There is concern for the welfare of Elijah Hollands after the Carlton midfielder appeared physically out of sorts during his side’s loss to Collingwood on Friday night.
Hollands recorded just one disposal, which came during the third quarter, from 60 per cent game time. At three-quarter time, he had played 75 per cent of the game. Hollands played nine minutes in the last quarter.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Concern for Carlton midfielder Elijah Hollands
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Alarm bells started ringing when fan-filmed footage of the 23-year-old appeared to show Hollands acting unusually in Carlton’s forward 50.
7NEWS Melbourne’s Mitch Cleary was at ground level and had a close eye on Hollands during the game.
“Elijah Hollands will become a story out of this game,” Cleary said.
“I watched him closely in the second half. He was displaying some erratic movements, didn’t look like himself.
“He’s obviously had a very difficult last 18 months with some personal issues, had to fight for his spot on the Carlton list.
“I spoke to a few people in the rooms, they said they were monitoring his heart rate in the second half, and that he had trouble sleeping last night.
“This is something we’ll continue to follow over the next couple of days. He was in a pretty bad way post-match.”
Nick Riewoldt added: “He did not look himself, so you can understand the concern within the Carlton rooms.
“Any time there’s a narrative like that around a player, the first port of call as a football club is to wrap your arms around them.
“I’m sure there’ll be more come out of the Carlton Football Club in the next 24 hours. But you can understand the concern.”
Carlton coach Michael Voss was asked about Hollands in his post-match press conference.
“He’s pretty shattered with his game,” Voss said of Hollands.
“I spoke to him after the game and he was really disappointed with how he started the game, really upset, sort of feels like he’s let me down.
“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, and obviously with the importance of the night, he feels like he’s let people down.
“We’ve just got to keep supporting people through those situations.”
Hollands won his way back onto the Blues’ list during the pre-season after being delisted last October despite having a year to run on his contract.
After delisting him, Carlton gave Hollands the chance to train with the club in the hopes of winning his spot back via the pre-season supplemental period (SSP).
Hollands was traded to the Blues from Gold Coast at the end of 2023, but played only 27 games in his first two seasons as he struggled through off-field issues that coach Michael Voss admitted was “disappointing” for the club.
7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary revealed last August that the Blues asked Hollands to explore his options after a tough year that included two stints away from the game on personal leave.
Hollands first took leave on the eve of the 2025 season before returning in Round 6 and playing five straight games.
He then stepped away again in May, before earning praise from coach Voss for getting himself ready to play VFL footy upon his return to the club.
He played two VFL games late in the season and shared a positive outlook on his future before he was told to explore his options.
