The Australian Football League (AFL) has announced it will not rush its assessment of a formal submission from the Carlton Blues regarding young player Elijah Hollands, whose recent public mental health episode has sparked scrutiny of the club’s handling of the incident. The situation is unprecedented in its public profile, league officials say, requiring careful, deliberate consideration rather than a quick response.
Hollands, a Carlton player, was hospitalized last week after experiencing a mental health episode during Carlton’s tight five-point round six loss to Collingwood. After completing an internal review of the circumstances surrounding the incident, Carlton submitted its findings to the AFL on Friday – just hours before the club faced the Fremantle Dockers in an away match in Perth on Saturday night.
AFL general manager Greg Swann emphasized the sensitivity of the situation in comments to reporters on Monday, prioritizing Hollands’ well-being over a speedy resolution. “First of all, we’re still giving our best wishes to Elijah,” Swann said. “It’s been a harrowing week for him and his family, so we’re wishing him the best. Look, we got a submission from Carlton on Friday, Laura [Kane] and her team are handling that. There’s no rush on this, this is a really delicate matter. I haven’t seen anything play out like this publicly as this instance. It will take as long as it does, but that’s been received and we’ll work through it from there.”
The incident and subsequent review have not been without controversy: following Hollands’ episode, Carlton coaching and club staff faced intense public scrutiny over how the situation was managed. Addressing the criticism last Thursday, Carlton head coach Michael Voss pushed back hard against external observers, arguing that the scrutiny of his staff had crossed a line.
Voss described the ongoing criticism of his team as “bordering on bullying”, and urged the public and media to approach the case with empathy, framing it as a deeply personal mental health issue rather than a public spectacle. “I think we’ve all been impacted in some way as families and you individually, maybe there’s a few here who have struggled with some mental health in recent times,” Voss said. “Maybe it’s been a family member, maybe it’s been a friend, maybe it’s been a loved one. All I just ask is that: What would you want? What would you want right now? And that’s all we ask.”
In a related update, Hollands’ brother Ollie, who has joined the Blues for training in recent days, was not selected for Carlton’s match against Fremantle over the weekend. As of Monday, no timeline has been set for the AFL to conclude its review and release its findings, with league officials reiterating that supporting Elijah Hollands’ recovery remains the top priority.