Michael Talia arrested and charged with possession of a prohibited substance

[caj23]

Obviously it's not a good look for the club, but in reality his major crime was being stupid enough to get caught.

If it was something serious such as drug dealing or physical or sexual assault by all means sack him straight away, but to be honest its on the lower end of the scale in terms of serious crimes. I'd be astounded if he's sacked for it

[barry]

Early guilty plea is to get it over and done with so he can get playing again.

Club statement to make it sound like we are tough on drugs.

Reality: his foot must be nearly better and hell be selected to play soon.

[longmile]

Early guilty plea is to get it over and done with so he can get playing again.

Club statement to make it sound like we are tough on drugs.

Reality: his foot must be nearly better and hell be selected to play soon.

I'd imagine we'd see him next year when the storm has blown over

[magic.merkin]

There was a storm? It's non news really on the footy landscape.

[barry]

We are in the business of winning premierships, not enforcing the law.

[CureTheSane]

We are in the business of winning premierships, not enforcing the law.

lol

Barry Hall wasn't even charged.

[barry]

There seems to be a view in RWO that premierships are a walk in the park, and the next one is just around the corner.
Talk of not playing Reid, Talia because of various reasons.... Playing debutants late in the season.

Its BS, We need to put our best team on the park at the business end of the season. our next flag could be 72 years away.

[CureTheSane]

An opinion different to yours is BS

[royboy42]

There seems to be a view in RWO that premierships are a walk in the park, and the next one is just around the corner.
Talk of not playing Reid, Talia because of various reasons.... Playing debutants late in the season.

Its BS, We need to put our best team on the park at the business end of the season. our next flag could be 72 years away.

There used to be another bloke in here who liked to give the rest of us a bit of a lecture every now and then. Just to steer us on to the right track.
Thank God we had him..who knows where we would be now.

[The Big Cat]

Love the way some people on RWO extrapolate their own actions or observations to assume all groups in society are the same. Never seen an illegal drug, none of my friends use them, I go out and have a good time without the need for them. Am I the one who is marching out of step or are others justifying their own actions with "everybody else does it as well"? Have heard that response over and over as a school principal, knowing full well that other people weren't doing it!

[Rod_]

My thoughts are if we need him he will be back.. At the moment Ted, Laidler and Aliir (probably in reverse order) are in front of him playing.

(Given the strong stance, even Harry Marsh may get a game before him!)

Cool your heals till next year will be the message (and wait and see if needed is the finals run up plan!)

[barry]

Apologies if i was lecturing. Imho, based off a pre season and 1 game, hes ahead of ted and 50/50 with allir.

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[Ludwig]

Obviously it's not a good look for the club, but in reality his major crime was being stupid enough to get caught.

If it was something serious such as drug dealing or physical or sexual assault by all means sack him straight away, but to be honest its on the lower end of the scale in terms of serious crimes. I'd be astounded if he's sacked for it

I agree.

He was charged with possession of an illegal substance. He hasn't been charged with taking any drugs, and he hasn't admitted to taking drugs, at least publicly. He went to court and he received his penalty in accordance with the law. A conviction wasn't recorded on his record. The AFL will put a drug strike against his name. He's been stood down by the club. He's aplogised profusely.

Whatever one's opinion might be on drug usage, we should put this incident in perspective along with some of the other indiscretions that AFL players have made, such as behaviour involving violence or a threat of violence, drink driving and unruly behaviour in public.

I think he's paid the full penalty already and the club should lift his suspension and let him get back to his rehab and re-integration with club.

I hope he's learned his lesson never to hang out with Hawthorn players, because they have a much more lenient policy about unsociable behaviour.

[stellation]

I don't think there is a lesser penalty from a guilty plea than a 12 month good behaviour bond? It's effectively "technically they caught you with something so we need to wag our finger at you, you big duffer".

I'm sure it's served as fright enough, hope he sorts himself out and gets a chance to prove himself at the club.

[Maltopia]

So two men who are professional sportsmen in a macho code go into an alley then duck into an alcove together. One is charged with cocaine possession, the other is charged with nothing. What were they doing in the alley together? If both intended to take the drugs, then the one that didn't get charged is extremely lucky the police didn't come by a few minutes later. If they were in the alcove together for other reasons, then it is nobody's business but theirs and it was very unlucky again that one of them was found with drugs on them.