A Night of Drama and Concern at the MCG
Carlton’s Elijah Hollands spent 60 per cent of Thursday night’s match against Collingwood on the field for a solitary kick – but it was his erratic behaviour that generated concern for his wellbeing at the end of the Magpies’ thrilling win at the MCG. The game, which saw Collingwood come from behind to secure a narrow five-point victory, was not only defined by the performance of Collingwood champion Nick Daicos, who played one of the game’s finest last quarters in his 100th match, but also by the troubling moments involving Hollands.
Hollands, who had previously spoken about his struggles with anxiety and alcohol, told the Blues he had struggled to sleep the night before the Pies match. He finished the game with just one disposal – a kick. He rarely went near the ball, and when he did, he looked lost, prompting former players to question whether Carlton should have allowed him to be on the field.
Carlton stated they had monitored Hollands’ heartbeat in the second half of the match and declined to comment further on Friday morning. The AFL said: “We are having ongoing discussions with Carlton and also ensuring Elijah has the relevant support.”
Hollands, who has previously spoken to this masthead about his struggles with anxiety and alcohol, spent most of the final part of the last term on the bench in a game the Blues once again led at three-quarter-time but lost. Footage posted on social media depicted him running backwards towards goal and flailing his arms in an erratic manner. He was also filmed looking disoriented in the background as Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury conducted a post-match TV interview.
“Was this man fit to start? What gave you [Carlton] the confidence he was OK to play the game when all the vision speaks to the contrary?” said former Port Adelaide premiership player Kane Cornes on SEN on Friday. “It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances and one the club has to confront.”
Former North Melbourne champion David King also expressed concern. “We have to support the kid; he is clearly in a bad place,” King said on SEN. “From a football point of view, the responsibility of the line coach or head coach to see this problem in real time and the fact it was unchecked for three quarters alarms me. I don’t understand how so many people in the stadium can see he is not contributing to this game. He was not assisting his team, he couldn’t get his hands on the footy, he was rattled, he was out of position, why did he play three quarters?”
After the clash, Blues coach Michael Voss said Hollands was “pretty shattered” with his game. “I spoke to him after the game, and he was really disappointed with how he started the game. You know, really upset,” the Blues coach said. “He sort of feels like he’s let me down. So I had a good chat with him. He was pretty emotional after the game. He didn’t play a great game, and he struggled to get his way into it, and feels obviously, clearly, really disappointed with his performance.”
Voss was asked if he was worried about Hollands when he was on the bench at the end of the game. “He was clearly disappointed with himself, and he was disappointed with how he was playing,” Voss said. “So, you know, [when] it comes to the last quarter, you have obviously got to work out what mix you’ve got with five minutes to go, about what you want on the field. He wasn’t having a great night. So, yeah, [there were] constant conversations with him. But you know, obviously, we thought the best mix was not having him out there.”
In an interview with The Age’s Peter Ryan in October last year, Hollands spoke about asking for help after using alcohol to cope with anxiety. He was delisted at the end of last season and this masthead reported that Carlton consulted players before he was invited back onto the list. “In some of the darker times, I turned to alcohol to cope with some of the stresses I had been putting myself under, and the mental fatigue and battles I had been going through,” Hollands said in the October interview. “It very much has been a thing I have done in isolation, which is obviously a battle. It hasn’t been a thing where I have been out with mates and taking things too far in public areas – it’s been in isolation and at home.”
He also detailed a match against the Swans when he felt lost. “I was not doing any of the things I would usually do typically well, which was playing with me,” Hollands said. “I remember just feeling like a complete pedestrian out there. In the last quarter I came off the ground and I just could not breathe. I went to the bench and told our psychologist I could not breathe – I could not settle down, [and] my head was spinning. I was almost having a mini-panic attack, which I had never experienced before out on the field.”
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A Last-Minute Mistake
Josh Daicos felt ‘sick’ after giving away a free kick. As the Blues were left to contemplate yet another win that got away, Josh Daicos was breathing a huge sigh of relief. He almost ruined his younger brother’s script. After Collingwood overcame an 18-point three-quarter-time deficit – as much about their ability to manufacture a comeback as it was about Carlton’s ability to choke – the elder Daicos gave away a last-minute free kick with his side leading by a goal.
Daicos was ruled to have pushed Talor Byrne in the back, handing the 18-year-old Blue in just his fourth game a shot at goal seconds before the siren sounded. If Byrne could kick truly, the game would end in a draw. He missed to the left. “I feel sick a little bit talking about it right now,” Josh Daicos told this masthead after the game. “You know, we worked so hard all night to get back in the game, and unfortunately for me, you know, he gave me one [and] I gave him one back. You just can’t do that in today’s game.”
Josh stood the mark as Byrne took the shot. “It felt like an eternity,” he said. “I was watching him the whole time, [and] kind of watched his ball drop. I thought it was no good, but I thought the wind was going to be left to right, so I had a look, and it just stayed left.” As Josh was overcome with relief, the Carlton players rushed to console a shattered Byrnes.
“It’s not all on the young man’s shoulders,” Voss said of the missed kick. “He didn’t quite get the job done, but the boys rallied. You win together, you lose together. In that particular moment, it was good to see the players get around him as strong as what they did. He was a pretty upset young man, but he needs to know he doesn’t need to own all that.”
