Elijah Hollands shared his story with me. He was brave then and he’s brave now

When a person trusts you enough to share a story as confronting and raw as Elijah Hollands’ battle with anxiety and alcohol, as he did last October, it was only natural for me to watch his progress.

Seeing him regain enough ground during summer to win a contract at Carlton for 2026 as a Supplementary Selection Period pickup seemed a positive outcome, as did the quality of his output through Carlton’s first five rounds.

After he had played against Sydney in Opening Round, using his unique gait to drift into space and earn 19 touches and kick a goal, we greeted each other briefly in the rooms at the SCG afterwards, his warm smile and handshake an indication that he was well and truly on the way back as a serious AFL player, worthy of the first-round pick made by the Suns in 2020.

At the time, the AFL’s Season Guide wrote of him: “Billed as a possible No.1 pick at the start of last season, Hollands slid down the draft order after suffering an ACL injury in February 2020. … Oozes class and can play as a deep forward as well as a ball-winner”.

Those attributes were on show through the early weeks of this season.

Hollands was the only Blue to pick up a coaches’ vote in the loss to Melbourne in round three, and earned two votes the following week on Good Friday with Ben Ainsworth (two votes) and his brother Ollie the only other Blue recognised, with one vote. He was averaging a goal a game and 18.4 touches in his distinctive style before last Thursday night’s match against Collingwood, and was among the Blues’ top five performers to that point of the season.

When we met after the Sydney game in round one, my only thought was how brave Elijah had been in making public the mental health issues he had faced through 2025, and the courage he had to return to the intense, competitive and unrelenting world of professional sport.

It showed a steely approach to explain back then how he had confronted his challenges and was prepared to put in the hard work required to manage his health and his life.

I found what could have been a difficult conversation, as he outlined part of his life remarkably, easy as one could because he was so articulate and humble.

He had played 22 games for the Blues in 2024, after he was traded from the Gold Coast in a deal involving an exchange of second round picks and future third and fourth round picks. The Suns had been happy to facilitate the trade on those terms as Hollands was facing a charge in Queensland of possessing an illicit substance.

During our chat, he told me of how things had fallen apart for him in 2025, after re-claiming his place in round 6.

Given the events of last Thursday, what he said then, detailing his experiences in the match against Sydney in round 10, should be repeated: “I was just having a horrible game,” he recalled.

“I was not doing any of the things I would usually do typically well, which was playing with me.

“I remember just feeling like a complete pedestrian out there. In the last quarter I came off the ground and I just could not breathe. I went to the bench and told our psychologist I could not breathe – I could not settle down, [and] my head was spinning. I was almost having a mini-panic attack, which I had never experienced before out on the field.

“Obviously, even during that period when I returned to the AFL side this year, there were things I was working on behind the scenes, but I felt like it never really translated to on the field. I felt like football has always been a place of comfort for me, but just on this night in Sydney it reached a new level where I felt like that feeling and emotion was coming out with me on the ground.

“It was a pretty worrying moment because footy had been somewhere I could go to, and all those thoughts I was having away from the club would just disappear, so it was really confronting to have that for the first time, where it really showed up [on the field].”

He returned to play VFL late in the season but his career was on a knife’s edge as he rebuilt trust through the pre-season without a guaranteed spot on the list. Carlton thought long and hard about what was realistic, sought input from teammates, and offered him another opportunity through the SSP.

People working at any club’s coalface deal with the reality of players’ lives. They put their hand up to be there for a player under stress, day and night, when many others would turn their backs. Carlton people put their hands up. They were prepared to take a risk, as were his teammates, as was Hollands.

The Blues have come under attack for leaving Hollands on the ground against Collingwood, but experienced AFL club psychologist Jacqui Louder defended them.

“Let’s praise the people at Carlton for caring for this young man so well that he still has a potential career. Let’s not just look at this one episode,” she said.

Carlton coach Michael Voss made that point forcefully on Thursday even though the past week has not unfolded in a way anyone wanted. The Blues actually cared for Elijah’s health, rather than just talking about doing more to care.

For Hollands’ part, he has had an absolute crack. He should be proud of his efforts.

“Elijah [has been] brave to keep putting himself forward,” Louder said.

That doesn’t mean hard conversations shouldn’t happen to improve how such episodes are handled. Asking questions about Carlton’s processes and decisions last Thursday night is reasonable.

But the 23-year-old’s experiences and willingness to share some of his journey have given us plenty to consider.

Now Hollands’ career is again on pause; his health is the priority for all – Hollands himself and those close to him – as he again bravely confronts what is required to get going again.

His father Ben described Elijah simply as “my beautiful boy” as he made this vow in a social media post we can all get behind: “I know who my son is — and I will lift him up until he is restored in full.”

Whether such restoration involves footy or not doesn’t matter right now. His health is the only thing that is important.

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