{"id":399425,"date":"2026-04-19T00:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T00:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/399425\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T00:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T00:04:14","slug":"bailey-smith-makes-emotional-plea-for-afl-mens-mental-health-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/399425\/","title":{"rendered":"Bailey Smith makes emotional plea for AFL men\u2019s mental health round"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bailey Smith has delivered a powerful and emotional message in support of Elijah Hollands and the Dawson family, following confronting scenes that have shaken the AFL world.<\/p>\n

During his worrying performance against Collingwood on Thursday night Hollands was reportedly suffering from<\/a> a mental health episode and not under the influence of drugs, as per the club.<\/p>\n

While the AFL community has widely wrapped its arm around the former Gold Coast player as its chief concern, serious questions are now being asked about how and why the incident occurred.<\/p>\n

It came just one day after the brother of Adelaide Crows captain Jordan Dawson was found dead on Wednesday afternoon<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Speaking on Channel 7 after Geelong\u2019s big win over the Bulldogs on Friday night, Bailey Smith paused to deliver a heartfelt message that quickly resonated across the football world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one thing I want to touch on which is maybe out of pocket but I just want to shout out the Dawson family and Elijah Hollands last night,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s about time the AFL gets a men\u2019s mental health round, it just makes me feel sick during the week and hopefully the AFL community wraps their arms around them and we can do something.<\/p>\n

You can watch Bailey Smith\u2019s interview in the video above<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s just human nature to rally around [people], I think the world can be quite toxic at times \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeak to your mates, put your arm around your loved ones. You never know who might need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlton coach Michael Voss made a statement about Hollands\u2019 condition after the game, saying the young midfielder was \u201cshattered\u201d and felt he \u201clet people down\u201d following the five-point loss.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/p>\n

Now, it has been revealed the Blues are \u201cabsolutely certain\u201d Hollands\u2019 issues are not substance-related.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Blues are absolutely certain Hollands\u2019 issues are not substance-related, but instead prompted by complex mental health challenges that the player has previously discussed,\u201d SEN\u2019s Sam Edmund reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club has taken a detailed look into Hollands\u2019 movements in the build-up to the game and needed to be convinced the player\u2019s actions at the MCG were not brought on by behavioural issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut after investigating the circumstances and working in consultation with the AFL and medical experts, they are completely satisfied Hollands\u2019 situation was a medical issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood there were no warning signs in Hollands\u2019 warm-up to suggest he was in a fragile mental state.<\/p>\n

He played 60 per cent of the game but Blues staff became increasingly aware as the match went on that he should not have been on the field, featuring for just nine minutes in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Carlton later confirmed the club is providing ongoing care.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Carlton Football Club is continuing to provide close and ongoing care to Elijah Hollands, who suffered a mental health episode on Thursday night,\u201d the club said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 23-year-old is continuing to receive the appropriate level of medical and wellbeing support, with Hollands\u2019 welfare remaining the number one priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Concerning<\/p>\n

The incident sparked widespread debate, with Fox Footy analyst David King questioning how the situation was allowed to unfold in real time.<\/p>\n

But it was Smith\u2019s later post-match interview that struck the strongest chord.<\/p>\n

The raw comments immediately sparked a wave of reaction from fans online.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you like him or not. Baz said it perfectly,\u201d one fan wrote.<\/p>\n

Another added: \u201cStaggering there is no round dedicated to men\u2019s Mental health . Surely now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others, however, questioned whether symbolic gestures would be enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love what you said but a dedicated round isn\u2019t gonna fix any issues,\u201d one fan posted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeartbreaking: Worst person you know makes a great point,\u201d another wrote.<\/p>\n

The discussion has again highlighted the broader mental health crisis facing Australia.<\/p>\n

In Australia an average of nine people kill themselves every day, seven of them are men.<\/p>\n

Hollands, who previously opened up about his struggles, had taken personal leave from the AFL last season due to mental health issues and a battle with alcohol.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Bailey Smith makes emotional plea for AFL men\u2019s mental health round<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bailey Smith has delivered a powerful and emotional message in support of Elijah Hollands and the Dawson family,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":{"0":"post-399425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}