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Carlton young gun's emotional team meeting as he takes indefinite leave
SEN • March 12th, 2025 10:15 am
Elijah Hollands made an emotional address to the Carlton playing group in the hours before it was announced he would take indefinite leave from footy.
Two days out from Carlton’s season-opener against Richmond, it was confirmed that the 22-year-old would step away with the club applauding him for "having the courage to ask for help".
Speaking on SEN Breakfast, Sam Edmund shed light on what had been going on behind the scenes.
“He’s taking indefinite leave from football to get across his personal issues,” Edmund said.
“Carlton released a statement saying he had been open, honest and transparent with them and come to them a few weeks ago and asked for support.
“He got up and addressed his teammates yesterday in a group setting and I’m told that was very emotional when he got up and detailed what was about to happen.
“He’s going to miss quite a bit of footy and will need some serious conditioning under him when he does get back.
“He didn’t play full minutes in the pre-season and there were some doubts on him and this explains why.”
Hollands played 22 games for Carlton in 2024 after joining the club via trade from the Suns in the 2023 trade period.
Carlton has said that due to the nature of Hollands’ situation, they would not be adding any ongoing commentary.
“We applaud Elijah for having the courage to come forward and ask for help,” Carlton General Manager of Football Brad Lloyd said.
“We will continue to work with him to ensure he gets all the support he needs.
“While Elijah has been engaged with the football program, quite rightly it is our care for him as a person which matters most, so this period of leave will allow him to focus on himself and he will be afforded as much time as he needs to do that.
“Elijah’s level of involvement within the football program during this period will be worked through at the appropriate time, however that certainly sits secondary to Elijah’s wellbeing - which is our number one priority.”
