OF ALL the multitude of images which resonated from Collingwood's week of horrors, it was Heath Shaw's confused and devastated face during Monday's misguided media presentation that has stayed with me.

As it soon emerged, Shaw not only looked shattered and - as he said - felt empty, but the 22-year-old must also have been saturated by a well of sheer terror knowing that he had lied to the very teammates and captain who, during the press conference, were insisting he had told the truth about who was in the car the previous night.

And of all the pertinent questions, perhaps the most relevant is whether the club should have seen this coming. Those close to the young footballer have been concerned about his emotional state for about a month and knew there were some lingering issues relating to both his private life and his football that probably needed addressing. They are beating themselves up about that now.

Should Collingwood and their massively manned football department be questioning themselves as well?

Certainly AFL Players' Association chief executive Brendon Gale questioned the manner in which Shaw had been rolled out.

The Magpie executive explained after the event that one of the reasons neither of the Shaw brothers was suspended in the first instance related to their very different but respective fragile emotional states. Which only makes Monday's public ordeal for Heath Shaw all the more open to question.

Despite Collingwood's wealth, their superb training facilities and the relatively high level of funds invested in football and recruiting, the Magpies have no full-time player-development manager in charge of player welfare.

It is true that the club employs the highly regarded Simon Lloyd as a high-performance manager. Lloyd is a sport psychologist whose job description has been widened to include the Magpies' coaching staff and their executive.

Hopefully Tuesday's tough love will prove a turning point for Collingwood, and hopefully the Pies have the human resources in place to deal with the ramifications of their decision. Not only is the club's immediate future but also its rich and occasionally tragic heritage at stake.