Over the last several years, mental health has taken a forefront in our society as something that should be taken more seriously, and with more care. The AFL has proven itself to be a perfect example of this, as more and more stars have fallen victim to the dangers that mental health can pose on people, even those in the spotlight as professional athletes.

There have been several, notable high-profile cases of AFL stars suffering from mental health issues, including Buddy Franklin, Jesse Hogan, Jack Steven and Majak Daw, with the latter sadly suffering from an incident related to his health during the summer, which led to a broken hip and pelvis, putting his AFL career in jeopardy. It has brought into question the way the AFL as an organisation has handled mental health, what should be done and what will be looked into to prevent any cases such as Daw’s from happening ever again.

AFL Policy:

The policy surrounding mental health in the AFL is one of support, as stated on their official website, ‘The AFL is committed to ensuring a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment for all people involved in Australian football. To achieve this the AFL will promote the importance of mental health and wellbeing of those within the AFL industry…’ followed by some statistics regarding mental health and contact numbers for organisations that specialise in providing support for anyone suffering from these illnesses, such as Beyond Blue.

The AFL does also have a 15-page manifesto on mental health, which outlines their policies and aims, but it simply is not enough. The AFL needs to push its clubs into implementing the best the country has to offer in sports psychology and psychiatry, ensuring each club and player has access to the best support on offer, to allow them to seek the necessary help and treatment. While education, which is important, has been stressed, more needs to be done other than educate players and coaches on mental health. Education is only a springboard, it shouldn’t be a foundation or a basis for this kind of realm to deal with, like clubs have the best doctors and trainers, they also need the best psychologists and therapists on hand for the players to talk to or seek help from, should they need it.

For example, the case involving Majak Daw was a tragedy, where he suffered from a life-threatening fall due to his mental health. It was revealed that he was on medication for his troubles, but he was suffering mentally due to a number of personal factors. While we do not, and probably will not know the full story, it begs the question as to what more could’ve been done to have prevented this incident from happening. We need to be proactive, not reactive to matters concerning mental health.

Abuse of Policy:

A major elephant in the room is the claim that players are claiming mental health to avoid any drug-related sanctions or suspensions. Without going into the realm of gossip or speculation, it has been suggested that whenever a player has come out with an illness, it is timed with a drug-related incident. If a player has said to be suffering from depression or anxiety, they are exempt from any testing done, so if the mental health claim is a cover for their drug or alcohol consumption, testers can never know.

One way the AFL can avoid this is that, if a player rightly so steps out and says they have a mental illness, which of course they’re allowed to do, then they should be suspended from playing for a number of weeks and immediately appointed to see the necessary specialists. This will separate the serious cases from the ones abusing the system, as those that claim mental health to avoid any punishment make it unfair on those players with legitimate cases and make a mockery or a joke of what should be a serious issue. Alternatively, drug tests should be taken regardless of the player’s mental situation, as that can prove if a player is within the right to claim illness, or if they are just dodging a test.

What else can the AFL do:

As mentioned above, education can only do so much, further action needs to be taken to assist in the struggle against mental illness. Raising awareness should be at the forefront, to remove the stigma associated with mental health and bring to light the seriousness of it as a disease. The AFL has done wonders with MND and raising awareness for it and should be commended for their efforts. The same should be done with mental health, a round or perhaps a match should be played that raises money and funds for the disease, as a way to show not only solidarity, but that the AFL is seriously committed to fighting this disease, on behalf of all those involved that suffer from this.

We are all still learning more about mental health as time goes on, so we hope that the AFL learns just as much and improves its base of support, for the sake of everyone involved.