ON A SOAKED Cranbourne evening, a group of local Australian Rules football coaches were all eyes and ears as Melbourne’s Neville Jetta relayed an important message about mental health. Sitting in the upstairs function room at Casey Fields overlooking the ground he spent many hours on early in his AFL career, the Demons defender was...

"You want to know that the person next to you has got your back, whether you’re about to put your head over the footy or you’re experiencing a challenging time."

The Tackle Your Feelings mental health training program launched last night with the delivery of the first face to face session to more than 25 community coaches from Melbourne’s south-east region.

Words by Tom Downie (GWS Giants) JLT Community Series Game 1 — Saturday February 18, 2017. How could watching the play, a stoppage 50 metres away, cause me to run from the field… and not return? Sounds pretty silly, right? On this particular day, my anxiety took over and I had a panic attack. Something...

Words by Connor Blakely (Fremantle Dockers) Have you ever considered removing yourself from the world of social media? Maybe you’ve contemplated a detox after realising how much time everyday you spend scrolling and double tapping on your phone. Or maybe some comments posted online about you made you feel uncomfortable and you now wish you...

Growing up Dr Erin Hoare battled her own internal struggle with anxiety. From the age of 15, Hoare used sport and exercise to manage her mental health and to provide a level of stability in her life that she wasn’t able to achieve in other aspects. Hailing from Geelong, sport provided structure in her life,...

Player Development and Wellbeing Player Development and Wellbeing has been one of the AFL industry’s biggest priorities for the last six years. The 2012-2016 CBA mandated that every AFL club must employ at least one full-time Player Development Manager (PDM) whose sole role is to work with the players to support them and develop their non-football identities.

Words by Josh Green (Brisbane Lions & Essendon) My earliest memories of playing football were at Auskick in my hometown of Richmond, Tasmania where I grew up. I recall the pure enjoyment I received out of putting on my boots every Saturday morning with my school mates and dad. It’s something I still look back on with great memories....