A facebook post from former Richmond player Reece McKenzie is terribly sad reading and the reaction to his accusations against the Tigers should be carefully articulated, says Rohan Connolly.
The 20-year-old, who retired earlier this year after spending 18 months on the Tigers list, has alleged that the club did not manage his mental illness issues correctly and only made them worse.
“I’ve read the post and when I read it my initial reaction was concern about where he is at right now because there’s a lot of anger there,” said Connolly on SEN radio.
“And a lot of, I wouldn’t call it a cry for attention, but I think it’s someone who is really not in a great place.
“You know if you see this post it makes no bones about sheeting home blame for exacerbating his condition I suppose.
“I agree, I just think we’ve got to be very careful how we talk about it and I feel empathy for him but I… gee from a Richmond Football Club perspective, I’d hope that some of the things that he’s alleged aren’t the case.”
Connolly himself has publicly shared his own troubles with mental health and understands the difficulties everyone associated with a person in such a situation can face.
It was also alleged by McKenzie that he was asked to sign a document meaning he could not talk about his mental health issues publicly.
“I wouldn’t for a moment suggest that I know what he’s going through but yes I’ve had depression,” explained Connolly.
“I can honestly say I’ve never considered taking my life or anything which Reece actually mentions here.
“Well I guess I have more empathy now for people who have to deal with a person with those issues – I ostracised a lot of people close to me and I look back on it now and think I wish I hadn’t done that.
“But in some ways you’re not in the right place to be able to make rational decisions.”