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and I know there will be some angst, anger and disagreement but please can we try to keep it rational and not personal.

We have all by now heard about Majak Daw which in it self is a very sad episode in the AFL.

I have had personal experience with a close friend and family member who committed suicide.

I have also had it touch me at football at colts level.

The calls for the AFL to do more seem to me to be a somewhat pointless exercise as in my experience in these cases we/I had no inkling that the person was in that state of mind. To intents they were at ease with their lot in life and seemed to those around them comfortable in their skin.

It was only later that we found that they had issues that to them left only one recourse.

In my other lives I have had professional experience with suicide prevention and in talking to folk whilst they were aware of day to day issues (exams, money etc) they had no idea that this was the way out for their children, husbands and so on.

So what can we do, do you have ideas or programmes that are out there to prevent or is it a case of just talking abt stuff in the hope we can deal with the visible stress in not just players lives but those close to us!

Very good points you make, Grump, particularly since mental illness is so prevalent these days (or perhaps it's a case of it now receiving more media coverage than previously).
Wayne Schwass mentioned the AFL directs a lot of resources into physical fitness but almost seems to ignore mental fitness, so any initiative should start at the top.
Sadly, with the "rise" in social media, there are a lot of keyboard cowboys who I suspect directed some pretty nasty taunts Majak Daw's way, perhaps contributing to his decision.
Thankfully, Majak is still with us and while his physical injuries are healing, he also needs a good team around him to help him mentally.

I was shocked to hear about Majak and hopefully he will now get the support he obviously needs. Discussion about mental health is still taboo and as you said ADGM, the hate spewed out on social media adds another dimension to it and can tip people over the edge. There are a lot of people out there who are struggling through life with undiagnosed mental illness. I recall the story of Glen Mitchell who was only saved from suicide by an observant park ranger and after being correctly diagnosed and recieving treatment he has returned to his profession and now gives presentations to groups about how his illness affected his life.
We all have our yearly physical check up with our GP's so maybe something like this needs to happen for our mental health as well. Men are often reluctant to talk about depression in case they are somehow seen as weak.
There are a lot more resources out there now thanks to organisations like Beyond Blue which is gradually breaking down the stigma.

While you can blame the internet and social media as one of the modern day causes of suicide it is also so easy to find information on the internet to get help. I've got no doubt their is endless material out there and tools to help people.

I learned only about 5 years ago around the time I discovered Facebook and getting in touch with a few old school friends and footy team mates, about a former young football star I played with in my first year of juniors who played in all the representative sides who tragically took his own life when he was only 17 or 18 over a break up with his gf. It would have had a profound effect on those that were closest to him. Goes to show being brilliant and successful in sport or in the classroom or in one's professional life doesn't guarantee happiness.

I just echoe others sentiments here and Hope young Majak gets the help he needs and makes a full recovery.

From my experience, the biggest challenge in dealing with mental health is its not like a cut or a bruise, because you cant see a physical injury some people don't understand what the person is going through.

If you see your mate with a plaster on his leg you will always ask him how is he going and does he need help, where as if you see your mate acting funny you will more than likely not do anything and think he has issues at work or with the missus.

I read what Wayne Schwass raised in the paper, however I'm not sure there is a lot more the AFL can do. its a disease that until people report it its very hard to diagnose.

I just hope Majak can recover and tell his story, the more people talk about mental health issues the more society will understand it

It's a bloody horrible disease - as ph said, you can't see the injury. Many many yrs ago, a young bloke had a blue with his girl, left the party and drove into a tree at speed. It was a miracle he survived, but about 6 mths later, he finished the job. How do you approach this?? How could they have know and prevented it? I supposed back then, there was not a lot of attention given to the "black dog". I think to add to that, we also have to be aware of bi-polar. While I don't know a lot about it, I do know it also is a worrying disease, that could lead to a sinister outcome.

It seems that the conundrum of the issue keeps show how literally impossible it is to manage

www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-07/annalise-...688636?sf205496380=1