Footy Classified panellists Eddie McGuire and Caroline Wilson have clashed over the handling of the infamous drink-driving incident that rocked the Collingwood football club back in 2008.
In August of that year, Rat Pack members Alan Didak and Heath Shaw were suspended for the remainder of the season for lying about the crash. Heath's brother Rhyce was hit with a two-game suspension over a separate drink-driving incident at the time.
Heath Shaw, then 22, blew nearly three times the legal limit after crashing his car, and took sole responsibility for the accident despite Didak being in the vehicle with him.
Reminiscing on the incident in the wake of Lachie Hunter's recent drink-driving fiasco, McGuire, who is the president of Collingwood, revealed how his club were initially fed false information by the players involved, but conceded the punishment ultimately led to the club becoming premiers two years later.
"In that situation, it wasn't just me," McGuire said.
"They (Heath Shaw and Alan Didak) told the captain, the coach, they told everybody. After that (McGuire's chat to the media) my phone starts to go and you find out.
"How long do you reckon it's going to be before I find out what's going on and I remember calling Dids (Didak) over from the track. I got him over and he sort of dropped his head, I said 'get back out and I will see you afterwards.'
"What's interesting from that situation is we sat down, we're heading into finals at that stage and we could've made it a four-week suspension which would've brought them back before the finals.
"Geoff Walsh the football director sat there and he said to everybody including the captain, the coach, CEO, everybody, and he said 'If we're serious about this, if we're going to be a football club, if we want to take this list we've got to where we think we can take it in the next couple of years, out for the season.'
"I was devil's advocate, I said 'what about the supporters, what have they done to cop this? They've been there, they bought the membership.'
"He (Geoff Walsh) said, 'think, this is the case.'
"After that, I received three of the most heart-felt letters from each of the players. They came to me individually. They became first class afterwards and they're still three of my favourite players and we won the premiership two years later.
"I thought that was a really big part of pulling our club together, getting the honesty right and the players actually realised the club stands by them."
After explaining the details, McGuire and Wilson went back and forth in disagreement. Wilson was critical of Didak's handling of the incident after having his teammates initially take the fall for him.
Caro:
"I always had a bit of sympathy for the Shaw brothers, particularly Heath because he was protecting a teammate and I felt Alan Didak was the one.
"Alan Didak was the one who allowed them to do it and they were protecting him."
Eddie:
"No, they were all in it together."
Caro:
"No, no! Alan Didak let them take the fall for him and it was not good enough."
Eddie:
"They thought they were Lex Luthor."
Ross Lyon:
"Have a look at them, they're babies, they're young men learning and growing in the spotlight of the public.
Eddie:
"I sat down with them and Mick Malthouse (Collingwood's coach at the time), you don't land your mate in, it's all that stuff. So we understood it and then tried to explain, 'guys, this is a different level of situation and scrutiny, let's do it this way going forward.'
"They were remorseful, they copped their whack eventually. We all got a whack in the head and stood together and moved on."
Caro:
"Okay Ed, enough of the history lesson."
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/eddie-mcguire-caroline-wilson-clash-over-famous-collingwood-drink-driving-controversy/1c3c9505-aa71-4c6a-9c7f-a447a970144f
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