Didak In Talks With Mcguire

The Age

Tuesday September 9, 2008

Jake Niall

SUSPENDED star Alan Didak has fronted Collingwood president Eddie McGuire and coach Mick Malthouse pleading his case to remain with the Magpies in 2009.

Didak is believed to have instigated separate meetings recently with McGuire and Malthouse and apologised for lying to the club about his involvement in Heath Shaw's car accident.

Sources have confirmed that the 2006 Collingwood best-and-fairest winner and All-Australian expressed contrition for his actions - his second breach of the club's trust in 14 months, following his 2007 car ride with CBD gunman Christopher Wayne Hudson - and told McGuire and Malthouse that he wanted to stay with the Magpies.

Shaw and Didak were suspended for the rest season after they finally came clean about the car crash, which had followed a drinking session at a Hawthorn hotel with Heath's brother Rhyce, but it is only Didak who has been subject to trade speculation.

Didak's future will not be settled until after the season but he is a better chance to remain with the Magpies than he appeared in the immediate, emotion-charged aftermath of the Shaw affair, when the player leadership group, board and match committee opted to take a hard line.

Heath Shaw, 22, is considered certain to be retained. Both players are contracted for 2009.

Shaw and Didak have been training hard with the squad and completing extra sessions, despite the fact that they have not played since round 18 and will not play on Saturday night, or the following week in the preliminary final, if the Magpies defeat St Kilda.

Shaw travelled to Adelaide with the team on Saturday and was a presence in the rooms before and after the game, but Didak did not make the trip.

Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert last night would not comment on any conversations that had taken place between Didak and club officials.

Collingwood has won four of five games since it made the decision to suspend Didak and Shaw, with Rhyce Shaw suspended for two matches for unprofessional preparation in drinking two nights after a game.

When Didak and Shaw were suspended, Collingwood was stagnating, having lost its past three matches. Didak was then No. 1 in the AFL for kicks and was probably leading the club best-and-fairest.

If the suspension has deprived the Magpies of two of their best players, some insiders doubt that they would have made the finals had they not made the decision.

The view is that the club has reaped the benefits not only of a more focused playing group, but that it forced the match committee to blood youngsters Chris Dawes and John McCarthy and to persist with others, such as Ryan Cook, who might not have played otherwise.

Former Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley is also believed to have spoken with Didak, and wrote a column in The Age arguing that Didak should be retained by the club.

© 2008 The Age

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