{"id":650769,"date":"2026-05-05T08:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/650769\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T08:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T08:29:09","slug":"carlton-fined-75000-for-mishandling-of-elijah-hollands-mental-health-episode-afl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/650769\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlton fined $75,000 for mishandling of Elijah Hollands\u2019 mental health episode | AFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AFL has fined Carlton<\/a> $75,000 for not removing Elijah Hollands from the field while he was experiencing a mental health episode during round six against Collingwood.<\/p>\n

Hollands appeared to be acting erratically during the match at the MCG, and was admitted to hospital for treatment several days later.<\/p>\n

The AFL<\/a> found Carlton should have removed Hollands from the game earlier based on visual cues, performance data and the player\u2019s previously disclosed mental health challenges, and that the club\u2019s failure to do so brought the game into disrepute.<\/p>\n

The AFL\u2019s chief executive, Andrew Dillon, said the \u201csubstantial sanction\u201d was made against the club \u201ccollectively\u201d rather than singling out any individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat transpired during the game was something we haven\u2019t seen before and while Elijah did undergo checks, he should not have been left on the field for that period of time,\u201d Dillon said, adding that the incident had highlighted areas of improvement for the code.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhilst our physical injury protocols are strong and well understood, mental health presentations can be variable and are complex.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, the AFL is implementing several measures to better equip the sport and its clubs to support the mental health of participants.<\/p>\n

Clubs have typically employed psychologists on a part-time basis, but they will now be required to employ a full-time psychologist.<\/p>\n

A new wellbeing governance committee is being established, alongside new standards and guidelines, expanded mental health literacy and a review of football soft cap policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are lessons in this for all of us,\u201d the AFL\u2019s head of health and football, Laura Kane, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main one is that our duty of care must continue to evolve, and that must include mental health and wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kane said Hollands had contributed to the AFL\u2019s review.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t speak to the specifics of the how Elijah\u2019s doing, but I will say that we\u2019re really grateful for his contribution and that of his family to this inquiry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Although Blues coach Michael Voss defended his staff following the incident and accused the media of bullying<\/a>, Carlton has accepted the fine. It will be paid to youth mental health service provider Headspace.<\/p>\n

A WorkSafe investigation into the incident is under way.<\/p>\n

Carlton has been contacted for a response.<\/p>\n

In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14, and at MensLine<\/a> on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind<\/a> is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline<\/a> on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America<\/a> at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The AFL has fined Carlton $75,000 for not removing Elijah Hollands from the field while he was experiencing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-650769","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\/650769","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=650769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}