The football community was once again left in mourning recently with the sudden passing of former West Coast Eagle Adam Selwood, just three months after the death of his twin brother Troy, to suicide. While the cause of Adam’s death remains unknown, the back-to-back loss of two brothers has shocked many, and rightly so.
Among the responses was a heartfelt call by fellow former Eagle, Brayden Ainsworth, for the AFL to introduce a dedicated mental health round. It was a simple but powerful suggestion—and one I believe is well worth embracing.
A Mental Health Round would be a sign that mental health matters—that this isn’t something to keep in the shadows. It would offer space for education, stories of hope, and most importantly, an invitation to check in on each other.
But for all the good that mental health initiatives can bring—and they really can do much good—many of them fall short. They miss something vital: God.
Now, I don’t say that in a harsh way. I say it gently, with compassion, and from what I’ve seen in my own life and the lives of people I love. There’s a correlation we shouldn’t ignore: a world growing more Godless is a world struggling more with identity, purpose, and hope.
The Christian claim is that we are made in the image and likeness of God, and that our deepest identity is found in being his sons and daughters—loved unconditionally, to the point of death on a cross.
Reinforcing this very sentiment, Fr Ben Saliba, priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney, affirmed that our identity “is grounded in relationship with a person—who is Jesus.”
“That immediately eliminates loneliness. It also eliminates the question, ‘Does someone love me?’ The answer is yes. ‘How am I loved?’ You’re loved perfectly.”
And with that love comes something the world can’t offer: real peace. “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you,” Jesus says in John’s Gospel.
“Not a peace that the world gives but only a peace I can give,” Fr Saliba echoed.
Trying to live without God, then, means trying to live without the very core of who we are. And if that’s true, while there is a need for the expertise of mental health professionals in treating specific conditions, any approach which ignores the spiritual side of the person is incomplete.
Chris Stefanick, one of my favourite Catholic speakers, puts it like this,
“If there’s no God, life has no story. If there’s no maker, there’s no meaning to life. And if you make up your own meaning, no matter how profound it seems – it’s make-believe. And if it’s not real, it’s not enough to give you a sense of purpose and hope.”
And without purpose or hope, is it any wonder that poor mental health is so prevalent?
So yes, a mental health round would be a beautiful thing, not just in AFL, but in all sports. But let’s not stop at awareness or surface-level support. Let’s take a truly holistic approach that recognises the deep truth written into every human heart: we are created and loved by a God who is love.
As Fr Saliba added, “We need to be better at loving people who are vulnerable, but also getting to them early enough to say, ‘if you continue walking down this path, it’s going to be problematic.’”
Let’s care for the mind and the body, yes—but also the soul. Let’s give people the space to wrestle with the big questions of life, and the chance to encounter the One who answers them not with easy slogans, but with real, sacrificial love.
Because the deepest healing comes when we’re known, loved, and reminded of who we truly are.
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