Elijah Hollands is an

Australian rules footballer Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

playing for the

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The club has been playing in the AFL since th ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

Early life

Hollands was born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. His father,

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, ...

, was a professional Australian rules footballer who played 8 AFL games for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

in 1999 as well as spending years on

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

's AFL lists. Hollands lived the first nine years of his life in Adelaide before relocating to

Wodonga Wodonga (Pallanganmiddang language, Waywurru: ''Wordonga'') is a city on the Victoria (Australia), Victorian side of the border with New South Wales, north-east of Melbourne, Australia. It is located wholly within the boundaries of the City of ...

on the

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

border. He didn't start playing football until he began with

Auskick Auskick is a program designed to teach the basic skills of Australian rules football (AFL) to boys and girls aged between 5 and 12. Auskick is a non-contact variant of the sport. It began in Australia and is now a nationwide non-selective pro ...

at the

Wodonga Bulldogs The Wodonga Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Bulldogs'', is an Australian rules football and netball club based in the city of Wodonga, Victoria. History Wodonga's first recorded match was against the Albury Football Club on Saturday, ...

going on to play junior football in the

Ovens & Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales and the Ovens and Murray are ...

and made his senior debut for the club at 16 years of age. Leading into his final year of junior football, Hollands was touted as a potential number one draft pick before tearing his ACL and missing the entirety of the 2020 NAB League season. Despite his injury, he was drafted by the

with pick 7 in the 2020 AFL draft.

AFL career

Hollands made his AFL debut in

QClash The QClash is the name given to the Australian rules football rivalry match between the Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns, who both participate in the Australian Football League (AFL). The first QClash was held in 2011, with Gold Coast winning ...

23 against the

Brisbane Lions The Brisbane Lions is a professional Australian rules football club based in Brisbane, Queensland, that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was formed in late 1996 via a merger of the Melbourne-based 1883 foundation VFL c ...

in round 19 of the

2022 AFL season The 2022 AFL season is the 126th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season features ...

and kicked two goals in his first game, including a goal with his first kick.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollands, Elijah 2002 births Living people Gold Coast Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) People from Wodonga Australian rules footballers from Adelaide