AFL

Blues withdraw Elijah Hollands' brother from Freo game

Apr 25, 2026

Carlton have withdrawn Ollie Hollands from their AFL clash with Fremantle in Perth following a week of drama surrounding his brother.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

Elijah Hollands was admitted to hospital on Monday, just four days after suffering what Carlton labelled as a "mental health episode" during the five-point loss to Collingwood.

Ollie Hollands was initially named to take on Fremantle and flew to Perth with the rest of his teammates on Friday.

But he was pulled from the team hours before Saturday's match at Optus Stadium, replaced by Matthew Cottrell.

It is believed Carlton made the move in the best interests of Ollie, given the emotional toll the family has endured over the past week.

Widely circulated videos showed Elijah Hollands displaying signs of unusual behaviour during the warm-up to the Magpies game, and he finished the match with just one disposal before being benched in the final quarter.

Carlton were widely criticised for playing Hollands in the state he was in and not realising sooner that something was wrong.

The Blues finalised their investigation into what happened on Friday and reported their findings to the AFL.

It's been 363 days since Cottrell's last AFL game, with foot surgery in late 2025 followed by knee surgery in February leaving the 26-year-old stranded on 74 matches for almost a year.

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636