CARLTON coach Michael Voss has launched a passionate defence of the people involved in the club's handling of the Elijah Hollands situation, saying the reaction in the week that's followed is "bordering on bullying".

Speaking on Thursday, a defiant Voss said "our people are being bullied" and that the industry is being a "bully for outcomes" in the wake of last Thursday night's confronting events, in which Hollands suffered a mental health episode during the match with Collingwood.

"I think our people are being bullied, and I think we bully for outcomes," Voss declared.

"All I'd just say is we need to take into consideration the people that are involved in this. This impacts families, it impacts a lot of people."

Carlton chief executive Graham Wright said over the weekend that the Blues were aware of Hollands' situation in-game, though Voss said he was comfortable with the level of support he was given as coach to deal with the events as they unfolded.

"What you need is obviously support and what I'm more than comfortable with are the people in charge of doing that," Voss said.

"We've unfortunately, rather than make this a private challenge, is make this a public event. The commentary, the conversation, the ball by ball play ... we've unfortunately made it that.

"In some ways, I'll be really honest, it's felt like it's bordering on bullying.

"When you start to think about that as a concept, about our people, that's really important. That's who I care about most.

"Rather than show compassion and empathy through a really difficult situation, we are being really judgemental while knowing little facts and without understanding the history and background.

"We've drawn our own outcomes. We can't judge that in a binary way. It's complex, it's situational. We've got to find that middle ground between that type of care, but also providing the support that we need and the process behind it.

"I think we acknowledge that. But that's an industry conversation. If we're going to have this proper conversation about mental health, then let's have it. But this is an industry conversation.

"The healthy conversation will be how we support our people in an environment that absolutely demands so much from our people. Having a healthy respect between what you need to report on the game and what we need to provide in our environment to our players.

"But I won't solve that here, I just won't. The people that are in charge of the game are largely the biggest ones that can make the significant change that's needed. It's not the coach of the Carlton Football Club."

Carlton and the AFL's investigation into the Hollands incident, which will seek to discover the process of how Thursday night's events played out, is still ongoing.

The Blues confirmed on Monday night that Hollands had been admitted to hospital, with Voss finishing an emotional 18-minute press conference by asking for reflection.

"I think we've all been impacted in some way as families and you individually, maybe there are a few here that have struggled with some mental health in recent times," Voss said.

"Maybe it's been a family member, maybe it's been a friend, maybe it's been a loved one. All I'd just ask is what would you want? What would you want right now? That's all we ask."

Michael Voss' key answers in full

Do you think Elijah should've played last Thursday night?
"I think what we'll do, as you guys know, is the AFL is looking into everything at this point in time. There's a process that clearly is underway. Rather than taking a blow-by-blow and ball-by-ball play on it, I think we'll let that process play out. We welcome what that will actually look like. I'm sure there will be some findings out the back of it. I don't think speed is the answer here, to try and get a response immediately. We need to take our time with it. If that means it takes a few days to be able to come up with what those resolutions are, then we'll take our time with it. This is not about speed.

Have you reflected on a lot on this personally while the review has been underway?
"Everyone does, but what you do is hopefully provide the balance as well. Your role in it is to have the conversations that are needed to get the clarity that we're after. It's to provide the insight, context, understanding, and history to it all. Once that information is provided, then it's up to others to be able to follow through and gather all of that information. We have to make these decisions based on all the evidence that's available to us. This can't be a public event. It's a private challenge. What we'll treat it as is that. We'll respect it, both the privacy and the process. From a club's point of view, there's been plenty of questions asked. We've tried to answer those and give as much insight as we can and be as thorough as we possibly can."

Are you upset?
"I think you've got to be able to let the findings come through first. It's very different between emotions and understanding the emotions surrounding it, and also the process that we need to be able to follow here. We've got a game to play in two days' time. The focus starts to become about what that preparation looks like. While we're reflecting on what happened the previous week, our job is also to find a point where we let the people who are entrusted with that to provide that information and then we move forward. We've got a clear task that we need to be able to get done in a couple of days. We're determined to get that done."

Are you able to give an update on how Elijah is right now?
"I've probably more recently been communicating through his family, more so than with 'Lij' over the last few days. I think it's important that we keep distance and space right now. There was certainly immediate follow-up. But, again, we don't want to necessarily add to all of that commentary. What we also need to acknowledge is that Elijah two years ago or thereabouts showed enormous courage to come forward and talk about his challenges and his issues. We all know that it's the first point and the most significant almost. The last couple of years haven't been smooth sailing, for him or us. But what we have done and our team have people have done is provided amazing mentoring, counselling, guidance, specialists and professionals both inside and out. All for the opportunity for a young man to be able to have a career. All through the discussions that I've had with 'Lij', there's been very little to do about football and everything to do about life. We talk about how healthy he needs to be, the type of life he wants to live, who he wants to be. And then, ultimately, when you get those things right, now we can talk about the footballer. I don't think you should leave here and say that there has not been an amazing care, love, support, empathy, accountability throughout this whole process. When we have challenging times, like we did over the weekend and you start to sift through this information, you just cannot possibly come to the conclusion that it's about care. We accept that we need to look at process and that process will show itself over whatever time it needs to be. But there is that care."

What resources do you need on match day to care for a player?
"I'm not going to go into those specifics. That's part of the discussion between the AFL and the AFLPA. To be brutally honest with you, there are more experts than you and I to answer that question."

You've got a lot to process with so much going on, what do you need as a coach to care for your players?
"What you need is obviously support and what I'm more than comfortable with are the people in charge of doing that. We've unfortunately, rather than make this a private challenge, is make this a public event. The commentary, the conversation, the ball by ball play … we've unfortunately made it that. In some ways, I'll be really honest, it's felt like it's bordering on bullying. When you start to think about that as a concept, about our people, that's really important. That's who I care about most. Rather than show compassion and empathy through a really difficult situation, we are being really judgemental while knowing little facts and without understanding the history and background. We've drawn our own outcomes. We can't judge that in a binary way. It's complex, it's situational. We've got to find that middle ground between that type of care, but also providing the support that we need and the process behind it. I think we acknowledge that. But that's an industry conversation. If we're going to have this proper conversation about mental health, then let's have it. But this is an industry conversation. The healthy conversation will be how we support our people in an environment that absolutely demands so much from our people. Having a healthy respect between what you need to report on the game and what we need to provide in our environment to our players. But I won't solve that here, I just won't. The people that are in charge of the game are largely the biggest ones that can make the significant change that's needed. It's not the coach of the Carlton Football Club."

Who do you think has been bullied?
"I think our people have been bullied, and I think we bully for outcomes. All I'd just say is we need to take into consideration the people involved in this. This impacts families, it impacts a lot of people."

He played, though. He was put out there on the ground.
"The detail of that and obviously the process and the privacy of that ... we're going to make sure that we have privacy right throughout this. You can have your commentary. That's what you do. What we are charged to do is ensure that we maintain the privacy of the player. If that means that there's judgement in behind that towards me and there are a few bullets that need to come our way, then we'll take it. But privacy is the utmost importance."

You said it's a public event, but it's been made to be a public event. I assume that's pointed at the media. But do you understand the challenges of ... if this was a lawyer going into court or a doctor going into surgery, it's not a public event because it's not in front of 75,000 people and 2,000,000 watching at home. Is it fair to say that there are challenges in how it is viewed, not just by the media, but by the everyday fan sitting at the 'G or watching at home?
"Yes, and I think we all need to accept that. But rather than the judgement, let's not look at this as binary. It's a complex situation that has history and background. There's no one the same. But in behind it is a wave of support from people that are on the ground, that live in the shadows, that work with people daily on this sort of stuff. I think we should applaud them. That's what I really believe. Interpret that as you like."

You're proud of the club and how it was handled?
"I'm proud of my people and the process itself will take care of itself. We need to put our support behind that. I think, for this time being, what's said has been said. I'm sure there may be many questions that you have, but ultimately I'm also here to prepare for a football game. We've got one in two days' time. We need to move forward and if we're prepared to move forward on that, then I'm happy to stay here. If we're not quite satisfied, then this might be over."

How's Ollie, and will he play this week?
"I think what I said before about those questions and the privacy of that, we'll maintain. He'll train, though, for your reference. You saw him here on Tuesday. He was here, it was good to have him around. It was really good to have him around."