How Carlton\u2019s own Insta exposed worrying pre-game Hollands sign<\/a><\/p>\nBlue spotlight after Hollands episode | 06:07<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom everything we can tell so far, it would be a big surprise for me if the Blues go unpunished over this whole Elijah Hollands mess,\u201d Clark told First Crack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AFL has a Conduct Unbecoming rule for exactly this kind of issue. Whichever way you cut this up, it was dangerous and unsafe for Elijah Hollands to be playing three and a half quarters at the MCG on Thursday night. People in Row 24 on the top deck of the MCG could tell that, not just in game, but before the game had even started.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a line in the sand moment for the AFL at the moment. Not only is it a chance to create some pre-game protocols \u2013 we don\u2019t even have that at the moment, players come in with their boots, grab the ball and go out for a warm-up, there is no formal process or wellbeing check in or anything like that. So not only a chance to create that, but Laura Kane is the boss of health in the AFL now, this is a big opportunity and I think the league would come under massive pressure if they turned away and let the Blues go unpunished.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark, for context, pointed to examples of other Conduct Unbecoming sanctions, including a $20,000 fine for Port Adelaide after ex-coach Ken Hinkley\u2019s infamous post-final interaction with ex-Hawk Jack Ginnivan in 2024, as well as the $5000 fines Giants leaders like Toby Greene copped after the club\u2019s Mad Monday dress-up event the same year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a fine-happy league, the AFL \u2026 and the AFL has taken a strong stand on that. So if Ken Hinkley gets a $20,000 fine, what does Carlton get for its negligence and breach of duty and care in sending a player out onto the field for the whole game during a mental health episode? Because I would argue, strongly, that it needs to be more than that \u2026 20, 30, 40, 50 grand.<\/p>\n
Dal Santo: “We need to be careful” | 00:59<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a moment in time, like when we had the Melbourne tanking saga, we had West Coast and the whole drug scandal where the AFL took strong stances there. I think this is a situation where the AFL needs to make it really clear that the whole league needs to get better in this space \u2013 and it starts with a very strong fine for the Carlton Football Club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark said if commentators and fans could notice Hollands\u2019 behaviour from the grandstand yet he still remained out on the field, the Blues had to be sanctioned.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can tell that from the commentary box, then surely with all the coaches, the medicos, the player development staff, Carlton has dropped the ball here, quite clearly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game clearly has a responsibility to face that and to be serious about it \u2013 because if we\u2019re going to fine blokes for dress-ups and for plane jibes, we can\u2019t walk away from this.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would it take the AFL to tick this off as \u2018appropriate\u2019? Nothing. There is nothing for them where they could possibly say \u2018yeah, you\u2019ve handled this appropriately\u2019. They\u2019ve handled it inappropriately.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo now it depends on what the punishment\u2019s going to be and how we\u2019re going to rework and rewire these frameworks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clark said the increased focus on mental health and player wellbeing meant the AFL had to introduce something to \u201cguard against\u201d another Hollands-like situation.<\/p>\n
But King said the league had \u201cenough protocols\u201d already and that this was an isolated issue.<\/p>\n
AFL put Blues ‘on the hook’ for Hollands | 00:43<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a one-off, though, isn\u2019t it? Do we need to bring in all these protocols for something that we really have never seen before?\u201d King asked on First Crack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got to run their own business. At the end of the day, you can\u2019t hold everyone\u2019s hand through life, right? If Carlton don\u2019t pick this up in the pre-game, isn\u2019t that on them?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had 50 people there that could have gone to the coach and said: \u2018Listen, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s right today.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
King, instead, turned up the heat on the Carlton coaching staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m probably more in line with those gameday coaches that have dealt with this person pre-game, in-game and watch the game \u2013 what are they watching?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are they seeing for this player to help them win this game of footy when he hasn\u2019t touched it for 70 minutes, he\u2019s not helping you defensively, he\u2019s not helping you with any of your structures. What are the midfield coaches watching that says \u2018yeah this is a good idea to leave him out there\u2019? They\u2019re the ones in the gun for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour job is to help your football club win that game of football. There\u2019s no way he was helping them \u2013 regardless if you\u2019re in that state, in that form \u2013 win that game of football.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not here to jump to conclusions, but in terms of absolute performance gameday with your coaches, that\u2019s a big fail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voss vows to support Elijah Hollands | 01:41<\/p>\n
Dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna agreed with King.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe line coaches\u2019 job is to watch their area and say: \u2018Right, what are the guys doing? How are they helping our team?\u2019 Surely someone goes: \u2018Hey, Elijah hasn\u2019t touched it, anyone watching what Elijah\u2019s doing?\u2019 Because essentially, Michael Voss was playing with 17 men on the field for 70 per cent of the game, because Elijah Hollands was not helping that team at all. That probably, in the end, cost them a win,\u201d Montagna told First Crack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the coaches are the ones that also need to take responsibility \u2026 in-game how they allowed him to play that many minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Herald Sun chief football reporter Jay Clark believes it would be a massive shock if Carlton goes unpunished…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,689,55,639,3423,3239,11387,100140,19061,80096,167568,1119,12099,299618,25532,299623,93969,299626,299622,299627,19125,285052,7484,14173,3465,299617,514,299620,3257,299619,13152,677,299621,299625,6082,146683,1124,85,19086,299624],"class_list":{"0":"post-617914","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-australia-and-new-zealand","12":"tag-australian-football-league","13":"tag-australianfootballleague","14":"tag-ben-waterworth","15":"tag-carlton-blues","16":"tag-chief-executive","17":"tag-chief-football-reporter","18":"tag-coaching-staff","19":"tag-commentary-box","20":"tag-drug-scandal","21":"tag-football-club","22":"tag-game-time","23":"tag-gameday-coaches","24":"tag-graham-wright","25":"tag-guys-doing","26":"tag-hawk-jack-ginnivan","27":"tag-in-game-action","28":"tag-in-game-fail","29":"tag-infamous-post-final-interaction","30":"tag-jay-clark","31":"tag-kangaroo-david-king","32":"tag-ken-hinkley","33":"tag-laura-kane","34":"tag-leigh-montagna","35":"tag-massive-shock","36":"tag-mental-health","37":"tag-mental-health-episode","38":"tag-michael-voss","39":"tag-midfield-coaches","40":"tag-nick-dal-santo","41":"tag-oceania","42":"tag-player-development-staff","43":"tag-player-wellbeing","44":"tag-port-adelaide","45":"tag-sand-moment","46":"tag-south-australia","47":"tag-sports","48":"tag-toby-greene","49":"tag-wellbeing-check"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617914","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=617914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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