Michael Talia arrested and charged with possession of a prohibited substance

[liz]

Personally,
I hope the Swans wipe their hands of him.
They won't - they will support him, educate and rehabilitate him, which they will see as being publicly the right thing to do.
He's not a teenager - he knows right from wrong. For sure there is a clause in his contract for this kind of thing.
I'd let him go and set the bar high to be and stay a Swan.

Would you feel the same way if this was Dan Hannebery, Isaac Heeney or Luke Parker (or another two dozen or so of the Swans list who are pretty important players for us)?

[BRISWAN]

Here here !!!!

[Mug Punter]

Seriously?
How do you know he got it from a "street dealer"?
His real crime is being in possession of cocaine. That's why the coppers arrested him.

Settle down, it's just a turn of phrase.

All I meant was that he had bought the drugs in public and been careless.

[Ludwig]

And to all those who say "all 24 y/o do it" etc, well maybe I'm way out of touch.
I, nor my friends, never did this growing up, and I have a 20 y/o and 2 19 y/o kids, all of who I am confident will not go out and buy a bag of coke in the next few years.
It's weird to me that some accept this as normal and acceptable behavior.

I don't think anyone condones the behaviour, but it's a simple fact that drug use is commonplace in society. Obviously, a large part of the population never take illicit drugs, but even for those that never even dabble, we know drugs are widely available.

My own daughter spent a considerable part of her teenage years in rehab due to cocaine addiction (I blame her parents). I've spent a lot of time in many different countries and my experience has been that casual drug use is everywhere. You don't have to look for it. You just show up at a dinner, a party, a wedding, or whatever and there will be at least some people using drugs. Football players are in a demographic with a particularly high usage of party drugs. Sadly, part of the population will go beyond casual use and become addicted.

Football players shouldn't be doing drugs, even on a casual basis. It's just something that professional athletes have to forego because of their job. I imagine that Talia was suspended because he admitted that he purchased cocaine and is likely to plead guilty. That's the impression I got from Harley's statement. You would think that Talia would be terribly unlucky to be caught the first and only time he used an illicit drug, but I don't want to prejudge him. I really don't know what his long-term status should be at the club. I know the club needs to set a high standard, but if it is the first incident, perhaps some leniency should be forthcoming.

[Mug Punter]

And to all those who say "all 24 y/o do it" etc, well maybe I'm way out of touch.
I, nor my friends, never did this growing up, and I have a 20 y/o and 2 19 y/o kids, all of who I am confident will not go out and buy a bag of coke in the next few years.
It's weird to me that some accept this as normal and acceptable behavior.

Maybe your kids will maybe they won't but I reckon there's a lot of @@@@ your kids will do over the next 10 years that you really don't want to know about.

Perhaps you could stop being so self righteous, how wonderful your little darlings are really is irrelevant to this debate.

- - - Updated - - -

Would you feel the same way if this was Dan Hannebery, Isaac Heeney or Luke Parker (or another two dozen or so of the Swans list who are pretty important players for us)?

Undoubtedly not I think would be the answer

[AnnieH]

Would you feel the same way if this was Dan Hannebery, Isaac Heeney or Luke Parker (or another two dozen or so of the Swans list who are pretty important players for us)?

If it was anyone of the above, I would be LIVID... and feel exactly the same way.
Off with their heads.

[Industrial Fan]

Very different drug culture in the now under 30s to over 30s. Very relaxed attitude to coke in particular, so alot more kids would be part of it now than even 5 years ago but that is still a separate issue from a footballer in the public eye with huge flow on consequences.

[AnnieH]

Settle down, it's just a turn of phrase.

All I meant was that he had bought the drugs in public and been careless.

You must know something the rest of us don't.
He wasn't buying drugs... he just had them on him.
It's been reported that there were only two people present, and the second person was released without charge. Therefore I can deduct that the second person wasn't a dealer.

[RogueSwan]

This link states that 43% of males have used illicit drugs. And this second says that it is most common in the 20-40 age group.
Maybe the RWO demographic/experience doesn't match that but there it is: almost 1 in 2 males, and 1 in 3 woman, have tried/use illicit drugs.
Back in my 20's I knew many who took "recreational" drugs but for the most it was never "harder" than dope. I also knew many who didn't touch anything harder than a cup of coffee with an extra shot and the odd glass of champers for a toast.
I will be going against the RWO trend here but I am of the opinion, in society, as long as you don't hurt others it's none of our business. But also,if you get caught, well then, that is the chance you took and you need to accept the consequences.

[stellation]

If this is his first strike, it's a relatively small amount and there are no other serious questions marks around him then I'd be quite disappointed in the club if they washed their hands of him.

[Cosmic Wizard]

Doing what 24yos do sadly. It's rife. He was clearly dumb enough to get caught.

Buying drugs in Double Bay, Double Pay????

Surely he should have gone to Marrickville, cheaper than the taxi fair!!!

[jono2707]

I've done them occasionally over the last 20 years so will not be overly judgemental here. But as someone said above, professional footballers have a higher standard expected of them, and have to face harsher consequences if caught.

[YvonneH]

Several references to Daniel. Not Daniel but Michael.

[RogueSwan]

I've done them occasionally over the last 20 years so will not be overly judgemental here. But as someone said above, professional footballers have a higher standard expected of them, and have to face harsher consequences if caught.

Yep, if you have told your employer you will not take drugs and then go and do it...
Now there's a point, and we may never know, has he ever even taken Coke? Benefit of the doubt, were the drugs not for him? I am assuming all players get randomly or regularly tested for drugs and Talia would know that, maybe they weren't for him and he has already been kicked to gutter by many without knowing the complete story.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Bugger