Magpies ban Didak, Shaw for rest of 2008

(AAP) Collingwood have suspended wayward stars Alan Didak and Heath Shaw for the rest of the year and admitted their AFL futures remain in doubt.

Shaw and Didak were suspended after lying to the club following a drink-driving
incident on Sunday night.
"When you have two of your key players looking your president, the coach, their own
team-mates in the eye and actually lying to them, that really destroys the essence
of the club," said Magpies chief executive Gary Pert.
A third player - Shaw's older brother Rhyce - was fined $5,000 after it was
discovered he had been drinking over the weekend while injured.
Heath Shaw's original fine of $10,000 stands while Didak, described by Collingwood
as a repeat offender, was fined $5,000.
The episode forced Collingwood, which has a history of refusing to suspended
misbehaving players, into a massive backflip.
Pert admitted there was no guarantee Heath Shaw and Didak would be playing for the
club next season but that decision would be made at the end of the year.
Didak was on a "last chance" before recently signing a new no-restriction two-year
contract worth $800,000, following his involvement with convicted CBD murderer
Christopher Wayne Hudson last year.
"It's something that obviously during the discussions yesterday and this morning we
addressed," Pert said.
"Do these players deserve to be part of the Collingwood Football Club? We don't have
any resolution on that and that's something that will be evaluated at the end of the
year."
Pert denied Collingwood had a drinking culture, but said the actions of Shaw and
Didak had struck at the core of the club's integrity.
"I don't accept that (accusation) at all but I do accept that people will be looking
at the Collingwood Football Club asking questions," Pert said.
"We're dealing with our sponsors, we're dealing with our members, we're dealing with
young players who may want to play with the Collingwood Football Club into the
future.
"Do we have a cultural issue on that? Absolutely not. We've got a playing group that
isn't behaving like that, and lives every day disciplined and focused on winning a
premiership and they're as devastated.
"If this club found their behaviour as acceptable then maybe we've got an issue there.
"Unfortunately we are focused on two players that have made really poor decisions
and that has affected their behaviour which I think will regret for the rest of
their life.
"It was decided by the leadership group, the executive, that these two players
actually don't deserve to wear the Collingwood Football Club jumper and that's why
they're not playing for the rest of the season."
Pert rejected the notion that the club placed winning games above the social
problems such as drink-driving, claiming he was perplexed why some players ignored
the law.
"We can put in place the rules, we can educate the guys - these guys have sat in
this room here and they've been educated by people who have lost their family
members through drink driving," he said.
"These guys nearly had tears in their eyes yet months later they go out and do that.
"We can't be there when they turn the key and make stupid decisions but we won't
tolerate it," he said.
Walsh said the value system of the club was undermined once players began lying
about their behaviour.
"If that (honesty and integrity) is taken away or if that's diminished in any way,
shape or form, we'll then you're striking at the very essence or very core of your
existence," Walsh said.
"You may as well turn the lights off and go home."