SANFL launches Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy

14 July 2026

The SANFL has launched a Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy that will be rolled out at SANFL clubs to support the mental health and wellbeing of all players, coaches and officials.  

Guided by SANFL and SANFLW players, industry professionals and the AFL, the strategy has a strong focus on education and increasing clubs’ ability to identify, respond and support those experiencing mental health issues as early as possible. 

A working group featuring a representative from each club has been involved in creating the strategy including Glenelg’s Hugh Stagg, Norwood’s Jack Heard, West Adelaide’s Adrienne Davies, Eagles CEO David Couzner, and South Adelaide’s General Manager of Football Brent Reilly.  

“A big motivator for me being involved in this strategy is to make it easy and create a clear process within clubs for players, coaches and volunteers to get the right support when they need it,” said Stagg, who works for the Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation as Community Education Specialist.  

“SANFL players are high-risk for mental illness which is prevalent in young people and especially men so as a 23-year-old male working in this space I see and hear a lot of the challenges that my teammates and players face. 

“I’m very passionate about giving people the skills to better deal with their own personal challenges and how to look after your mates and those around you,” he said.  

The premiership winning Tiger has personally run two mental health first aid courses at Glenelg which has resulted in 30 people at the club being accredited mental health “first aiders”. 

The strategy encourages a minimum of five people at each club to be accredited in this area.   

“In workplaces and football clubs – people are required to have physical first aid qualifications, and personally my goal is to make mental first aid as mandatory, accepted and available as your physical first aiders,” said Stagg who’s licensed to deliver the Mental First Aid Australia program. 

“How often in a workplace do you use physical first aid? And how many mental health challenges do you see in a workplace? Often it sways to the latter so that’s the reason SANFL wanted to bring that in because it is a practical program. It is also a very researched and well renowned program in Australia,” he said. 

The strategy identifies the need to appoint a designated Mental Health and Wellbeing Liaison and seek alignment with a local metal health provider such as a Headspace Centre.  

An anonymous competition-wide Wellbeing Index Survey will be distributed in March to provide a clear baseline to work from.   

“Seventy percent of our squad are tradies so for them to train three or four nights a week and then go out and play on the weekend and be back on the tools on Monday morning is tough work,” said former Adelaide Crows player Reilly.  

“Someone there to help and support them in and around their wellbeing from a mental side of things is an important initiative and something we’ve been striving to work towards at South,” he said.  

“When you are out of form and perhaps dealing with off-field issues, sometimes the last person you want to speak to is the coach, so it is nice to have someone within the club who players feel comfortable talking to. The hard part is trying to find the right person for that liaison role,” he said.  

As part of the strategy rollout, SANFL has purchased copies of Scott Hodges’ book Not All Black and White to distribute to clubs. The Magarey Medallist and eight-time Port Adelaide premiership hero grappled with undiagnosed mental illness throughout his football career despite appearing on the surface like he had it all.  

“We thought the fact that Scott has been so open about his mental health struggles during his footy career may help our current day players and show them that they are not alone, and that it’s OK to speak up and ask for help,” said SANFL Executive General Manager of Football Matt Duldig. 

“When you walk into a footy club you just wouldn’t know what your mates are going through so we hope that high profile guys like Scott telling their story allows others to open up, look out for their mates and feel comfortable asking if they’re OK.  

“One thing that has jumped out during this process is that footy clubs are great places for young men and women to be at and if you are a really great footy club, you’re halfway there.  

“What we are trying to do is equip more people with tools to not only help understand themselves better but also to understand their teammates and their surroundings a little bit better as well, he said.