The Club Executive has met with Alan Didak and his manager today.  In simple terms we have decided that Alan has not breached any of the Club’s current Code of Conduct or broken any laws as per the statement last night.  Therefore in the Club’s view there can be no specific penalty for Alan’s involvement in this incident which the AFL supports.

After today’s discussions, Alan is very clear from a Club perspective that by not advising the Club immediately of the incident he was involved in, this compromised our ability to handle the situation in the best interests of everyone.  We acknowledge that fear was an overriding factor, but due to Alan’s responsibilities to the Club, we expect him to advise us immediately and accurately of an incident of this nature.

Alan is also very clear and has accepted responsibility for making a series of very poor decisions that ultimately put him at great risk, and has consequently damaged both his and the Club’s reputation in many people’s view.

As a result of the above mentioned incident, Alan will be given specific behavioural guidelines that are designed to keep him out of high risk situations and should eliminate the possibility of any further incidents occurring.

Alan will have clear documented consequences attached to every behavioural breach.   This will be set by the Executive, Coach, President and Leadership team. It will be signed off by Alan and without pre-empting the penalties, it is very likely that they will have an immediate and ultimate outcome of termination of contract.

Alan is very clear that as of today’s meeting this will be a turning point of his career in either direction.  A clear line has been drawn in the sand.  Alan will have unprecedented clarity on behavioural expectations over and above the current Code of Conduct and the associated penalties.  Alan has accepted this initiative and the Collingwood Football Club has made it very clear to Alan that regardless of performance on the field, no player will ever compromise the success or culture of the Collingwood Football Club.

Alan has agreed to counselling around his behaviour while drinking alcohol.

In summary, for this particular incident we understand that while Alan has not breached any laws or rules of the Club, he has put in question his ability to make responsible decisions and therefore the specific rules of conduct we will put in place will remove any grey areas for Alan.

The Club’s Code of Conduct will be amended to include a requirement to immediately and accurately notify the club of any incident that could damage the Club’s reputation.

Simply, Alan has been put on notice.