Michael Voss says treatment of Carlton staff has been “borderline bullying” during an extraordinary press conference on Thursday morning.
The Carlton coach hit out over questions surrounding Blues star Elijah Hollands after the 23-year-old suffered a mental health episode during the club’s loss to Collingwood at the MCG on Thursday.
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Voss spoke out with pride about how members of his football department and wider support staff have conducted themselves as the football club continues its internal review into Hollands’ erratic behaviour during the game.
Carlton has confirmed officials were aware of Hollands’ behaviour but continued to play him throughout the game before he was eventually benched in the fourth quarter having recorded one disposal for the entire game.
The most dramatic moment of the press conference came when questions were asked about the club’s care for the footballer.
Carlton issued a statement on Thursday night confirming the club had completed its investigation and had submitted its findings to the AFL.
“The Carlton Football Club continues to prioritise the welfare of Elijah Hollands, alongside providing ongoing support for his family and our club’s people, through what remains a complex and challenging time,” the Blues said.
“The Club can confirm it has responded this evening to the AFL’s request and provided an account of the circumstances relating to Hollands and the Club’s Round 6 match.
“The Club understands the significant interest in this matter; however, out of respect for the sensitives involved, the Club will not be providing further comment until the AFL process has been finalised.
“We thank our members and the public for their patience and understanding as the Club continues to work through this matter alongside the AFL and the AFLPA, with a high level of sensitivity, care and diligence.”
The AFL will now examine the findings before making a decision on any potential sanction.
Voss said the club has gone out of its way to provide “love, care, support and empathy” towards Hollands as the footballer has managed ongoing mental health challenges for the past two years.
Voss bristled when asked a follow up question by one reporter.
“We’ve unfortunately, rather than make this a private challenge, we’ve made this a public event,” Voss said.
“So the commentary, the conversation, the ball by ball play, we’ve unfortunately made it that.”
When a reported interjected, Voss put up his hand to silence a reporter.
“I’ll be really honest, it’s felt like bordering on bullying. That’s sorry, you’ve spoken, I’ll speak. So when you think about that as a concept about our people. That’s really important. That’s who I care about the most.
“So rather than show compassion and empathy through a really difficult situation, we are being really judgmental with knowing little facts, without understanding history and background and we’ve drawn our own outcomes and we can’t judge that in a binary way.
“It’s complex. It’s situational. So we’ve got to find middle ground between that kind of care but also providing the process behind it. I think we’ve acknowledged that. But that’s an industry conversation.”
When asked to clarify his comment about “bullying”, Voss responded: “I think our people have been bullied. And I think been bullied for outcomes.
“All I would say is that we need to take into consideration the people who are involved in this. This impacts families. It affects a lot of people.”
Hollands remains in hospital after being admitted earlier this week.
The AFL and WorkSafe are both now examining the circumstances surrounding the incident, while Carlton and the AFL Players Association continue to provide support to the player.
While Voss declined to go into specifics about Hollands’ condition, he confirmed the club had been in contact primarily through the player’s family and had deliberately created space around him during his recovery.
Hollands has openly battled mental health and alcohol issues in recent years and took personal leave during the 2025 season.
Carlton later delisted him before re-adding him to its rookie list during the 2026 pre-season, giving him another chance at AFL level alongside his younger brother Ollie.
Voss said the club had invested significant care and resources into supporting the young midfielder.
“There has been amazing care, love, support, empathy, accountability throughout this whole process,” he said.
“We accept we need to look at process, and that process will show itself over whatever time it needs to.”
Later in the press conference, Voss appeared to suggest he would walk away if the line of questioning did not shift to questions about the club’s next game against Fremantle in Perth on Saturday.
— with NewsWire
