Elijah Hollands shared his story with me. He was brave then and he’s brave now

April 24, 2026 — 11:36am

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When a person trusts you enough to share a story as confronting and raw as Elijah Hollands’ battle with anxiety and alcohol, as he did last October, it was only natural for me to watch his progress.

Seeing him regain enough ground during summer to win a contract at Carlton for 2026 as a Supplementary Selection Period pickup seemed a positive outcome, as did the quality of his output through Carlton’s first five rounds.

After he had played against Sydney in Opening Round, using his unique gait to drift into space and earn 19 touches and kick a goal, we greeted each other briefly in the rooms at the SCG afterwards, his warm smile and handshake an indication that he was well and truly on the way back as a serious AFL player, worthy of the first-round pick made by the Suns in 2020.

At the time, the AFL’s Season Guide wrote of him: “Billed as a possible No.1 pick at the start of last season, Hollands slid down the draft order after suffering an ACL injury in February 2020. … Oozes class and can play as a deep forward as well as a ball-winner”.

Those attributes were on show through the early weeks of this season.

Hollands was the only Blue to pick up a coaches’ vote in the loss to Melbourne in round three, and earned two votes the following week on Good Friday with Ben Ainsworth (two votes) and his brother Ollie the only other Blue........

© Brisbane Times