Interesting reading on the Western Bulldogs board. In their thread revolving around the Talia investigation, it seemed that none of them would entertain the possibility that Michael Talia might be innocent. They have completely stabbed him in the back. Even if the investigation finds him innocent, a lot of them are convinced that it will be because a cover up has taken place or that he's guilty, but there isn't enough evidence to support such a claim.
He is 100% guilty in their eyes and it appears that nothing that happens from here will change their minds about that. I can't remember a club and its supporters turning so bitterly against one of their own players who was at the time was still going to be on their list beyond 2015. If Talia is innocent, he had no choice but to leave a club that would make wild allegations about his integrity.
Would we feel the same way? If our club made an allegation of a breach of trust and treason against one of our listed players who had shown no indication of wanting to leave at that point in time, would we blindly believe the clubs allegations despite any investigation proving otherwise? I'd like to think I wouldn't, but who knows... I think there will always be people who buy into a story like this which includes that you lost a very close final due to insider information being passed to the opposition. This way you don't have to accept the loss, you can blame other factors and make claims that you would have won. Once you've made your stand that this is exactly what happens, then anything that contradicts the story must be lies, a cover up or due to a lack of evidence.
I'm still waiting for the investigation results from the AFL that was virtually done 5 days ago. I wonder what's taking them so long?