Milne charged

[IllBeTheJudge]

**** them. I think it could provide an excellent example of a close-knit, supportive culture and send an example to the kids that service is rewarded by the club.

What if the sponsors want him stood down? Rightly or wrongly, it needs to be considered I think

 

[NT.Thunder]

If people are going to compare this situation to the Lovett one, please do your homework.

Feel for his family and kids. No winners in this.

Agreed, and for the alledged victim and family more importantly.
I'm assuming that you deleted my earlier post, fair enough. But if the information posted wasnt correct can you explain why? I'm only going off what's already published.

 

[sauce_head]

Well you would like to hope this can be put to bEd once and for all. If that is Milne being guilty and locked up or being found innocent then either way that must be determined.

 

[Strahany]

What if the sponsors want him stood down? Rightly or wrongly, it needs to be considered I think

Money is important, but I'd hope that the club has enough integrity to make their own decision, and tell them to shove it.

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Well ****.

I hope this matter is resolved quickly....but more so correctly.

And that which every way it goes that the club can maintain some of the respect we'd worked on in the past 18 months under Watters.

 

[Reckoner Tiger]

Not appreciating that my earlier comment was deleted.

St Kilda is my second team, my entire family goes for them, and I love Milne as much as any other player I've watched...on the field.

I've also posted on this board a number of times, always positively about St Kilda.

I read earlier in the thread that there would not be a blanket ban on all outsider posts, and all I said was that in all of this and regardless of everything, I just feel for his young family. If that is not a sentiment you share then that's a shame, because they are the ones who will suffer unjustly here.

 

[Tombowler]

Why can't I reply to the collingwood guy?

Ah well Who_can_say, trust me when I say the Police concept of 'ample' evidence is a very low threshold indeed. More accurately 'ample evidence' would say 'supportable innuendo' in many cases.

 

[Tombowler]

Not appreciating that my earlier comment was deleted.

St Kilda is my second team, my entire family goes for them, and I love Milne as much as any other player I've watched...on the field.

I've also posted on this board a number of times, always positively about St Kilda.

I read earlier in the thread that there would not be a blanket ban on all outsider posts, and all I said was that in all of this and regardless of everything, I just feel for his young family. If that is not a sentiment you share then that's a shame, because they are the ones who will suffer unjustly here.

Don't close the thread, Mods. We shouldn't become an insular circle-jerking board like the Bombers. Dickheads will be...well, dickheads, but we shouldn't let the discussion devolve into a fortress mentality.

 

[sauce_head]

Come on guys, the mods must be working triple time right now. Cut them some slack.

 

[Squizz]

I'm assuming that you deleted my earlier post

I did.

Thought it was made clear that we weren't that interested in a comparison with Lovett. You decided to go again.

 

[SaintLex]

From my point of view, this is more than a football issue and shouldn't be limited to just Saints supporters. If others want to post, i'd be happy hear their views as long as it's not obvious trolling or trying to sink the boots in.

Having said that, really grateful for the work of the mods in keeping this clean

 

[Squizz]

Why can't I reply to the collingwood guy?

He's having a rest. Being overly righteous can be very tiring.

 

[T Factor]

The Lovett case has no bearing on this at all. Milne is a club champion near the end of his career. These are no doubt very serious charges but are from an incident nearly 10 years ago. I would have no problems with Milne continuing to play while the charges are dealt with. It is not like anything else has come up in the period since 2004 so this is something that he has to deal with from his past. He does deserve to be treated as innocent until proven guilty, he has played nearly his whole career with this hanging over him and the Saints have been happy to support him, that should continue.

 

[IllBeTheJudge]

Money is important, but I'd hope that the club has enough integrity to make their own decision, and tell them to shove it.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the decision was taken out of the club's hands

 

[Manimal_Dunstan]

He could even probably call it a day himself, but probably unlikely. I think the club will stick by him but will be interesting to see what happens

 

[ash_78]

Okay **** it. Before this gets out of hand, I'll offer some preliminary insight:

The internal review leading to charges throws out a whole lot of collateral questions, much of which will be at issue if the matter proceeds, basically the voir dire would be a procedural cluster****. You'd imagine evidence would need to be lead from three sets of coppers minimum, including coppers giving evidence against one another, before anything could be found admissible; the RoI's being stolen, for an abuse of process argument to fall down, to my mind, contamination of the evidence on some level must have occurred. Once contamination is proven, then the problem for the prosecution would be in turning around an arguing that the same evidence is now reliable: the exact extent of any such contamination must be proved down to a tee and fit in a very narrow ambit.

If people like I'm happy to explain some of this more, I've tried to keep it as layman as possible and it's not strictly speaking accurate for having cut some corners to simplify it, but at it's most basic the proposition is:

1. Is the evidence reliable? -> the OPI inquiry would suggest No
2. Is a conviction possible in the absence of that evidence -> Oath on oath, yes but unlikely due to the prosecutorial burden
3. Is Milne able to properly test the allegations on the basis of the corrupted evidence? -> probably not.

And then, of course, the usual rigours of trying a major indictable..

I'm curious what your expertise are in this area. If an inquiry has been conducted after this length of time that concludes with a charge, you'd expect a reasonable level of confidence between the investigating officers and the DPP that a conviction could be obtained. They will look (even more) shambolic if charges are once again thrown out before proceeding to trial.

 

[SaintLex]

He could even probably call it a day himself, but probably unlikely. I think the club will stick by him but will be interesting to see what happens

I don't think this is unlikely at all

 

[Squizz]

Not appreciating that my earlier comment was deleted.

St Kilda is my second team, my entire family goes for them, and I love Milne as much as any other player I've watched...on the field.

I've also posted on this board a number of times, always positively about St Kilda.

I read earlier in the thread that there would not be a blanket ban on all outsider posts, and all I said was that in all of this and regardless of everything, I just feel for his young family. If that is not a sentiment you share then that's a shame, because they are the ones who will suffer unjustly here.

That's different though. Saying the only thing that you can think of is Milne's family isn't terribly respectful to others.

The woman involved clearly feels wronged.

Montagna has been tarnished.

Milne has not been given the presumption of innocence, and will now have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to defend himself.

The club suffers.

etc.

 

[Persevering Saint]

From my point of view, this is more than a football issue and shouldn't be limited to just Saints supporters. If others want to post, i'd be happy hear their views as long as it's not obvious trolling or trying to sink the boots in.

Having said that, really grateful for the work of the mods in keeping this clean

From my point of view, that's what the Main Board is for.

I don't come onto the Saints board to drag myself through 500 posts of uninformed, judgemental morons wanting to destroy a guy, on little evidence actually revealed, simply because he's committed the crime of talking crap on the footy field, and kicking goals for a team other than their own.

Let the cops do what the cops do. Let the courts do what the courts do. Let's not for a second assume that most of us footy fans - who may have reasonably informed opinions on how to make a good forward line - have the first clue about that night, or due legal process. And let's leave the Saints board for Saints discussing Saints issues.

 

[Reckoner Tiger]

That's different though. Saying the only thing that you can think of is Milne's family isn't terribly respectful to others.

The woman involved clearly feels wronged.

Montagna has been tarnished.

Milne has not been given the presumption of innocence, and will now have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to defend himself.

The club suffers.

etc.

Fair enough, and thanks for replying, but I think it could be clearly seen that I wasn't trolling...
You're going to have your work cut out keeping this thread respectable, and you have my kudos for that.

With Milne's future, I think either the path of indefinite suspension awaiting the out come of the trial is an option, although it might even take until the end of next year when he would likely retire anyway...

He may well retire. The club should have a chat with him and explain that for reasons such as sponsors, the absolute amount of boo'ing and abuse he'll cop should he continue to play, that he can't possibly keep playing this year. Just my opinion.

EDIT: I appreciate the fact I've been allowed to post in this ultra-sensitive thread as a non-Saint and will post to a minimum. I'd just prefer to be able to discuss this with people closer to how I feel (Saints fans) than others (neutral flogs).

 

[sauce_head]

Amen PS. I never post outside this board for those very reasons. I don't mind some outside interaction but this thread will not lend itself to a calm debate.

 

[Speck]

Squizzy1970 I'm sure you're already one step ahead but might be an idea to preface the title saying read the OP and update it with some guidelines.

 

[DonsRule]

Yeah, same. Clearly there was a stench around evidence handling (or at least the way the investigation was processed), but I'm not sure that equates to guilt. Victoria Police "It is now important that the defendant in this matter be afforded the same procedural fairness any other member of the community would expect in these circumstances."

As an Essendon supporter currently, and the obvious (without drawing connections) I come in support, that he is innocent until proven guilty of something, by the police and a court. Until then, I don't really care about the sensationalized version of this story.

 

[Persevering Saint]

Oh thankyou, Melbourne fan who's avatar just screams respect of objectified women.

 

[Confuscius]

well shit. This is a can of worms. As with all things like this we have to let the judicial system come to a conclusion and stand by that. Feel for the girl who has to go through everything again 10 years later, and it looks like I'll be staying clear of the main board for quite some time now, I'm assuming trolls our out in force claiming that this justifies the abuse Milne has copped over the years.