Former Melbourne star Colin Sylvia is returning to football with country football club Meringur

AFTER last week facing court, family members say Colin Sylvia is determined to turn his life around. And that might start by returning to the thing which made him a household name.

COLIN Sylvia plans to rebuild his life by surrounding himself with family and friends and investing his energy in a tiny country football club that has endured a 54-year premiership drought.

Sylvia, 32, is back living in Mildura, selling and fitting airconditioners, after struggling to cope with life after a 12-year AFL career.

He was sentenced to 100 hours of community work in Melbourne Magistrates Court last week for using stolen credit card details at a Melbourne brothel and transferring money into an online betting account while working at a Renault dealership in 2016.

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But Sylvia’s brother-in-law Toby Quirk-Meeks said the former Melbourne and Fremantle footballer was determined to turn his life around.

“He did a few things that he shouldn’t have and he will deal with the consequences,” Quirk-Meeks said.

Colin Sylvia has found the transition from football a tough one. Pic: AAP

Sylvia showed enormous talent for the Demons.

“He was struggling with life after football, as he said in the court case, which a lot of footballers come out and say. He was one to put his hand up to say that.”

But Quirk-Meeks said Sylvia, who played 163 AFL games before cutting ties with Fremantle in 2015, was apologetic for what he had done, had repaid his debt and “has got himself back together”.

Sylvia, 32, has joined Quirk-Meeks at Meringur in the Millewa Football League, more than 50km west of Mildura, as an assistant coach.

“I said, ‘Col, mate, it’s a perfect opportunity now, you turn it around and focus all your energy into football, into work and start again and we go from there’,” said Quirk-Meeks, who is a co-coach at Meringur alongside Riley Croft.

“He’s got the family and friends around him to back him up 100 per cent.

Sylvia is an assistant coach in the Millewa Football League.

“And he’s got a football club that has absolutely adored him and jumped on board and he finds it absolutely fantastic. It’s the first time he’s enjoyed football for a long time.”

Symbolically, the Meringur Kangaroos were brought back from the dead in 2013 after going into recess the year before.

The club last won a flag in 1964 and broke an 11-year finals drought last year under Quirk-Meeks, bowing out of the six-team competition in the preliminary final.

“We’ve been a club that has — like a Melbourne Football Club — we’ve been down and out and always been bottom of the ladder,” Quirk-Meeks said.

He said Sylvia had not missed a training session, other than when he went to court, and his AFL knowledge was proving invaluable.

“He also has a Colin Sylvia program in Mildura, which is fantastic for a lot of young kids developing for the Bendigo Pioneers ... so he’s going to be a lot more involved in that in 2018.”

Originally published as Former Melbourne star Colin Sylvia is returning to football with country football club Meringur