Wynnum locals.
Power later sponsored him when Green became coach at the North Queensland Cowboys and the Queensland Maroons, with the BMD group name and logo plastered across his coaching boxes.
Power later offered him a role as a BMD Group ambassador when Green quit as Cowboys coach in 2022.
Green spent the next two years travelling around Australia speaking about leadership and had designed a wellness app being successfully trialed at BMD which was close to public release at the time of Green's tragic passing.
Power revealed he had a brief catch-up with his great mate at Wynnum Golf Club on Tuesday night before rushing off to attend the opening of Cinderella the musical in Brisbane.
Green had shown no inkling of being in a dark place as he told Power he was taking his family to the Gold Coast the next day for his son Jed's ninth birthday after talking them out of going to the Ekka agricultural show on Brisbane's public holiday.
'I will always look back and think I wish I had stayed and had a few beers. But I did not notice anything at all,' Power said.
Green was one of the stars of Wynnum-Manly State High School's Commonwealth Bank Cup team when he first crossed paths with the businessman after Power came to the players' rescue by buying their jerseys and socks.
After the team won the prestigious title, a beaming Green broke the rules by famously wearing Power's BMD logo on the front of his shirt when they returned to a heroes' welcome in Brisbane and made the front page of the Courier Mail.
Building magnate Mick Power (pictured) last saw his great mate on Tuesday night, less than 48 hours before Green's tragic death
Paul Green slaps the glass of the coach's box after the North Queensland Cowboys won the 2015 NRL premiership with his lifelong mate Mick Power's logo in the background
BMD Group has shared the image on its Facebook page and gave Daily Mail Australia permission to use as Power penned an emotional tribute looking back on his friendship with Green as he described it as a sad time for everyone.
'For the rugby league fraternity, which Paul was devoted to as a player and then coach from such a young age, but also for the Wynnum Manly community of which he and his family have been
