Collingwood FC's Nathan Buckley talks about young men & gambling

Nathan Buckley: I've been in the game for over 25 years now, and the attitudes towards gambling and what staff members do with their discretionary income, and the education around that piece has just been exponential in my time. The other thing we have done really well is to teach each other to put our hands up when we are struggling.

You know people can hide their struggles and their ills pretty well. We get a lot of practice at that. So to get the individuals themselves to say that "Hey I need some help here" can save a lot of misinterpretation or a lot of trauma to both the person themselves and their loved ones and their colleagues, as such.

So they've been important parts of our culture that are helping us through this environment at the moment. You know, gambling is everywhere, generally if there is sport happening all over the world and what we know of gambling is that it's the rush of having a win, you know getting something right or doing a bit of research and then getting money for nothing in many ways.

So we educate our players and our staff as regularly as we can around the pitfalls of that and how to responsibly engage in wagering on the things that they are interested in. We are pretty good at hiding stuff, we are pretty good at pushing at what we think it's the worst of us or the thing that we might be ashamed of away from prying eyes, even those that are closest to you.

But I think that by looking after each other and the environment holistically, I find that issues such as gambling or things that people might be ashamed of come a little bit closer to the surface and through those strong relationships, we have the capacity to assist others and then find some strategies to be able to help them out of behaviours that are not contributory to their well-being.

You can nip things in their bud before they become an issue. So if you are worried about your own gambling habits or those of someone close to you, you can get help now, 24/7, and it's free and confidential.