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Collingwood defender Brayden Maynard was aware of talk on the field on Thursday night that Carlton\u2019s Elijah Hollands was not right, but did not personally witness anything to raise an alarm.<\/p>\n
Maynard was not opposed to Hollands directly in the match but overheard conversations on the ground among teammates who were surprised at the Carlton player\u2019s behaviour<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maynard\u2019s comments follow a report from Age football journalist Caroline Wilson that Hollands had told a Collingwood player he\u2019d been drinking.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t aware of what was going on, but I think there was a bit of chatter happening and I didn\u2019t pay much attention to it at all and if I did, I definitely would have said something,\u201d Maynard told this masthead on Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cI overheard a few things, but as I said, I was too focused on the game to really understand what was actually going on. He was definitely around the area and people were chatting about it, but I was focused on playing the game and if I did notice something myself with Elijah I would have said something, but I was too focused on the game and I can understand why it\u2019s such a big topic.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking on The Age\u2019s Real Footy podcast on Monday, Wilson said the failure to pull Hollands from the field amounted to an unprecedented \u201clevel of alleged mismanagement by a footy club in terms of an on-field incident\u201d.<\/p>\n Wilson also said Hollands had told Carlton he wanted to stay on the field, but that it was up to someone in the Blues hierarchy to overrule him.<\/p>\n \u201cI have never seen this level of alleged mismanagement by a footy club in terms of an on-field incident,\u201d Wilson told the podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone saw it, it played out in front of our eyes. Carlton are being reviewed, their medical team primarily, but their coach and their footy boss will come into this too \u2013 the whole club will \u2013 as to how they allowed this player to play, to stay on the ground and to [go] back on again even after three-quarter-time.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson questioned Carlton players\u2019 response, drawing a contrast with Melbourne players calling for help when Harrison Petty was struck with appeared to be delayed concussion symptoms against Brisbane on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cYou saw his [Petty\u2019s] teammates get around him, show care and make sure something happened. [On Thursday night] you almost got the feeling, in the vision that I have now seen, that the Carlton players were looking away from this situation,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n Broadly, Maynard said he hoped that if he witnessed a teammate acting unusually he would say something to medical or coaching staff and was certain players at other clubs, including those at Carlton on Thursday night, would be similar.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest if I saw one of my teammates acting in such a way that Elijah was, then I would definitely say something and mention it to the hierarchy. But like I said, that is for Carlton to deal with their player, and everyone is doing the best they can to look after him and that is the issue here \u2013 to make sure he gets support around him to make sure his mental health is looked after.\u201d<\/p>\n Wilson said it was valid to question whether Hollands had been drinking because it was relevant to how Carlton kept him on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he [Hollands] said he wanted to keep playing, that\u2019s my understanding; Elijah Hollands. But Michael Voss, too, why he let him play on and why Chris Davies, an experienced head of footy, didn\u2019t come over the top of all of them, even if he wasn\u2019t as close to the situation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cOne [Collingwood] player said he [Hollands] told one of the players he\u2019d been drinking. There are Carlton people who had heard that as well. I put that allegation to people at Collingwood and Carlton and no one denied it, so I\u2019m staggered that I\u2019ve been targeted for saying it when clearly this is part of the story.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all goes to the alleged level of incompetence from Carlton, if in fact that is proven, that is why I think it is reportable, particularly when you\u2019re getting a \u2018no comment\u2019 from everyone concerned and not a denial.\u201d<\/p>\n Hollands played 60 per cent of the match and had one disposal.<\/p>\n Carlton said on Friday that Hollands had experienced a \u201cmental health episode\u201d. <\/a>This masthead reported he had been assessed during the match, and that he had been able to work through similar episodes in the past.<\/p>\n This masthead reported on Friday that the club did not suspect substance abuse.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Carlton CEO Graham Wright was asked about Wilson\u2019s report that Hollands had told the Magpies he\u2019d consumed alcohol before the match.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard that report yesterday, and I haven\u2019t heard anything from Collingwood or the AFL, so no one\u2019s come to us with anything from that,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were aware that he was struggling in the game, and he\u2019s \u2026 had anxiety previously and panic attacks, and our guys were dealing with him in the game, obviously knew he was having some problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Collingwood captain Darcy Moore, who is also the AFL Players Association president, did not want to be drawn into commenting on the Hollands issue.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, a process is playing out with Carlton and the AFL at the moment. As a players\u2019 association we have been involved in the process intimately over the last few days which is really encouraging, and a great sign. Our major concern is Elijah\u2019s welfare,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Elijah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/a9af722c92f106618c69e0482808a5cb2f9e31b4.jpeg\")
Elijah Hollands (right) on the bench in the last quarter.AFL Photos<\/p>\n![\"Carlton\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776674482_411_44ddd4756dfd51f1496523081a5b72df114329f2.jpeg\")
Carlton\u2019s Elijah Hollands competes against Collingwood\u2019s Dan Houston for the ball on Thursday night.Getty Images<\/p>\n![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774207361_925_9763c90e1f0dfd6a5f0115c5f79a56fd424c9372.png\")
Michael Gleeson<\/a> is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.![\"Jon](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773472229_978_b41a40c453ab3b0ce85a012a2f2e71470a51efea.png\")
Jon Pierik<\/a> is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated April 20, 2026 \u2014 5:21pm,first published 10:14am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-618818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618818","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=618818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}