{"id":459286,"date":"2026-04-29T07:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/459286\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T07:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:43:10","slug":"fremantle-dockers-player-nathan-odriscoll-opens-up-about-mental-health-struggles-in-emotional-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/459286\/","title":{"rendered":"Fremantle Dockers player Nathan O&#8217;Driscoll opens up about mental health struggles in emotional post"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Fremantle Dockers player Nathan O&#8217;Driscoll has revealed his mental health struggles in an emotional social media post, amid a push from players for the AFL to implement a mental health round.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The post came almost two weeks after Carlton&#8217;s Elijah Hollands suffered a &#8220;mental health episode&#8221; during a match against Collingwood.<\/p>\n<p>If you or anyone you know needs help:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"ContentAlignment_marginBottom__4H_6E ContentAlignment_overflowVisible__N2zKU\">\n<li><a class=\"Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lifeline.org.au\/\" data-component=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lifeline<\/a> on 13 11 14<\/li>\n<li>Aboriginal &amp; Torres Strait Islander crisis support line <a class=\"Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.13yarn.org.au\/\" data-component=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">13YARN<\/a>\u00a0on 13 92 76<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondblue.org.au\/\" data-component=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Beyond Blue<\/a> on 1300 224 636<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/headspace.org.au\/\" data-component=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Headspace<\/a> on 1800 650 890<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/au.reachout.com\/\" data-component=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ReachOut<\/a> at <a class=\"Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/au.reachout.com\/\" data-component=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">au.reachout.com<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mensline.org.au\/Home.html\" data-component=\"Link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MensLine Australia<\/a> on 1300 789 978<\/li>\n<li><a class=\"Link_link__5eL5m ScreenReaderOnly_srLinkHint__OysWz Link_showVisited__C1Fea Link_showFocus__ALyv2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sane.org\/\" data-component=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">SANE<\/a>\u00a0on 1800 187 263<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Carlton said Hollands had been admitted to hospital last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Western Bulldogs premiership player Tom Boyd, who retired aged 23 partly due to the intense pressure of playing elite sport, said last week other players were bound to be struggling under the surface.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">On Wednesday afternoon, O&#8217;Driscoll posted on Instagram, opening up on how he had come close to taking his own life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I wasn&#8217;t going to post this, but with the recent focus on mental health around the league, it feels like the right time,&#8221; O&#8217;Driscoll wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Loading&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Over the past four years, I&#8217;ve had some incredible highs, but also some very low moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve struggled with anxiety, a constant need to feel like I belong, and always putting others before myself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A man kicking a yellow football \" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8472788124a7833b9f737ee06aad15f4.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Nathan O\u2019Driscoll has opened up about his mental health struggles.\u00a0 (AAP Image: James Worsfold)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;There have been times where I&#8217;ve fallen into deep depressive states and three separate times where I&#8217;ve been extremely close to committing suicide.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"EmphasisedText_quote__TE6kn\"><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sharing this because speaking up matters.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">O&#8217;Driscoll, who last played for Fremantle in their round two win over Melbourne, said he had recently lost someone close to him, but had found solace in his friends, family and teammates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;From the outside, it might look like I have everything, but what&#8217;s going on internally can be a very different story,&#8221; he wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;Everyone is dealing with something, and it&#8217;s okay to not be okay.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Nathan laughing, standing amongst dockers players \" class=\"Image_image__5tFYM ContentImage_image__DQ_cq\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/191523a394645b896d41e007bf03ddd4.jpeg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-component=\"Image\" data-lazy=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"Typography_base__sj2RP FigureCaption_text__zDxQ5 Typography_sizeMobile12__w_FPC Typography_lineHeightMobile20___U7Vr Typography_regular__WeIG6 Typography_colourInherit__dfnUx\" data-component=\"Typography\">Nathan O\u2019Driscoll shares a laugh with teammates after a derby win.\u00a0 (AAP Image: James Worsfold)<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I&#8217;m incredibly grateful for the people around me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;There is so much good in this world. Whatever you&#8217;re going through, it will get better. Reach out, stay connected, and be kind to yourself.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">Geelong star Bailey Smith floated the idea of the AFL introducing a mental health round after his club&#8217;s win over the Western Bulldogs in round six, two weeks ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">&#8220;I don&#8217;t know if I&#8217;m out of pocket saying it, but I think it&#8217;s about time the AFL get a men&#8217;s mental health round,&#8221; Smith said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph_paragraph___QITb\">The idea has since been backed by other players and officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fremantle Dockers player Nathan O&#8217;Driscoll has revealed his mental health struggles in an emotional social media post, amid&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[276],"tags":[202122,202121,196184,18,196905,22,202124,202123,135,19,17,167,502,202120,79151,22638],"class_list":{"0":"post-459286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-afl-mental-health-round","9":"tag-aidan-odriscoll","10":"tag-aussie-rules","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-elijah-hollands","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-footy-mental-health","15":"tag-fremantle-dockers","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-mental-health","20":"tag-mentalhealth","21":"tag-nathan-odriscoll","22":"tag-perth-news","23":"tag-wa-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116486878510155096","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}