Poor kid.

Not so much a kid anymore, but your heart has to go out to him.

Mental illness is still a very taboo subject, although it is rife in our society.

He looked so defeated, as if life has completely beaten him down. People who suffer from a mental condition have nothing to be ashamed of. They have no more control of the situation than a cancer patient.

I wish him all the best. It's not easy to come out on national TV and air your dirty laundry. He's a brave man for doing it, and hopefully now he can move forward and get on with his life.

is he on the footy show tonite ?

It must've been one of the toughest things for him to do. He's got my respect, and i appologise for bagging him a couple of years ago, i was not alone in being ignorant.

For goodness sake. It's the 9 network! Eddie's baby. It's the dumbed down Footy Show.

If you lot are naive enough to believe that Hay's Oprah grab was unpaid and unsolicited then you are dumber than I gave you credit for.

Wise up to how the media works and manipulates. Bring on the footy.

For goodness sake. It's the 9 network! Eddie's baby. It's the dumbed down Footy Show.

If you lot are naive enough to believe that Hay's Oprah grab was unpaid and unsolicited then you are dumber than I gave you credit for.

Wise up to how the media works and manipulates. Bring on the footy.

I hate Eddie as much as most other people and the footy show is garbage again like last year however i dont believe that Hay was paid to tell the story. At the end of the day he sounded remorcefull and money cant buy that. Nice work Johnny for being upfront....pity u couldnt last year but not the easiest thing to do

Who cares if he was payed....some people are very foolish.

Him coming on the show was a good thing to open peoples eyes on the pressure elite sportman face and how they struggle to come to terms with it.

wow he looks pretty bad, wish him all the best in his future endeavours and spreading the message on this silent killer

Poor kid.

This poor kid has a sad story to tell but I feel a lot sorrier for his family and friends who have had to endure his circumstances. As a lawyer I have to deal with similar cases from time to time and I can tell you all that this is a very familiar story.

I feel a lot sorrier for those who saw him last night or who read the words in today's Age article and who believed the following:-

"In the younger years, I had my fair share (of illicit drugs) but I got over that pretty quickly," Hay said.

"I think most young people do experiment with drugs."

"I experimented with recreational drugs (when I was) 19, 20, maybe 21, and that was it.

Before you believe the garbage about him getting over the use of illicit drugs pretty quickly you should do some research into the relationship between the use of certain illicit drugs and mental illness. I'm not suggesting that Hay's experimentation between the ages of 19 and 21 caused his subsequent mental problems but scientific research does show a connection in a number of cases. To think therefore that you can experiment at a young age and that it might not have an effect on your mental well-being later in life is foolhardy.

Before you believe the garbage about him getting over the use of illicit drugs pretty quickly you should do some research into the relationship between the use of certain illicit drugs and mental illness. I'm not suggesting that Hay's experimentation between the ages of 19 and 21 caused his subsequent mental problems but scientific research does show a connection in a number of cases. To think therefore that you can experiment at a young age and that it might not have an effect on your mental well-being later in life is foolhardy.

You're right, the use of some illicit drugs can lead to the development of bi-polar disorder, which is Hay's condition.

At the same time though, I would be very surprised if any doctor would give his patient anti-depressents without finding out the patient's drug history. Mixing illicit and anti-depresent drugs, is just not on. Maybe it explains why Hay couldn't put hand to foot and kick a ball.

At the end of the day, the cause of the illness is not all that relevant. Just like with Cousins, I wish Hay the best of luck in trying to recover from what is a really difficult situation. Whether he got paid for the interview or not makes no difference. He didn't make this stuff up, and the pain he was feeling was very evident.

On a side note, I think he should have disclosed his issues to the Roos before they paid up big to get him. If he knew that his mental illness could affect his playing at some point, than he should have made it very clear to his new club.

Without this knowledge, North Melbourne end up looking stupid and waste a lot of money that they don't really have, and Hay doesn't get the help he needs. A real shame for both parties.

Guys, be careful about the link between mental illness and drug use - it is very complex, not well understood and very hard to research well (hard thing to do random controlled trials with illicit substances on large numbers of young people and then wait to see if they develop a mental illness - but perhaps that is a good thing).

Always good that someone talks about it - I have too many young people that i treat that will not talk about anything or confront their problems. A signficant aspect of that is stigma and fear. Maybe Hay's appearance (I did not see it) will start to help that? Who knows.

He's hit a rough patch

but if he does play next year he will be more depressed from when neitz kicks 7 on him lol

hes got balls thats for sure! first impression i noticed when i saw himon telly was that he looked stoned! but yeah it was pretty powerfull stuff and good luck to him in whatever he does in the near future.

You're right, the use of some illicit drugs can lead to the development of bi-polar disorder, which is Hay's condition.

At the same time though, I would be very surprised if any doctor would give his patient anti-depressents without finding out the patient's drug history. Mixing illicit and anti-depresent drugs, is just not on. Maybe it explains why Hay couldn't put hand to foot and kick a ball.

At the end of the day, the cause of the illness is not all that relevant. Just like with Cousins, I wish Hay the best of luck in trying to recover from what is a really difficult situation. Whether he got paid for the interview or not makes no difference. He didn't make this stuff up, and the pain he was feeling was very evident.

On a side note, I think he should have disclosed his issues to the Roos before they paid up big to get him. If he knew that his mental illness could affect his playing at some point, than he should have made it very clear to his new club.

Without this knowledge, North Melbourne end up looking stupid and waste a lot of money that they don't really have, and Hay doesn't get the help he needs. A real shame for both parties.

Jaded,

You're right that the cause of the illness is not all that relevant to Mr. Hay but it is certainly relevant to those unsuspecting and gullible young people out there who might believe they can experiment without the possibility of there being dire consequences in the future. They are the people I was addressing, not Hay.

Unfortunately, a mythology has developed over the years that says it's safe to experiment or that says experimentation with illicit drugs is no worse than alcohol or cigarette smoking which are legal so why not experiment?

The reason why not is that you might end up a vegetable or worse one day - and the people who really suffer are your family and friends.

A few years back I had a mate who suffered from the dreaded BiPolar Disorder and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone... He could go from being borderline ADHD to being almost suicidal during the course of an afternoon.... We had to walk on eggshells around this guy because it was almost as if he was Schitzophrenic! Unfortunately after a night out on the [censored], after we drove him home, he decided that enough was enough.... RIP Matty!!

I have mad respect for Jonathon Hay for giving us an insight into what took him from All Australian footballer to the "Medication/Lithium ruined" bloke we saw on the Footy Show.... In my opinion he will never play AFL football again, but as long as he manages his mental state and remains in that "happy place" he described last night then in my eyes he is a winner!

For those who may not be totally aware of what BiPolar Disorder is then here is a brief description from BiPolar.com :

What is Bipolar Disorder?

Everyone has feelings of happiness and sadness once in a while. Feeling high and feeling low are part of life.

But for someone with bipolar disorder (sometimes called bipolar depression), these feelings can be extreme:

These ups and downs can be too much for a person to cope with.

They can interfere with daily life.

Sometimes they can even be dangerous.

The ups and downs

One day you may feel so depressed that you can't get out of bed. Work may seem impossible.

On another day you may feel great and full of endless energy. You may feel like you’re getting a lot done. But other people might think that what you are doing is dangerous and out of control.

Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition. It can be hard for healthcare providers to diagnose. But it's nothing to be embarrassed about. Learning more about how to manage the condition can help.

This poor kid has a sad story to tell but I feel a lot sorrier for his family and friends who have had to endure his circumstances. As a lawyer I have to deal with similar cases from time to time and I can tell you all that this is a very familiar story.

I feel a lot sorrier for those who saw him last night or who read the words in today's Age article and who believed the following:-

"In the younger years, I had my fair share (of illicit drugs) but I got over that pretty quickly," Hay said.

"I think most young people do experiment with drugs."

"I experimented with recreational drugs (when I was) 19, 20, maybe 21, and that was it.

Before you believe the garbage about him getting over the use of illicit drugs pretty quickly you should do some research into the relationship between the use of certain illicit drugs and mental illness. I'm not suggesting that Hay's experimentation between the ages of 19 and 21 caused his subsequent mental problems but scientific research does show a connection in a number of cases. To think therefore that you can experiment at a young age and that it might not have an effect on your mental well-being later in life is foolhardy.

C'mon 'WJ', did you write this in support of JHay or to simply push your own barrow. If its the latter than perhaps you might start a drugs topic or even a depression topic, this is not the place to discourage peoples feelings for this man in his desperate struggle. He for one showed some real guts & class...

C'mon 'WJ', did you write this in support of JHay or to simply push your own barrow. If its the latter than perhaps you might start a drugs topic or even a depression topic, this is not the place to discourage peoples feelings for this man in his desperate struggle. He for one showed some real guts & class...

I thought I made it clear why I wrote what I did. It has nothing to do with my feelings about John Hay. I actuially do feel sorry for him but his comment about having had his "fair share (of illicit drugs)" but that he "got over that pretty quickly," is not only wrong - it's dangerous. The fact that he believes this removes any aspect of his being classy out of the equation as far as I'm concerned.

I personally don't believe that he really got over it pretty quickly at all and what you saw last night seems to suggest that he's delusional as well as suffering all of his other ills. I have spent 35 years in a profession that deals with the tragic results of the attitude behind the comments he made and it's definitely not about pushing anyone's barrows.

I just want the people who read this topic to understand that if they decide to experiment with illicit drugs they might be entering a very dark place from which some people never return.

C'mon 'WJ', did you write this in support of JHay or to simply push your own barrow. If its the latter than perhaps you might start a drugs topic or even a depression topic, this is not the place to discourage peoples feelings for this man in his desperate struggle. He for one showed some real guts & class...

WJ is right.

Take it from another member of the legal profession who has seen dozens of medical reports in his time on people charged with possessing and using illicit drugs.

This is exactly the place to leave the message that people who want to experiment with these substances should be in a position to make an informed choice and not be under any misapprehensionss about the course they might be taking when they light up their first joint, pop their first pill, snort or sniff something up their noses or inject some rubbish into their veins.

If it's all about informed choice then John Hay's message was, in part, misleading and dangerous.

WJ is right.

Take it from another member of the legal profession who has seen dozens of medical reports in his time on people charged with possessing and using illicit drugs.

This is exactly the place to leave the message that people who want to experiment with these substances should be in a position to make an informed choice and not be under any misapprehensionss about the course they might be taking when they light up their first joint, pop their first pill, snort or sniff something up their noses or inject some rubbish into their veins.

If it's all about informed choice then John Hay's message was, in part, misleading and dangerous.

Here, Here Brother!

Just because someone has made some poor choices and then gone on national Television about them doesn't mean they are brave or classy -nor should I feel respect for them, but then I guess I am a little biased because I have often been on the other end of people that consistently made poor choices.

I am pretty sure there are conclusive studies that well document that both Marijuana and Ampthetimines (speed and Ice) can lead to psychosis. I am also pretty sure it's not too hard to believe that taking such drugs would exacerbate any emotional or psychological problems an individual might have.

Here, Here Brother!

Just because someone has made some poor choices and then gone on national Television about them doesn't mean they are brave or classy -nor should I feel respect for them, but then I guess I am a little biased because I have often been on the other end of people that consistently made poor choices.

I am pretty sure there are conclusive studies that well document that both Marijuana and Ampthetimines (speed and Ice) can lead to psychosis. I am also pretty sure it's not too hard to believe that taking such drugs would exacerbate any emotional or psychological problems an individual might have.

Oh, you poor buggers, life is soooo tuff for you isn' it, their is definately a link & cause of brain illness due to drugs of all sorts, the ones mentioned above & also alcohol, tobacco, coffee, etc, etc.

The point is that this topic was written re John Hay, in support of him & his rehab. NOT to run him down so you all can discredit him further.

If you want to discourage kids from taking drugs then you should write about it in a drug thread where you don't damage others in your efforts!

Oh, you poor buggers, life is soooo tuff for you isn' it, their is definately a link & cause of brain illness due to drugs of all sorts, the ones mentioned above & also alcohol, tobacco, coffee, etc, etc.

The point is that this topic was written re John Hay, in support of him & his rehab. NOT to run him down so you all can discredit him further.

If you want to discourage kids from taking drugs then you should write about it in a drug thread where you don't damage others in your efforts!

This is a partly a drug thread and it was made so by Jonathan Hay when he raised the point in the interview.

No one is questioning that he should have a proper rehabilitation and good luck to him in that regard but everyone's allowed to voice their opinion, even you and you've made your point.

As anyone who has experience of a family member or friend with a mental illness it is a damn hard road to be on. It can be a long road just to find the right medical profesional and the right drug treatment - some sufferers never do. Those that do often have to live with quite difficult side affects from the medication. Indeed Hay's manner during the interview may have been effected by the medications he is being prescribed.

Good luck to Johny Hay.

And not so good luck to North for trying to renegoatiate his contract, everyone else knew Hay had significant issues when they traded for him, even if the particulars were not known.