{"id":650993,"date":"2026-05-05T11:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/650993\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T11:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:08:12","slug":"reactions-to-afl-sanction-to-carlton-over-elijah-hollands-saga-fine-mental-health-episode-against-collingwood-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/650993\/","title":{"rendered":"Reactions to AFL sanction to Carlton over Elijah Hollands saga, fine, mental health episode against Collingwood, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AFL\u2019s sweeping changes to mental health policies<\/a> after finishing its investigation into the Elijah Hollands saga have been described as a \u201clandmark moment\u201d in the space.<\/p>\n

But the Blues failing to accept responsibility is seen as a \u201ctension\u201d point in the ugly saga. <\/p>\n

The league said Carlton\u2019s lack of action in playing Hollands against Collingwood \u201cbrought the game into disrepute\u201d as the league hit the Blues with a massive $75,000 fine. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

While the specifics around exactly what measures will be put in place, AFL health and football operations boss Laura Kane confirmed there would be improved \u201cindustry-wide healthcare governance standards\u201d to mental health policies with the following measures:<\/p>\n

-Mandate clubs appoint a full-time psychologist within each of the AFL and AFLW programs, with industry consultation on related <\/p>\n

resourcing and policy requirements to commence immediately<\/p>\n

-Review the club football department soft cap, with a view to, amongst other things, increasing minimum investment in healthcare and strengthening expert capability<\/p>\n

-Establish industry-wide \u2018psychological fitness to play\u2019 best practice guidance, developed in consultation with club healthcare teams<\/p>\n

-Mandate expanded mental health literacy training across football departments<\/p>\n

-Establish an AFL health and wellbeing committee to advise the executive and commission on clinical governance and implement an industry-wide healthcare incident management system<\/p>\n

-Host a mental health media roundtable in partnership with the Black Dog Institute in the lead-up to Spud\u2019s Game<\/p>\n

AFL confirm sanctions against Carlton | 18:28<\/p>\n

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Fox Footy AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley described it as a milestone moment for the game that will see millions of dollars invested in mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sweeping changes coming are going to be regarded as a landmark moment in the mental health care of players,\u201d Whateley said on the program. <\/p>\n

\u201cClubs don\u2019t fully understand what the implications of it are and they\u2019re awaiting further detail the AFL has promised them tonight. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut it will certainly see the industry spend millions of dollars in this space it will require a reshaping of the soft cap. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it will be looked back upon as a moment that was promoted b an incident that should never have happened and must never be allowed to happen again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain streams, it\u2019s quite convoluted, Andrew Dillon spoke about a change in priorities. But I suspect there will need to be a change in the whole structure of the soft cap.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are Carlton’s four options? | 02:26<\/p>\n

Lewis raises alarm on Carlton’s list | 02:24<\/p>\n

Whateley was \u201cquite startled by the severity of the fine\u201d that he suggested \u201cgives you an idea of where the AFL believes the blame lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Whateley thinks Carlton failing to accept responsibility in its statement is \u201cclearly a source of tension\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is absent is an acceptance of responsibility and an admission of failure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich has been consistent with Carlton\u2019s public stance, and I imagine, private stance, the whole way through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melbourne legend Garry Lyon also thinks there will be \u201csignificant\u201d positives to come from it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there\u2019s no misunderstanding about what the AFL is saying here; that this fault lays fairly and squarely at the feet of the Carlton Football Club,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a significant fine, one of the highest in the history of footy. And the sweeping changes suggests the AFL has taken this as seriously as they possibly can.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big day and we move forward hopefully securing the knowledge that this should never happen again, as Andrew Dillon said, and there will be steps put in place to ensure it doesn\u2019t\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The AFL\u2019s sweeping changes to mental health policies after finishing its investigation into the Elijah Hollands saga have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,12259,64,63,689,55,639,684,314864,3239,153136,314858,180958,10145,61,2105,314868,314861,314857,314859,189652,314860,33693,19080,314856,14173,314870,647,514,299620,7542,314862,314865,314866,13490,244470,677,314867,672,40512,85,314869,314863,660],"class_list":["post-650993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-andrew-dillon","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-ben-cotton","tag-black-dog-institute","tag-carlton-blues","tag-clear-sign","tag-club-football-department","tag-football-departments","tag-garry-lyon","tag-gerard-whateley","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-health-media-roundtable","tag-healthcare-governance-standards","tag-healthcare-incident-management","tag-incident-management-system","tag-industry-consultation","tag-industry-wide-healthcare-governance","tag-james-wiltshire","tag-jordan-lewis","tag-landmark-moment","tag-laura-kane","tag-mandate-clubs","tag-melbourne","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-episode","tag-mental-health-issues","tag-mental-health-literacy","tag-mental-health-media","tag-mental-health-policies","tag-mental-health-space","tag-milestone-moment","tag-oceania","tag-policy-requirements","tag-richmond-tigers","tag-soft-cap","tag-sports","tag-strengthening-expert-capability","tag-sweeping-changes","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650993","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=650993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}