^{I posted this in another thread but it fits here too.}

^{I dont think I can remember the MFC being in such a dire position with players wanting to leave.}

^{Neeld is a nut job and he needs to go. He has actually made us worse which I thought was not possible and is driving players away to top it off (and he wants another 3.5 yrs).}

^{Its like being in a horror movie which never ends with Neeld as the star.}

^{If we can land a BIG NAME coach (Roos, Choco, Eade etc) I am sure the players would rethink leaving but this needs to happen NOW not at the end of the season.}

^{I really hope for all us supporters (and players) this is happening.}

^{If anyone on here has a contact which is reliable with what is going on PLEASE give us some hope?}

Did you have to repeat it

I have never known such a bunch of gullible posters who believe as gospel anything that is printed/spoken/displayed/broadcast in the media today.

Great character assessment of Neeld, although recognizing that type is easy, there are so many posting on this board

The AFL need us to be competitive and have stated it several times. They have their man fixing us up. I somehow don 't think they will allow us to be plundered which would destroy any chance of us getting better.

I hate to say it and others may jump on me but...

Another club had a crap load of their best players leave just before they folded as well (Gary Pert, Paul Roos, Alistair Lynch, Ross Lyon). The only difference is we have been lucky enough to stay on the G while that other club had to move from ground to ground. We have been blessed to have stayed at the G. Our co-tenants are all well supported. We are not.

And for what it's worth, I think on a personal level, Jack should leave the MFC. I would love him to stay but he will never be the player he could be at our club. The people who trotted him out on Queen's Birthday should hang their heads.

I hope your not right re the reference to Fitzroy. The big difference now is that the league needs us in the comp where in Fitzroys case they wanted them to fold. So perhpas theres some things that can yet be done. I tend to agree with some other posters that a change of coach to someone with experience may be the only thing that keeps the players. Apparantly a lot of Essendon players wanted out when knights was coaching his last year too.

Also, Can we really say watts hasnt come on because of the QB game. Honestly. We only played him because we wanted a bigger crowd to keep the blockbuster...seemed a fair call at the time. A call a club like ours has HAD to make sometimes.

IF (thats IF) we lose Frawley, Sylvia, Watts & Davey retires/leaves or signs a much smaller contract how in blue hell are we going to meet the minimum salary cap requirements next year?? And don't say we'll poach players from other clubs (Dale Thomas) because there is no chance in hell he would want to come especially when other clubs (eg GWS) could offer him the same amount of money we could to play in a rubbish team albeit they have a rosy future. Pedersen will think he's hit the jackpot as we'll have to restructure his contract to pay him $600K/year just to meet the 95%.

This is my fear about Neeld. Losing the games, losing members etc I can cop to give him a bit more time to see if he can coach but if we are going to leak all our senior/best players because of him and have to field a VFL side next year he's gotta go now. Losing the players is what will hurt the club, members and sponsors will always return when we start winning but losing the players will mean we are just another 3-5 years bckwards from where we are today. The person who mentioned Fitzroy losing Lynch, Roos, Pert, Osborne etc hit the nail on the head.

Help Peter Jackson.

This is the stuff we need him working on, and hopefully he is. I know he has a lot to work on and he even said it himself when he mentioned about the inexperiance at this club,

IMO We can't afford to have frawley, Sylvia, Watts and possibly Davey walk out the door. If Neeld has to go to help retain these people, then make the call and resign these boys back up.

I couldn't take another year of Neeldy complaining that now he's got 16 players with under 50 games experience.

Please Save this club from Neeld and itself.

Calm down people.

Show me any evidence that Watts doesn't want to stay on with us? Show me evidence Frawley doesn't want to stay with us? Gawn?

Managers understand the [censored] situation we are in.. and they also understand we will play overs to keep these players if they stake it out to round 22.

Until Jack, James or Max makes a statement.. I would relax.

Scully was offered the biggest contract in the AFL.. James, Jack and Max won't get half that.

I don't quite understand the lack of interest the club seems to have in keeping experienced players within the club. Whether the problem is Neeld, the culture, the lack of wins or simply a poorly conceived notion of rebuilding through youth, i don't know, but it is going to severely slow any rebuild that we attempt and in my opinion it is the reason we are at the beginning of rebuild number two.

Everyone in football, including our coaching panel seems to agree that number of games and experienced players is fundamental to afl success however throughout the rebuilding process we seem content with the idea of losing more and more experienced players without anything sort of reasonable attempt to stem the losses.

Neeld raised his five year plan the other day. Who is going to be leading our back line in 5 years time if we lose Frawley? And who is going to replace the 80 games we have put into Watts??? And where is out experienced bigger body in the midfield/forward going to come from without a Sylvia?? So basically we are going to take our current team, allow arguably the 3 most talented players to leave and this will improve our side??

I am very frustrated, as I'm sure we all are.

Calm down people.

Show me any evidence that Watts doesn't want to stay on with us? Show me evidence Frawley doesn't want to stay with us? Gawn?

Managers understand the [censored] situation we are in.. and they also understand we will play overs to keep these players if they stake it out to round 22.

Until Jack, James or Max makes a statement.. I would relax.

Scully was offered the biggest contract in the AFL.. James, Jack and Max won't get half that.

Possibly, but from what I understand the issues on why these guys haven't signed is related:

1: we suck and they want to taste success elsewhere;

2: our coach sucks and they can't stand him;

It's been bled to death on other threads, but surely there comes a time where enough is enough and if it helps resign some of our most experienced players back up and give everyone hope again, then off with his head executioner!

I'd like to see Watts played forward before I jump to any conclusions.

I've always defended him, but latey I haven't been that impressed.

When I've watched him at the games he always seems to be the last in last out, hasn't provided any pressure or sheperds, hardly spreads, often calls for lazy handballs in worse situations, and my god he is slow - and that particularly annoys me the most because we know he was one of the quickest in a sprint at the club.

The only positive was that he took more than 50% of our contested marks and kicked a cople that time he played in the forward line earlier in the season.

Ironic, he is starting to remind me more and more of Travis Johnstone... also #1 pick drafted 10 years prior in 1997, so much talent, so little effort

We can get 'Sat' to turn out the lights when everyones gone...

Can't blame him if he wants a fresh start.

When our own supporters are so pathetic that they cheer when he gets subbed off, and our coach is such a stubborn moron that he berates him before he even steps foot inside the rooms, then proceeds to play him like a yo-yo, what do you expect?

I'd want to get the [censored] away from this basket case too if I had a limited time frame to have a successful career and I've been treated with such contempt.

This club is a joke. My anger and disgust towards it makes me ashamed, but I can't help it. Look at what the [censored] is going on around us!

Sorry Jaded do you seriously believe that? I was at that Game and i'd say apart from a few MFC people the majority were Essendon wankers that were cheering

[censored] they are wankers Bombers supporters..........I hate Essendon with a passion

So my question to you is......... Were you there did you see mass of MFC fans cheering or are you believing what you heard in the media?

Edited May 22, 201312 yr by Unleash Hell

Sorry Jaded do you seriously believe that? I was at that Game and i'd say apart from a few MFC people the majority were Essendon wankers that were cheering

[censored] they are wankers Bombers supporters..........I hate Essendon with a passion

So my question to you is......... Were you there did you see mass of MFC fans cheering or are you believing what you heard in the media?

Yes I was there and yes I saw plenty of Melbourne supporters around me cheer his substitution.

It was also another appalling move by Neeld who has methodically destroyed his confidence and toyed with him.

If it's true, that the 3 players, Sylvia, Frawley and Watts, are considering their options so that they can play finals and possibly win a premiership, can I ask them this...

If you're not happy with the onfield performance of this team, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. The 3 of you have enough talent and all should be leaders of this club, you have enough ability to work together and turn games around, it's time you stood up. This sh!t about wanting to play finals so you have to go elsewhere, why's that? So you can go to another Club, possibly make their best 22 knowing there are blokes in the team that are willing to work their arse off meaning you don't have to? Blaming the coach is utter bullsh!t - I'm sure he would look a bloody lot different if the 3 of you worked hard and got the best out of yourself.

If it's true, it's pi$$ weak from the 3 players. If it's not, I'll happily withdraw my rant.

Thank you.

Lets hope Neeld is shown the door before Watts goes.

Neeld is a cancer to this club and must be removed asap

So are soft overpaid underachieving so called footballers. We've stuffed up his development..... Just like like we've stuffed up the likes of Terlich. His problems are all mental. An ex player has one good game and there another one we stuffed up. We overrate our own players to much, if Watts wants out we want a decent trade in return.

I think big max is putting his contract talks off due to missing a lot of footy and probably wanting to string some games together. The club aren't going to offer him a big contract on the back of 8 games that he has played, so him waiting til the end of the year is more about increasing his own worth- plenty of players at other clubs have done it recently- Andy Otten and Dave McKay at crows, max bailey at hawthorn among others.

As far as jack watts is concerned, I don't think anyone on demonland wishes anything but a prosperous career for him. Obviously we all hope that's at the dees though. Neil Craig and mark neeld said last year the program they were going to put in place wouldn't be for everyone. I'm personally sitting on the fence here. I've always said he will turn into a hard working CHF in the mould of nick riewoldt or drew Petrie. Obviously that hasn't happened as yet.

I don't see the problem. It's a job just like any other.

I love my profession, but now we have a new boss, not my job. After my holiday I'm lickety split. Can someone please tell me why Jack Watts (or any footballer) is any different to any other professional in the workplace wanting to get a better deal whether it's money, job satisfaction or any other motivation.

Answers gladly received

Calm down people.

Show me any evidence that Watts doesn't want to stay on with us? Show me evidence Frawley doesn't want to stay with us? Gawn?

We can't show you evidence that these players are going to leave however I think we have grounds for concern.

Jolly, Bruce, Yze, White, Robertson, MacDonald, Thompson, Mclean, Scully, Moloney, Rivers, Morton, Gysberts

These players show a lack of want, effort or culture in retaining both young and experienced players.

Watts will only leave if we are happy to see him go IMO. Which would mean a reasonable trade. I just cant see it myself. If he was playing champagne footy in a garbage side then yes, i could see him wanting out but in reality he is playing average footy in a garbage side. He'd also be confused as hell about what the media say about him. 9 days out of 10 he's a whipping boy - doesnt try hard enough and needs to get the best from himself, but then every blue moon some meathead will write an article about how he's a legend in the making that is being held back at the MFC. Hypocrisy at its finest.

MFC will offer him some serious coin in his next contract because we have no other decent players to use the money on. I think he'll stay

If it's true, that the 3 players, Sylvia, Frawley and Watts, are considering their options so that they can play finals and possibly win a premiership, can I ask them this...

If you're not happy with the onfield performance of this team, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. The 3 of you have enough talent and all should be leaders of this club, you have enough ability to work together and turn games around, it's time you stood up. This [censored] about wanting to play finals so you have to go elsewhere, why's that? So you can go to another Club, possibly make their best 22 knowing there are blokes in the team that are willing to work their arse off meaning you don't have to? Blaming the coach is utter bullsh!t - I'm sure he would look a bloody lot different if the 3 of you worked hard and got the best out of yourself.

If it's true, it's [censored] weak from the 3 players. If it's not, I'll happily withdraw my rant.

Thank you.

I agree it should be on them but the fact is there's no way we can afford to lose one let alone all of them.

If it's true, that the 3 players, Sylvia, Frawley and Watts, are considering their options so that they can play finals and possibly win a premiership, can I ask them this...

If you're not happy with the onfield performance of this team, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. The 3 of you have enough talent and all should be leaders of this club, you have enough ability to work together and turn games around, it's time you stood up. This [censored] about wanting to play finals so you have to go elsewhere, why's that? So you can go to another Club, possibly make their best 22 knowing there are blokes in the team that are willing to work their arse off meaning you don't have to? Blaming the coach is utter bullsh!t - I'm sure he would look a bloody lot different if the 3 of you worked hard and got the best out of yourself.

If it's true, it's [censored] weak from the 3 players. If it's not, I'll happily withdraw my rant.

Thank you.

I was thinking the exact same thing. All this talk of players leaving to play finals what a cop out. If they aren't good enough to help lift a side to a finals series then really they don't deserve a premiership. It happened with Gibson at the Roos as well and I hope they don't win this year just to laugh that he never won one.

Yes I was there and yes I saw plenty of Melbourne supporters around me cheer his substitution.

It was also another appalling move by Neeld who has methodically destroyed his confidence and toyed with him.

That's not true. Neeld has not destroyed Jack Watts' confidence. He has proven unable to cope with the demands of being a number 1 pick in the short time he's been in the AFL. Neeld has attempted to help him by releasing the shackles of being a lone forward in the worst club in the land and given him a role playing on a man down back. One which he has excelled in for the most part when fit.

I am a huge Jack Watts fan and I am dissapointed that he has not yet reached his potential but I also realise he is 22, and still learning the game...

In that Bombers game he was being buried by self doubt on the field. Neeld taking him off was merciful.

But let's make one thing clear... Jack Watts is responsible for Jack Watts' performance, no-one else.

The clubs wants culture, call the players out at training, ask them if they have made their mind up 100% about leaving, if they are man enough to admit it they play out the season in the seconds. Phil Davis had the balls and was dropped for it, same should have happened to Scully. More than ever we need commitment from players and supporters if you don't want in sod off now you're not wanted. Probably would have effect with the new coach but you get the idea.

Edited May 22, 201312 yr by Al's Demons

Yes I was there and yes I saw plenty of Melbourne supporters around me cheer his substitution.

It was also another appalling move by Neeld who has methodically destroyed his confidence and toyed with him.

Fair enough

I was in the Southern stand and outnumbered 5 - 1 ratio and there were plenty of Bombers wankers clapping Watts when he went off - Seemed like an over reaction to what was a bronx cheer...

Anyway continue your sky is falling debate

We can get 'Sat' to turn out the lights when everyones gone...

He was gone a long time ago, mentally at least

I agree it should be on them but the fact is there's no way we can afford to lose one let alone all of them.

That's BS, Dr. If those 3 players want to play finals bad enough, they can make it happen in the red & blue. They have top training facilities, they have a handy FD, they have handy "support" players around them, and most importantly, they have the ability to move this club forward. If they want to take the easy way out and go to a team where they don't have the responsibility of leading a club to finals footy, then they can fcuk off.

I will refuse to let players hold the club to ransom unless they have runs on the board. In any job, if your top performing employee is criticial about the runnings of the company they work for, then you listen. You don't sit back and listen to the lazy pricks who prefer to sit back and sulk rather than doing something about it. Until your words are actions, I dismiss anything you say. In that, if Nathan Jones wanted to leave, I'd be very concerned.