Former Carlton forward Brendan Fevola says he can relate with troubled Blue Elijah Hollands following Thursday night's "delicate situation", which the club has confirmed as a mental health episode.
Hollands has openly discussed his battle with mental demons, and was erratic in his behaviour against the Pies, which the club conceded they knew.
"From me to Elijah," Fevola said on The Fox's Fifi, Fev & Nick.
"Mate, you need to get the support you need. Everyone, get out there and get around him. Media, get around him - don't pot him about his mental health. His footy teammates need to get around him and his family and friends.
"Footy is not everything and I've worked that out. He'd be thinking, ‘I've lost my career, I've lost footy.' Footy is not the be-all and end-all of life. Hopefully, he can get the help he needs."
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Fevola reflected on his own personal battles, saying he can relate to Hollands' troubles.
"We obviously don't know what he's going through. He clearly needs help and support, and I can relate to this.
"As a young player, I was in rehab with mental issues. I relate. I got sacked in rehab, and losing your job in rehab… I had nothing to go out to. I lost all my coin, didn't have a family at the time, and I was like, ‘Oh, I'm 29 and my whole world has blown up.'"
"This happened when we played. We had two individuals that got on the drugs the night after the game. It was different because we were not in front of everyone [at a game]. We were down at Port Melbourne beach, and they were pretending they were catching waves. We were like, ‘What is going on with these blokes?
"These blokes are cooked!'… there was some weird stuff going on, so we confronted them, took them to the coach, and then sat them in front of the leadership group and they got the help they needed.
"This guy [Elijah Hollands] needs to go get some help. Everyone lay off him. Everyone wants the answers, but do we need them? Let's just move on and Carlton need to deal with it."
Hollands has been ruled out of Carlton's Round 7 clash against Fremantle, as the club and the AFL continue its investigations.
