AFL Footy Show and Triple M breakfast co-host James Brayshaw says the death of his sister in a freak incident at her Melbourne home was a “tragic, unthinkable accident”.

Sally, 36, was crushed to death on Wednesday night by bricks falling from a garage wall.

She had just closed the garage door at her house in Gerona Street, Keilor, in Melbourne’s north-west, when the top row of bricks from the front wall fell on her about 7.30pm (AEST), police said.

She was found by relatives who heard the noise of the falling bricks.

They began CPR, but she could not be revived by ambulance crews who arrived a short time later.

In a statement released through his manager Liz Adams, and the Nine Network, Brayshaw said Sally’s death was a “tragic, unthinkable accident”.

“The family is absolutely devastated and we hope everyone can respect our privacy at this difficult time,” he said.

Sally was also the sister of Mark Brayshaw, a former AFL Kangaroos player and Richmond Football Club chief executive, and daughter of former West Australian cricketer and Australian rules footballer Ian Brayshaw.

Neither the Nine Network nor Ms Adams would release Sally’s surname.

James Brayshaw took over as one of the presenters of the AFL edition of the Nine Network’s The Footy Show earlier this year following the departure of founding host and now network chief executive officer Eddie McGuire.

Melbourne-based Brayshaw is also one of the presenters on Triple M’s breakfast show, The Cage, and is a football caller for the station.

He played 75 first class games for Western Australia and South Australia before embarking on a media career in Adelaide in the late 1990s before moving to Melbourne.