hardtack

Ok, cross out "stupid" and replace with "lacking basic common sense" - the club has stated he was drinking the night before and if he wasn't driving and then left the scene, it is fair to assume that he was probably concerned about his condition at the time (and possibly the driver's condition). Maybe the police don't consider it an offence, but the club do in as far as their standards of player professionalism are concerned. I would almost guarantee that if you held a high profile position in a large high profile corporation and while on your annual leave, did something similar that became public knowledge, you might find yourself in a much more precarious position. If you're not happy with the outcome, take it up with the club!

How the f**k is getting [censored], walking away from the scene of an accident involving your own car (even if your not the driver) and not contacting the club for several hours (after the police, in fact) "showing a bit of mongrel"??? It certainly shows a great deal of terminal stupidity, but mongrel?.... nah! And the fact that the club is prepared to come down hard on him will hopefully be a sign that the pissant culture is on the way out.

Maybe, maybe not... the fact is that the MFC sees him as a representative of the MFC in the IR team... so they punish him accordingly; and rightly so.

You try telling the MFC that... as far as they are concerned, he was representing the MFC as a member of the IR team and he behaved in an irresponsible manner with regards to his commitment to the IR team; and I really don't care what you think of the IR game (I don't think much of it myself) - he accepted the offer to play and as such has, as a professional sports person, a responsibility to that team (do they get paid or play for free?).

I hope you're right, but going on past reprimands, it doesn't seem to have worked yet. I really hope Moloney gets on his case as he's proved it is possible to redeem yourself if you are prepared to work had.

Not to mention the fact that this will teach him that his actions impact the club, not just him. He now has to face his team mates in the knowledge that he has impacted their chances in round one - I dare say any hope of joining the leadership group has well and truly evaporated. I only hope he uses this as a motivating factor as we saw Moloney do... Col must realise he is probably on his last chance.

Yeah that's a surprise... only three 2:10 start Saturday games.

I am just copying and pasting/paraphrase my comments in the Draw Snippets thread: With this draw imho, it's hard know how we will be faring at the mid-way point because we will be going into the season with a new coaching set-up, a new forward structure, some fitter players and hopefully a new mind-set. Anything could happen. Positives I see are that we have a great run of games at the MCG, we meet West Coast at Pattersons early in the season, so it could be anybodies game really, the Saints and Bullies are in some disarray and there is no reason we could not be 5-0 (yes we could just as easily be 2-3) early on - and yes, it may depend on how much momentum we can take into it from the NAB Cup. If we can take some good results in the first half, we may have the momentum to win us a few of the less likely games in the second half. I for one, will not write us off just yet. My only comment on the draw is that I finally get to see us play in Sydney for the first time in a few years, but am a bit disappointed I will have to travel 300km down the road to see us vs Scullys.

Love the optimism - but then again, we wouldn't be MFC supporters if we looked for positives. IMHO, we really don't know how we will be faring at the mid-way point because we will be going into the season with a new coaching set-up, a new forward structure, some fitter players and hopefully a new mind-set. Anything could happen. Positives I see (yes, I will have to confess to being a poor supporter) are that we have a great run of games at the MCG, we meet West Coast at Pattersons early in the season, so it could be anybodies game really, the Saints and Bullies are in some disarray and there is no reason we could not be 5-0 (yes we could just as easily be 2-3) early on. I for one, will not write us off just yet. My only comment on the draw is that I finally get to see us play in Sydney for the first time in a few years, but am a bit disappointed I will have to travel 300km down the road to see us vs Scullys.

Why does the name Damir now jump into my head when I think of this saga?

I still think it should be Jimmy, the Coach and the top (on current format, 7) players from the Bluey for this year... that way, you feature the best performed players for the year.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back onto Demonland, another TS thread starts up!

Damn!... no wonder maths and science weren't my strong suite at school. Agree about Hammer though... I was just trying to be clever and managed to trip myself up :-)

From the HUN: "Sources said he had spent the night enjoying drinks and watching television with the friend." On what do you base your knowledge that he did not drink?

Spot on! There are too many apologists in this thread. If as has been reported, Col had been up drinking the night before (and who knows what state his "mate" was in), then in the circumstances, he did the wrong thing, end of story.

So why on earth try to defend the indefensible?

That is your opinion and fine... but to offer that as an excuse for Colin is laughable. The AFL obviously takes it seriously and believe it or not, many players consider it an honour to have an opportunity to represent their country (a very rare opportunity in our sport). So in that sense, he has let the team down. I don't give a rat's whether you think the IR games are a waste of time (even though I tend to agree on that score as well), but the fact is that by being chosen, he had a responsibility to both his team mates and to himself to exercise a little self restraint - he blew it. As I said earlier, this is going to reflect very poorly on him, and I would be surprised if he will ever be considered for the leadership group - Moloney got away with it because he was essentially a first time offender... sadly, Colin doesn't have that defence available to him.

The fact is he was due to attend training for the IR matches that afternoon - why didn't he deem it to be prudent not to drink at all the night before??? He was NOT free to live it up at all! He screwed up and the fact that he is one of ours, does not excuse him at all.

One big issue I think you will find come out of this is that he will have placed more doubt in the minds of those who matter at the MFC as to his ability to keep himself under control. You can be certain that the likes of Neeld and his assistants won't be thinking "ah, no problem, he was only up half the night getting [censored] in preparation for an International Rules game... good on the kid!". Regardless of what anyone here thinks of the IR series, the MFC will be viewing Colin as someone who has just let down his team by showing them little or no respect. He may as well kiss goodbye to any chance of being promoted to the leadership group... ever.

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.

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.

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).

Very very sad news.... he succumbed to his injuries :-( Vale Marco.

He was just trying to make Neeld feel at home :-)

When the passenger is the owner of the car, I imagine it might be.