{"id":11211,"date":"2026-05-14T08:36:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T08:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/11211\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T08:36:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T08:36:07","slug":"afl-melbourne-demons-and-gold-coast-star-steven-may-reveals-mental-breakdown-and-reason-for-retirement-before-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/11211\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL, Melbourne Demons and Gold Coast star Steven May reveals mental breakdown and reason for retirement before 2026 season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Melbourne Demons star Steven May has opened about leaving the AFL following a \u201cmental breakdown\u201d.<\/p>\n

The defender, 34, announced he was hanging up his boots back in March<\/a> \u2014 just before the start of the 2026 season \u2014 during what was a chaotic period for the ex-Gold Coast man.<\/p>\n

Melbourne had told May to search for a new club, while he was also facing charges over an alleged fight in 2024.<\/p>\n

Last week, May and Richmond\u2019s Dion Prestia saw those charges dropped, with the ex-Demons man admitting that was a \u201cweight off his shoulders\u201d.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now he has opened up about why he passed up his contract for 2026, instead opting to walk away despite having already come through pre-season.<\/p>\n

Speaking to SEN<\/a>, he said: \u201cI had a bit of a mental breakdown and found myself a bit lost and not sure what to do. It came to a point where I had to put the club before myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to retire before the deadline so then they could get another player in and Patty Cross is playing good footy and Melbourne are flying.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll in all, it looks like it\u2019s worked well for both parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that was the distraction to the footy club, even though they didn\u2019t really say it, I could feel it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it just comes to the point where you sort of got to make a decision that\u2019s best for my family but also for the footy club and, and you know, my family\u2019s happy and the club\u2019s flying, so I\u2019m pretty stoked with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

May is best-known for helping Melbourne win the 2021 grand final against the Western Bulldogs, playing on with a torn hamstring.<\/p>\n

His legacy on the field is undeniable \u2014 and he is happy the off-field charges have now been dropped.<\/p>\n

May, who played 251 games in the AFL, added: \u201cYour name gets dragged through the media. I know I don\u2019t have the greatest name already so that didn\u2019t help.<\/p>\n

\u201cEspecially when you were so innocent in something. You can\u2019t really do much or say much because it\u2019s a criminal charge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel for Dion. He\u2019s still playing and has got different hurdles he has to get through. It was a huge weight off both of our shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"May<\/p>\n

Speaking about his own experience, May said: \u201cIf you\u2019ve made a few mistakes in the past you grow a bit of a record, I guess.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were to do something and you were innocent then no one is really going to believe you. They\u2019ll look at the history.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a few indiscretions off-field, you could say. That definitely didn\u2019t help. When you\u2019re so innocent in something no one really believes you.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe media were coming after me for the last year and a bit, and then on Friday I didn\u2019t hear anything when the charges got dropped.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that\u2019s the nature of the beast, that doesn\u2019t sell papers – \u2018charges withdrawn\u2019. I get it, it\u2019s what you signed up for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Melbourne Demons star Steven May has opened about leaving the AFL following a \u201cmental breakdown\u201d. The defender,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[260],"class_list":{"0":"post-11211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-melbourne"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}