NO TROLLS Elijah Hollands (GC-Carlton): Recent Developments & Mental Health Wellbeing

[Former Decathlete]

SEN AFL propaganda unit out in force this morning.
They use words to pretend they care about the players welfare but in reality they hang him out to dry.
At no point was it even suggested that the club staff are to blame or made a mistake.

This should be on club staff. Not the player.

 

[beside the seaside]

In what way could be not put his hand up to say "I'm not ok to play". A guy who knew his career was at the crossroads and had his contract torn, only to receive a second chance on the basis of re-establishing trust. Do you think it would be appropriate for someone in that context to think "Hmmm, I'm in strife, and the best thing to do for my own wellbeing and career, is to play affected rather than the conservative, adult and responsible take of taking ownership, being transparent and saying 'I need to take the week off'". If he genuinely thought that, he's pretty dull.

He probably thought he didn't want to let them down after they'd given him another chance. He obviously wasn't making good decisions.

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

Even if we take the side of him hiding this before the game no one noticing etc you take him down at three quarter time, rule him out with concussion and prevent this shit storm

This is flat out common sense approach

 

[outabounds]

None of ths is constructive to his wellbeing. He has been very good so far this year until last night. He knows that this is his last chance and is under a lot of pressure. I'm not sure where some of you people want to see him end up with some of these comments. Yes he plays for Carlton but first and foremost , he is a human being.

 

[ferball]

I have been so frazzled & anxious that I've gone for days without sleep.& entered a disassociate state - lost my grip on reality. I experienced this when starting a new job i couldn't handle.

On the other hand, you can enter this state by caning illegal substances & going without sleep for a few days. Psychedelics are bad news for anyone with a pre-existing mental health condition & they won't show up on drug tests . LSD, mushrooms etc. You can take them days before & still damage yourself.

Cheers. Thanks for being open about it.

I've done alot of psychedelics, especially tryptamines, used to have a garden full of different varieties of them. I've probably done more drugs than most people on here have had hot dinners.

And I know people who've never come back from trips. You're right, it can be a real nightmare for them ... and their families.

I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between people having an episode that was caused by drugs and people having one that wasn't, its usually an assumption based on what you know about them.

But what I saw yesterday reminded me more of incidents that i've seen with people on legit medication who may have had a drink. Maybe ****ed up and had double their dose, or forgot or whatever, it happens. Maybe the medication didn't work properly, was being adjusted or was a new medication or a combination of drugs ... basically we don't know.

I really don't like the way people are jumping to conclusions here based off nothing more than their pre conceptions tho (not saying you're doing that either fwiw.)

 

[Elixuh]

I guess this where it gets difficult. That moment you referenced, isn't enough for someone to consider there might be something sinister going on. It's only after several more strange incidents that you look at that and think 'hold on'.

I don't think we were quick enough to act but we're also in some unchartered waters on this one.

That’s what I mean. It’s very easy to say Carlton and vossy have dropped the ball, but I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that.

 

[Spacedog]

On a lighter note this answers the question of “how long could someone off street last in an AFL game until someone realises”, If they were playing for Carlton it’s 3 quarters

 

[Daka]

How the hell can Voss & Carlton brush it off as an off-night?

People said even warm-up he didn't look right, Carlton poor neligence mangement of player welfare...

 

[ferball]

I've played footy with a bunch of people who use various drugs, and still none of them ever did it close to game day.

If that's actually what has happened then I can't even wrap my head around how somebody could do it at the elite level.

In saying that, my gut feel is that this situation is far more complicated.

I played with guys who'd have a pipe of meth in their car at half time. They were often among the best players on the ground. Often also still pinging from the night before or whatever else. Just people playing footy in a bush comp cos they liked it, not that they were elite or professional in any way.

Never seen anything like that stuff Hollands did tho (at least on a footy field.)

 

[Rory Walkerfield]

Regardless of root cause to Hollands behaviour, blind Freddy could see the guy was not in a fit mental state to make sensible decisions.

Carlton is absolutely culpable for not intervening and removing him from the ground.

That much is a given.

 

[beside the seaside]

None of ths is constructive to his wellbeing. He has been very good so far this year until last night. He knows that this is his last chance and is under a lot of pressure. I'm not sure where some of you people want to see him end up with some of these comments. Yes he plays for Carlton but first and foremost , he is a human being.

Spot on. It's amazing how we will go "oh my god what a tragedy check on your mates" one moment and then "omg check out this weirdo having a mental health episode on the field lol" the next.

 

[RAPPA]

He probably thought he didn't want to let them down after they'd given him another chance. He obviously wasn't making good decisions.

Alarm bells were the disclosure in the post-match presser to the effect of him being managed during the week. Ample opportunity for both parties to err on the side of caution. The public will never get full disclosure of the details, both leading up, during and post-match as to what has happened. But optics for me suggests this isn't a situation of a freak occurrence for which there is no fault attributed to a party. It stinks.

 

[Nebular]

None of ths is constructive to his wellbeing. He has been very good so far this year until last night. He knows that this is his last chance and is under a lot of pressure. I'm not sure where some of you people want to see him end up with some of these comments. Yes he plays for Carlton but first and foremost , he is a human being.

So many doctors and psychologists in this thread.

 

[koshjjennedy723]

I played with guys who'd have a pipe of meth in their car at half time. They were often among the best players on the ground. Often also still pinging from the night before or whatever else. Just people playing footy in a bush comp cos they liked it, not that they were elite or professional in any way.

Never seen anything like that stuff Hollands did tho (at least on a footy field.)

This is where West Coast need to lean into their heritage with these young guys. Prime Harley after a hit of the crystal pistol would be a sight to behold

 

[GoEaglesGoSGIO]

On a lighter note this answers the question of “how long could someone off street last in an AFL game until someone realises”, If they were playing for Carlton it’s 3 quarters

Longer than Ali Da is the answer to that

Do a lookup of that story if you ever want to see what is truly one of the greatest stories in sporting history

 

[Daka]

I thought players were tested right before and after games? Does anyone know the drug protocols

AFL probably has one of the softest doping policy codes in elite sports.
I am not even joking.

 

[Oraaaaazio]

There's a recent video on Carlton's tiktok (gather round) where it shows him pre-game and warming up, some of the strange movements and idiosyncrasies appear in that video, not all of it and not to the extreme level that we saw last night.

At first, I thought drugs for sure but now I don't know what I think. I just think it is sad & felt wrong watching it.

 

[Cam Payne]

We all know players from the past who played meth'd up. One is even considered an all time club great. Not one of them ever behaved like this.

 

[bresker]

None of ths is constructive to his wellbeing. He has been very good so far this year until last night. He knows that this is his last chance and is under a lot of pressure. I'm not sure where some of you people want to see him end up with some of these comments. Yes he plays for Carlton but first and foremost , he is a human being.

I'd like to think that in 2026 , we can allow someone to have a bad night for whatever reason and not hang them out to dry.

I hope he takes some time off & gets back to playing . Same as if he'd done a hammy.

I thought it was "ok to not be ok".

 

[GoPies1]

Ok, you’re clearly a bit thick.

The threads about Hollands and now it’s specifically about how out of sorts he looked last night. If you want to talk about two Hawthorn players climbing a boom lift do it in that thread.

I’m talking about the correlation between the different episodes and the afl drug problem!!!
You moronic dolt!!!

Ps - you abuse me , wear it back

 

[NeedForTheReids]

Not sure if this has been posted already but the footage from pre game is pretty alarming. I just don’t understand how the blues let it go for 3 and a half quarters basically.

 

[joe444]

SEN AFL propaganda unit out in force this morning.
They use words to pretend they care about the players welfare but in reality they hang him out to dry.
At no point was it even suggested that the club staff are to blame or made a mistake.

This should be on club staff. Not the player.

I thought they did the exact opposite.

 

[Struggle]

SEN AFL propaganda unit out in force this morning.
They use words to pretend they care about the players welfare but in reality they hang him out to dry.
At no point was it even suggested that the club staff are to blame or made a mistake.

This should be on club staff. Not the player.

You just know the media are going to make this a headline, milk it for as long as they can, put footage everywhere, speculate on what it could have been then sign off with saying the most important thing is the well-being of Hollands

 

[joe444]

You just know the media are going to make this a headline, milk it for as long as they can, put footage everywhere, speculate on what it could have been then sign off with saying the most important thing is the well-being of Hollands

All I've heard is "this is sensitive so we won't discuss" and "how could Carlton let it go on so long?"

Not sure what the objection is.

 

[Underarm]

Wow didn't realise BigFooty had so many Doctors on here.