{"id":616324,"date":"2026-04-19T03:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616324\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T03:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T03:24:11","slug":"concerned-carlton-dig-deeper-into-hollands-mcg-episode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/616324\/","title":{"rendered":"Concerned Carlton dig deeper into Hollands&#8217; MCG episode"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Carlton have swiftly ruled Elijah Hollands out of the Blues&#8217; next game after his &#8220;unprecedented&#8221; mental health episode against Collingwood.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding Hollands&#8217; concerning performance at the MCG on Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>Editor&#8217;s Picks<a name=\"&amp;lpos=story:editorspicks:inline:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com.au\/afl\/story\/_\/id\/48519852\/afl-asks-carlton-blues-report-elijah-hollands-health-drama\" class=\"img-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/r1644800_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&#038;w=130&#038;h=130&#038;scale=crop&#038;location=center.jpeg\" width=\"65\" height=\"65\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hollands has been getting support from father Ben and will not travel to Perth for Saturday night&#8217;s match against Fremantle.<\/p>\n<p>In the club&#8217;s first statement since coach Michael Voss spoke post-game, Carlton chief executive Graham Wright was unable to confirm when Blues staff realised Hollands was unwell.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Hollands twice took personal leave from Carlton, later revealing he had been battling mental ill-health and issues with alcohol.<\/p>\n<p>Wright &#8220;at this stage&#8221; ruled out alcohol or illicit substances being a factor in affecting Hollands.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re dealing with a mental health issue, with what we&#8217;re dealing with right at the moment,&#8221; Wright said at Ikon Park on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re in the process of going through all the circumstances leading up to the game, two or three weeks prior to the game.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our primary focus remains on caring for Elijah, making sure he continues to receive the medical and wellbeing support he needs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Elijah&#8217;s mental challenges have been well documented. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our staff have been working alongside Elijah on this journey with him over a long period of time now, both on and off the field, providing every resource possible to ensure his welfare is paramount. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thursday night presented unprecedented and complex circumstances. We&#8217;re taking this very seriously.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The AFL has asked Carlton for a review of the circumstances around what happened with Hollands.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The health and wellbeing of every player is the AFL&#8217;s highest priority,&#8221; the league said in a statement late on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The AFL has today requested Carlton to, once concluded, provide the outcome of its review of the circumstances relating to Elijah Hollands&#8217; fitness to play in Thursday night&#8217;s match.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Wright was unable to explain why Hollands returned to the field in the last quarter, and when someone from Carlton&#8217;s football department realised the 23-year-old was struggling.<\/p>\n<p>Hollands was credited with just one possession despite playing 75 per cent of the first three quarters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ll work through that in the next few days,&#8221; Wright said.<\/p>\n<p>The former Gold Coast player was delisted by the Blues at the end of last season, despite having a year to run on his contract.<\/p>\n<p>But Hollands was invited to Carlton training over summer, impressing enough to win his spot back on the list.<\/p>\n<p>He has played all six games this season, averaging 18.4 possessions before his concerning night against the Magpies.<\/p>\n<p>Voss described Hollands as being &#8220;pretty shattered&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I spoke to him after the game and he was really disappointed with how he started,&#8221; Voss said on Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was really upset and feels like he&#8217;s let me down.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He was pretty emotional after the game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lifeline 13 11 14<\/p>\n<p>beyondblue 1300 22 4636<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlton have swiftly ruled Elijah Hollands out of the Blues&#8217; next game after his &#8220;unprecedented&#8221; mental health episode&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-616324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}