Magpies Right The Ship But Scuttle Season
The Age
Wednesday August 6, 2008
THE stand Collingwood made would define what the club stood for. On Monday, the Magpies gave the impression that they stood for old-school expediency, and winning games. Heath Shaw would play.
Yesterday, after the club was buried under 10 tonnes of opprobrium and ridicule from everyone, including Victoria's Collingwood-supporting Premier, there was an apparent correction. It stood for "honesty and integrity"."The policies such as honesty and integrity we build the whole organisation on," said the plain-speaking Geoff Walsh, Collingwood's football chief, in delivering suspensions that have ended Shaw's season and probably Didak's Collingwood career. "If that's robbed or taken away or if that's diminished in any way shape or form, well then you're striking at the very essence and the very core of your existence. You may as well turn the lights off and go home."A light had gone off. Collingwood was no longer simply about winning games. It was, belatedly, placing values before short-term imperatives such as finals. Unwilling to suspend Shaw when he was a mere drink-driver - who also broke team rules by getting blotto six days before the next game - his duplicity meant he would sitting down on game day for the rest of 2008.This was but one way in which those at the wheel veered in a different direction yesterday. On Monday, the Magpies talked tough and acted soft. We won't stand for it, said Ed Presidente McGuire. But the words did not have the force of action behind them.Yesterday, the language of Walsh and Gary Pert contained less emotive heat than those of the captain who didn't want to stick up for Shaw and the furious president. But they were, finally, backed with appropriate action. Rhyce Shaw, a drinking buddy with his brother on Monday, was now another drinker in need of a spell. Sources suggested that Heath would be retained, and that Didak was in strife, though it remains to be seen that the Magpies would part with Didak as a point of principle, if the price wasn't quite right.On Monday, the big guns of McGuire, Mick Malthouse and Scott Burns came out and misfired. Yesterday, the club brought in the silencers. And McGuire was, sensibly, silent. Walsh and Pert were a mix of blunt and conciliatory, but showed a calmer face than Monday's circus. They were on the back foot only when seeking to explain why the club had failed to obtain the critical information that Didak was the passenger in Shaw's ute."Did we do enough due diligence?," asked Pert. "We did, based on the information that we initially got and we've got to keep in mind that we deal with feedback from the public at different stages and from radio stations and we talk to players about instances." In effect, Collingwood shelved 2008 yesterday. By its decision, which corrected not only Monday's shambles, but a litany of failures to suspend drinking, driving and fighting players, it signalled that finals don't matter.It was natural to wonder whether this stand would have been made if the Pies were 12-6 and not 9-9 and heading for Mexico; perhaps the team's poor form made the call easier. Ultimately, the board and leadership group had to choose between "season" or "indefinite" - the latter term allowing the Pies some leeway to bring Shaw and perhaps even Didak back if circumstances allowed it.But they went hard, writting off the season in the interests of righting a ship that is bereft of leadership in the key middle twenties core. Having elevated the importance of good values, regardless of success, it will be fascinating to watch how Collingwood approaches - ie, whether it pursues - the less than wholesome pair of Daniel Kerr and Ben Cousins. If, in effect, Kerr was traded for Didak, what would that say about the values of the organisation and would it rescind whatever panel beating the Pies perform on their dented brand? Or, does a player with a rap sheet get a clean slate when he's a recruit? One senses that question also will be asked of Alan Didak.
© 2008 The Age
