COLLINGWOOD captain Nick Maxwell has backed the club's decision to suspend Sharrod Wellingham, saying the midfielder's decision to drink while injured had let the club down.
Wellingham has been suspended for the first two rounds of the season for drinking while recovering from knee soreness and missing a rehab session the following morning.
At Thursday's AFL captain's launch in Sydney, Maxwell had a swift response when asked if it was a harsh penalty for the 2010 premiership player.
"No, not at all. I think it's fair," Maxwell told AFL.com.au.
"He was out drinking when he shouldn't have been and missed a recovery session the next morning.
"For us, the situation we're in, we need everyone focused and making sure they're doing the right thing.
"Sharrod would've played VFL this week and been right for round one, but unfortunately he did what he did.
"We had to make sure we took a stance and we feel it's fair and he feels it's fair.
"He'll be doing some training with the VFL and he'll have an opportunity with a few weeks playing VFL footy to show how much it means to him to get back into the AFL in round three."
It is not the first indiscretion for Wellingham, who cost the club its sponsorship with the Transport Accident Commission when he was caught drink driving back in 2008.
Last year he was also caught by police driving an unregistered car, although he wasn't penalised by the Magpies.
Maxwell said he had let his teammates down once again.
"Guys know where they stand and we expect better of Sharrod," the skipper said.
"Obviously he's one of our emerging leaders and someone who is pretty important to our midfield.
"We just need our guys making better decisions and make sure they realise how serious it is and that you need guys out there playing for us.
"It's obviously disappointing for him and disappointing for us, but someone will need to step up and play his role for him."
The results of the AFL's captain's survey were also released on Thursday, with only one backing Collingwood to again reach this year's Grand Final.
That didn't bother Maxwell, who said his club was concerned only with its own performance.
He said the players had dealt with the disappointment of last year's Grand Final loss to Geelong during the pre-season and he was thrilled with their response.
"(Losing the Grand Final) doesn't burn inside you going into the season, it burns in the pre-season," he said.
"It's a driver for a lot of people. For our guys it was a driver for how they were individually coming back into the pre-season and the way they attacked it.
"I couldn't be happier with the way guys have approached the pre-season.
"It just showed guys were hurting for different reasons. Some were hurting from the loss and others because of their own performance.
"It's been impressive to see how they've come back."
James Dampney covers Sydney AFL news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_JD
