read this RobbieF. This happened after Col was escorted out of the club after falling asleep. He was lucky.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/didaks-lunatic-ride/2008/05/08/1210131141123.html?s_cid=rss_news

Colin has an alcohol problem

Thanks for that "BLWNBA" re the speed needed to knock a power pole down - I thought it might have needed some real speed - good point .

Ninemsn's news release sheds a bit more light - tried to do the link - didn't work

Colin has an alcohol problem

That's a bit over the top no? Massive call to make when you actually have no knowledge of this current incident. Fairly ignorant.

It appears as well that Colin left the scene. What does that even mean when you're a passenger and you haven't committed an offence? Nothing. The driver allegedly left the scene.

Please tell me you are kidding. He leaves the scene of an accident in which HIS car was involved! Anyone leaving the scene of an accident is immediately making themselves the subject of all sorts of speculation... and of course the first thought will be just how drunk was he?

Who cares if it is off-season, he must know that something like this WILL make the news regardless of who was driving and he must know that leaving the scene is not going to reflect well on him. And more importantly, he must know that, like it or not, it WILL reflect badly on the MFC (there are enough gutter journos out there who absolutely thrive on this sort of stuff).

Really poor that most seem to condem him. He was a passenger. It was 645am not 345am. There was no other vehicles involved, he notified the club within an hour, HE WAS THE PASSENGER.

Move on and lets get on with it.

Really poor that most seem to condem him. He was a passenger. It was 645am not 345am. There was no other vehicles involved, he notified the club within an hour, HE WAS THE PASSENGER.

Move on and lets get on with it.

And if he had been a player from Collingwood or Carlton or wherever, you would have been all over this. Just because he was one of our players, that does not excuse his stupidity. It was HIS car and it was HIS responsibility as he let his mate drive it an obviously reckless manner - you don't lose control and break one of those poles when you are out for a lazy Sunday drive.

The guy may be not guilty of causing the accident, but he most definitely is guilty of rank stupidity.

disagree hard tack. If it were an opposition playeri would have the exact same view. I have been a Fev backer for a long time. Yes these blokes are not the sharpest tools in the shed however they have simply done nothing wrong. If Col was driving yes, call for his head, the fact is he was not and you cant conrol what others do. The person who should be in the gun is the driver.

At the end of the day these blokes are paid to play football. Yes there may be a culture issue along the line but they are exceptional athletes and they are renumerated accordingly. They are young men who still have lives although some think they should be locked in thier house if they are not training.

If he is proven to have done wrong by anyone yes he needs to answer to his new coach, until then back off.

Have backed Fev purely as he has never really done anything wrong. [censored] yes, gambled and ruined his marriage - yes. Thousands of others have done this yet dont get splayed through every for of media known to man.

Why not? If he's done nothing wrong then I can't see the problem.

A mature person who shows sound judgement doesn't become a headline for the wrong reasons. I'm not hanging Col or passing judgement (okay maybe a little), and from a club's point of view I'm happy for no action to be taken as he hasn't specifically broken any rules, but I think this shows why he continues to be a leadership group dodger when he's a senior player supposedly in the prime of his career.

I seriously cannot believe how quick to judge and damn people here are.

Colin was a passenger in what appears to be a single car collision.

He was out at 6.45am. That could mean he had a massive night, it could also mean he was getting up to do beach and weights. Either way, big deal in the off season or during the who cares cup?

It appears as well that Colin left the scene. What does that even mean when you're a passenger and you haven't committed an offence? Nothing. The driver allegedly left the scene.

Colin is a 26ish year old kid. FFS, give him a break. Have none of you ever been on learning journeys? Maybe start with the most important lessons about not judging others too harshly or quickly.

Oh spare me! And take of those damn rose coloured biased glasses while your at it!

What Colin did was a moronic thing to do. You never flee the scene of an incident no matter how insignificant it may be. Driver or not, it was his car and you should display some kind of responsibility. "Colin is a 26 year old kid FFS?" Well what is the age that the male actually mature and learn the consequences for one's actions and gets a sense of morality about them?

Thank god no one was hurt!

If this happened at the Collingwood no one here would be as flippant on this matter.

It paints Colin in a bad light yet again. Just another dent in his already tarnished reputation, which is a shame as I rate him so highly.

Give up the highly gifted/ tortured rebel routine Col, pull your finger out and get serious. You're in the AFL and professionalism is expected! Start acting in a mature manner while you're representing our club please!

People don't understand the point. It's the msg about Col that this incident sends, not the crime itself!

I am disappointed!

read this RobbieF. This happened after Col was escorted out of the club after falling asleep. He was lucky.

http://www.theage.co...?s_cid=rss_news

Colin has an alcohol problem

You're the one with problems.

Lets see what the the MFC says.

Please tell me you are kidding. He leaves the scene of an accident in which HIS car was involved! Anyone leaving the scene of an accident is immediately making themselves the subject of all sorts of speculation... and of course the first thought will be just how drunk was he?

Who cares if it is off-season, he must know that something like this WILL make the news regardless of who was driving and he must know that leaving the scene is not going to reflect well on him. And more importantly, he must know that, like it or not, it WILL reflect badly on the MFC (there are enough gutter journos out there who absolutely thrive on this sort of stuff).

We are all speculating, but whether he fled the scene or not, it was going to be news and would no matter what reflect badly on him and the MFC in the same way.

Maybe, just maybe, he feels the pressure of people linking mistakes from his past to his "role" as a passenger in the car? He thinks keyboard heroes and media types will slam him and jump to conclusions? Maybe that pressure made him make a spur of the moment decision to flee? Then, soon after, he realises he should make good and does so?

Silly, yes. But we are talking about AFL footballers. Not all of them are brilliant.

Oh spare me! And take of those damn rose coloured biased glasses while your at it!

What Colin did was a moronic thing to do. You never flee the scene of an incident no matter how insignificant it may be. Driver or not, it was his car and you should display some kind of responsibility. "Colin is a 26 year old kid FFS?" Well what is the age that the male actually mature and learn the consequences for one's actions and gets a sense of morality about them?

Thank god no one was hurt!

If this happened at the Collingwood no one here would be as flippant on this matter.

It paints Colin in a bad light yet again. Just another dent in his already tarnished reputation, which is a shame as I rate him so highly.

Give up the highly gifted/ tortured rebel routine Col, pull your finger out and get serious. You're in the AFL and professionalism is expected! Start acting in a mature manner while you're representing our club please!

People don't understand the point. It's the msg about Col that this incident sends, not the crime itself!

I am disappointed!

Firstly, I don't believe it is an issue of morality on the information we have at present. It sounds to me like there was no third party involved, and Colin was the passenger.

Secondly, it's got nothing to do with my football team affiliation. I thought the Heath Shaw penalty, whilst understandable, was laughable to the extreme for the $10 stupid bet he put on. I felt sorry for him, and I felt sorry for Riewoldt last year.

We are all speculating, but whether he fled the scene or not, it was going to be news and would no matter what reflect badly on him and the MFC in the same way.

Maybe, just maybe, he feels the pressure of people linking mistakes from his past to his "role" as a passenger in the car? He thinks keyboard heroes and media types will slam him and jump to conclusions? Maybe that pressure made him make a spur of the moment decision to flee? Then, soon after, he realises he should make good and does so?

Silly, yes. But we are talking about AFL footballers. Not all of them are brilliant.

Maybe you're thinking more on Col's behalf more than he ever has.

Talk about speculating LOL, it is easy to see how morally immature a lot of you guys are. You don't understand the concept of example setting and how setting the wrong one affects more than just the guy who made the "silly mistake"

read this RobbieF. This happened after Col was escorted out of the club after falling asleep. He was lucky.

http://www.theage.co...?s_cid=rss_news

Colin has an alcohol problem

I'm missing something here.

That article is about Alan Didak.

Please tell me you're not extrapolating.

And you don't understand that most of them are good at kicking a piece of leather, not at being role models. I don't expect footballers to be role models, except maybe in relation to healthy lifestyle. It's a bonus when they are.

Give me a break with telling us how our morality fits into the greater morality, of which you are the arbiter. It's pukeworthy.

Please does anyone seriously believe his mate was dropping him home after staying the night. What 26 year old male stays at a mates place then lets him drive his car and gets dropped home so early on a sunday morning.

If Colin stayed the night then why didnt he drive his own car home. My guess is because he knew he couldnt.

He and his mate obviously panicked when they hit the pole. Mind you Ive never known someone just to hit a pole when they are driving sensibily. But what Colin didnt realise was there were CCTV cameras around which got him straight away and easy for the cops to identify.

If this was a carlton or a collingwood player we would be on here saying what an idiot he is.

Anyway im sure Mark will be having to chat to him if he already hasnt. 5 weeks in as coach and his first player issue. At least it wasnt next weekend and he did this the day before pre season training.

Firstly, I don't believe it is an issue of morality on the information we have at present. It sounds to me like there was no third party involved, and Colin was the passenger.

Secondly, it's got nothing to do with my football team affiliation. I thought the Heath Shaw penalty, whilst understandable, was laughable to the extreme for the $10 stupid bet he put on. I felt sorry for him, and I felt sorry for Riewoldt last year.

What does fleeing a scene tell you about ones character? They are irresponsible at the least. And news flash, it is considered fleeing a scene even if the object you crash into is public property. You don't damage public property and run away, you stay and face the consequences of your actions, or if you are not driving you try and get the driver to stay. Simple.

The fact that he is an AFL player and knows he is in the public eye make it more stupid. Clearly we have diffent ideologies on how a footballer should act whilst in the public eye.

Please does anyone seriously believe his mate was dropping him home after staying the night. What 26 year old male stays at a mates place then lets him drive his car and gets dropped home so early on a sunday morning.

If Colin stayed the night then why didnt he drive his own car home. My guess is because he knew he couldnt.

He and his mate obviously panicked when they hit the pole. Mind you Ive never known someone just to hit a pole when they are driving sensibily. But what Colin didnt realise was there were CCTV cameras around which got him straight away and easy for the cops to identify.

If this was a carlton or a collingwood player we would be on here saying what an idiot he is.

Anyway im sure Mark will be having to chat to him if he already hasnt. 5 weeks in as coach and his first player issue. At least it wasnt next weekend and he did this the day before pre season training.

But hold on. Maybe an idiot, but he's allowed to be drunk. At least if that was the case (and we are speculating), he didn't drive.

And you don't understand that most of them are good at kicking a piece of leather, not at being role models. I don't expect footballers to be role models, except maybe in relation to healthy lifestyle. It's a bonus when they are.

Give me a break with telling us how our morality fits into the greater morality, of which you are the arbiter. It's pukeworthy.

I don't expect footballers to be role models either, but guess what sunshine; whether you or I like it, they are.

And it is as simple as that.

Impressionable kid exults the strapping athletic sports star. Sports star inadvertently becomes kid's role model. It's life!

What does fleeing a scene tell you about ones character? They are irresponsible at the least. And news flash, it is considered fleeing a scene even if the object you crash into is public property. You don't damage public property and run away, you stay and face the consequences of your actions, or if you are not driving you try and get the driver to stay. Simple.

The fact that he is an AFL player and knows he is in the public eye make it more stupid. Clearly we have diffent ideologies on how a footballer should act whilst in the public eye.

Yeh, I think we do. I see them as a footballer. A person that's good at football. I atually think that anyone who emulates an AFL footballer's bad behaviour is probably in need of better role models than AFL footballers in the first place!

But in any event, he didn't "flee" the scene - he had no obligation to remain at the scene as he was a passenger.

Look, I have no problem with people saying they would hope they/their kids/their mates would act differently. But until you've walked a mile in Colin's shoes, or even heard the whole story, I just think the character assassination on here is unfair.

So the facts are that Colin was in the passenger seat of his own car as it crashed into a pole. He then left the scene but did not commit an offence.

It seems one of the more minor things Colin has done.

He can be such a moron.

But we move on.

(sigh)

But in any event, he didn't "flee" the scene - he had no obligation to remain at the scene as he was a passenger.

It was HIS car... of course he had an obligation to remain at the scene... like it or not, the fact that he allowed this other person to be driving his car made it his responsibility.

Footballers being role models is the side issue here, the issue is that once again, no matter how irrelevant you find the whole affair, Col has managed to find his way to the headlines again for all the wrong reasons.

It reflects badly on us whetther that is deserved or not.

I'm upset I can't understand how people are so willing to just brush this aside. I'm not saying castrate the bloke, but pay some respect to the gravity of the event geez.