Michael Talia arrested and charged with possession of a prohibited substance

[longmile]

Well said. The 52,000 members of the Swans signed up, forked out their hard-earned for the right to be part of our community, share our values and support our team. It ts a brand thing. The Swans community and team understand the expectations of agreed behaviours. This is built on a foundation created by Skilton, Carter, the Morwoods, Goodes, Kirk, and numerous heroes from earlier ages.

What Talia allegedly did was to @@@@ on those values. It is more than an aberration. He is most likely to have ingested illegal drugs previously. Chances are he will want to do it again. When Paul Roos famously said that he would fire any player involved with drugs, including Barry Hall, it felt like our coach and club clearly had a line on what was acceptable at the Swans. That Talia will be allowed to stay on says much about how our values have been eroded. The players who work so hard in recovery and injury management to get into the side must be gutted by Talia. He doesn't have the 'it' to make it at our club. He is dead to me.

Lucky Keith Richards didn't play for the Swannies.

[penga]

As the late, great, Robin Williams said, "cocaine is God's way of telling you you are making too much money."

[grarmy]

Lucky Keith Richards didn't play for the Swannies.

Different team. And looking at Keith's gutted face, his lifestyle has not been something that Talia would want to emulate.

[RogueSwan]

As the late, great, Robin Williams said, "cocaine is God's way of telling you you are making too much money."

[royboy42]

This guy has made a major mistake. The club he works for is renowned for upholding high standards, mostly player driven.

But I don't see the Swans as a vindictive group. I expect a LOT of things have been dealt with in house.

After all we have a group of fit, good looking , well heeled young men. Not a team of monks.


Health and various penalties will mean we won't see Talia on the paddock this year, but I bet total dismissal is far from management's mind.


This kid will turn up in December on fire to atone..I'm hoping for a great future.

[longmile]

Different team. And looking at Keith's gutted face, his lifestyle has not been something that Talia would want to emulate.

I dunno I think Keith's done pretty well for himself really

[Ludwig]

It is terribly naive to think that Talia has come to the Swans and has broken a pillar of Swans culture that no one else has. He got caught and has to pay the penalty and it will set an example for others about the risk to being in possession of illicit drugs or any sort of misappropriate behaviour. I'm not saying he's being made a scapegoat, because if you do the crime you pay the time. But in my mind I feel that Talia got caught breaking the Bloods culture and there are surely others who have done so as well, but were smart enough or lucky enough not to have gotten caught, so we don't know who they are.

Reports from the off season hair testing suggest that hundreds of AFL players have taken illicit drugs. The regime in place ensured that no names would be released,even to the clubs of those players. The players don't want a strict recreational drug enforcement code and have expressed their wishes through the AFLPA. So the AFL have a system in place which is very forgiving where only a few unlucky ones every get caught out red handed. Talia just happens to be one of them. We need to put his error into perspective before we call for his crucifixion.

[The Big Cat]

Reports from the off season hair testing suggest that hundreds of AFL players have taken illicit drugs. The regime in place ensured that no names would be released,even to the clubs of those players. The players don't want a strict recreational drug enforcement code and have expressed their wishes through the AFLPA. So the AFL have a system in place which is very forgiving where only a few unlucky ones every get caught out red handed. Talia just happens to be one of them. We need to put his error into perspective before we call for his crucifixion.

Not recreational - ILLEGAL

[Ludwig]

Not recreational - ILLEGAL

I would suggest that this is the problem. Drug use should be decriminalised, as they did in Portugal in 2001. Now Portugal has 3 overdose deaths per million citizens, compared to the EU average of 17.3. Treating drug usage as a criminal matter rather than a social and medical one works to the detriment of the welfare of the people, football players or otherwise. All the bluster about keeping drugs out of sports clearly hasn't worked. There's really a need for a new approach to drugs in the AFL and the community at large. The so-called 'war on drugs' particularly highlighted in the US has been an enormous failure that has ruined millions of lives. We know this kind of policy doesn't work, so why do we persist?

[AnnieH]

It is terribly naive to think that Talia has come to the Swans and has broken a pillar of Swans culture that no one else has. He got caught and has to pay the penalty and it will set an example for others about the risk to being in possession of illicit drugs or any sort of misappropriate behaviour. I'm not saying he's being made a scapegoat, because if you do the crime you pay the time. But in my mind I feel that Talia got caught breaking the Bloods culture and there are surely others who have done so as well, but were smart enough or lucky enough not to have gotten caught, so we don't know who they are.

Reports from the off season hair testing suggest that hundreds of AFL players have taken illicit drugs. The regime in place ensured that no names would be released,even to the clubs of those players. The players don't want a strict recreational drug enforcement code and have expressed their wishes through the AFLPA. So the AFL have a system in place which is very forgiving where only a few unlucky ones every get caught out red handed. Talia just happens to be one of them. We need to put his error into perspective before we call for his crucifixion.

The POLICE arrested him... not the club, so he HAS broken a pillar of swans culture that no one else has (that we know about), which is WHY he was stood down until the outcome of this Court appearance.
He'll get a slap on the wrist from the magistrate. It wasn't a large quantity (i.e. dealer size) and the amount would be considered "for personal use".
His biggest hurdle now is regaining the trust.

[Mug Punter]

I would suggest that this is the problem. Drug use should be decriminalised, as they did in Portugal in 2001. Now Portugal has 3 overdose deaths per million citizens, compared to the EU average of 17.3. Treating drug usage as a criminal matter rather than a social and medical one works to the detriment of the welfare of the people, football players or otherwise. All the bluster about keeping drugs out of sports clearly hasn't worked. There's really a need for a new approach to drugs in the AFL and the community at large. The so-called 'war on drugs' particularly highlighted in the US has been an enormous failure that has ruined millions of lives. We know this kind of policy doesn't work, so why do we persist?

++1

[longmile]

I would suggest that this is the problem. Drug use should be decriminalised, as they did in Portugal in 2001. Now Portugal has 3 overdose deaths per million citizens, compared to the EU average of 17.3. Treating drug usage as a criminal matter rather than a social and medical one works to the detriment of the welfare of the people, football players or otherwise. All the bluster about keeping drugs out of sports clearly hasn't worked. There's really a need for a new approach to drugs in the AFL and the community at large. The so-called 'war on drugs' particularly highlighted in the US has been an enormous failure that has ruined millions of lives. We know this kind of policy doesn't work, so why do we persist?

Nailed it

[Nico]

Frankly, if the guy doesn't have the smarts to stay away from the stuff when out on the town, then I can't see how he can have the smarts to be a long term decent footballer. How many training/briefing sessions on drug use and the consequences for AFL players does a player have to go to before it sinks in. Unless he is found not guilty, I still can't my head around the fact that he had the stuff on him. It was incredibaly dumb. Right now cocaine is an illegal drug. If and when it is decriminalised then we have a different set of circumstances.

[Auntie.Gerald]

Some fall
Some pick themselves up again
Some go to new heights
And some don't

[Ludwig]

I think this quote from Callan Ward of the Giants reflects the attitude of the players:

"We just mentioned that this is how easily it can happen, if you get yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time," Ward said.

The players see this as a problem of being dumb and getting caught, rather than doing something bad. It's saying that the law is wrong and the rules are unfair, but that's the way it is, so you better thing twice before doing drugs.

Last year, before the finals, Luke Hodge was caught drink driving, which is also illegal. He was fined by the club, but not suspended. I would suggest that drink driving has a lot more potential to cause harm to oneself and others than taking some coke at a dance club. Hawthorn don't seem to care about these things, they just want a culture that wins premierships. Maybe they have a more mature and realistic attitude to these things.