Collingwood AFL defender Marley Williams will work with the Salvation Army’s soup van on the streets of Melbourne as part of his punishment for his role in a late-night scuffle in Western Australia.
The incident took place in Williams’ home town of Albany on December 27 and the 19-year-old has been charged with assault. He’s due to appear at a committal hearing in Albany later this month.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley announced on Wednesday that Williams would assist the Salvos for the next 10 weeks until the home-and-away season kicks off.
“He’ll start this evening. The guys send a van out, it’s basically a soup van,” Buckley told a media conference.
“It goes around and they spend time with the homeless throughout Melbourne city.
“A lot of of our players have gone and done work there off their own bat from time to time.
“We just feel it’s a good opportunity for Marley to see a different side of things and we’ll be supporting him with our leaders attending each week as he goes through that community service which we think is appropriate.”
Williams joined the Magpies last year as a rookie and played six senior games and has been promoted to the senior list.
“Marley has got a solid character. He’s not perfect,” Buckley said.
“He’s made a mistake. He’s been very remorseful about it.”
Buckley also said Dale Thomas would hopefully be fit for round one following an ankle problem and Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan had been leading the way on the training track, along with former West Coast key forward Quinten Lynch.
Star midfielder Thomas has had post-season surgery but is now out of his moon boot and hobbled his way through some stationary skills drills at training on Wednesday.
“He’s progressing well and getting a lot of touch inside,” Buckley said.
“But round one is ten weeks away, there’s a lot of water to go under the bridge.”
The Magpies’ coach said he expected Nick Maxwell to be reappointed in the coming weeks as captain although he felt veteran onballer Luke Ball and former club champion Scott Pendlebury were also strong contenders for the role.
“Personally I’ve got no reason why ‘Maxie’ wouldn’t be (captain),” Buckley said.
“Our players will choose their own leadership group.”
