Football is a sport not for the feint hearted. It is at times akin to a gladiatoral scene of carnage. We as supporters would like to think that the team we support is up to the challenge , that they are of sufficiently stern and robust stuff to make a stand. Its a very athletic and skillful game for sure but we're as impressed by the mettle shown by our combatants. You dont shirk, you dont absolve your duty....you do.

Over time various teams take on an aura. Some are seen as determined, some as gifted and some as just plain hard. I must confess I dont think of our beloved Demons as 'Hard'. With some talent, of ability, frustrating, inconsistent ...yes. Hard, no ! I lament this.

But all this is about to change or so it is the belief of our new coach Mark Neeld. "I simply want to coach the team that is the hardest to play against in the AFL,"

Now I suspect there might be a slight differing in terms of definition between Hardest and Hard. But in order to BE the hardest you must surely be the hardest at it.

Therefor there will be no second guessing, no feigning, no panicking. There WILL be a methodical and unbending dedication to the cause and that is to make it the hardest day for any opposition on occasions when they come up against the might Dees.

For this to happen the make up of some elements of the team will need to change. If the notion of 'bruise free' was to be dismissed then now it is to be banished. Every contest is just that , a contest. Its not sonething to be spectated, well not by the players and ive seen this occur far to ooften; the waiting for someone else to do the HARD work.

I cant wait to see this new improved hard Melbourne. Ive waited far too many years to see teams called the Demons feared like ones.

In watching Collingwood you sense theres not too much room for 'outside' playing. In fact when you look at the teams that are in the finals you see a common thread. They are indeed hard to play and hard at the ball.

We arent, not yet. Looking forward to seeing this New Melbourne. I would think the list will look a little different next season, not just because some nameswont be there but because I imagine ( or more proable, hope ) some will have transformed themselves , some beyond recent recognition.

Go Dees.......the new hard ones !!

This is exactly what we need!

Weed out the softies, the ones that are'nt 100% hammer and tongs commited.

Relentless tough football.

Jack Viney will be the icing on the cake.

I see the light!

Queens Birthday Buckley v Neeld.

85-90,000 is definately possible now....

Sweet.

The players need to want to 'compete' - the biggest ingredient in footy.

Queens Birthday Buckley v Neeld.

85-90,000 is definately possible now....

Sweet.

And it's our home game and therefore we get the gate takings. Bring it on!

Cale Morton to be chief storm trooper of the new, hard Melbourne.

Oh hang on...

Thanks muchly I needed the smile,,,, :

Go Dees Give 'em HELL !!!

This is what I demand. We can't have another 186. We can't get flogged by 10+ goals every other week. We must contest every game. We must want to win EVERY game.

Queens Birthday Buckley v Neeld.

85-90,000 is definately possible now....

Sweet.

The battle of the proteges !!

Weve invariably ( most years ) managed to come to this game...to play. Now I think we'll come to this game to administer pain.

Going to very interesting...always is...but more so now

Very excited indeed. It may be a rude awakening for some of our players, but its come to that point where its either, shape up or ship out. I look very much forward to seeing our boys play hard, tough, consistent footy; something that I can honestly say I don't remember seeing for a long time.

Football is a sport not for the feint hearted. It is at times akin to a gladiatoral scene of carnage. We as supporters would like to think that the team we support is up to the challenge , that they are of sufficiently stern and robust stuff to make a stand. Its a very athletic and skillful game for sure but we're as impressed by the mettle shown by our combatants. You dont shirk, you dont absolve your duty....you do.

Over time various teams take on an aura. Some are seen as determined, some as gifted and some as just plain hard. I must confess I dont think of our beloved Demons as 'Hard'. With some talent, of ability, frustrating, inconsistent ...yes. Hard, no ! I lament this.

But all this is about to change or so it is the belief of our new coach Mark Neeld. "I simply want to coach the team that is the hardest to play against in the AFL,"

Now I suspect there might be a slight differing in terms of definition between Hardest and Hard. But in order to BE the hardest you must surely be the hardest at it.

Therefor there will be no second guessing, no feigning, no panicking. There WILL be a methodical and unbending dedication to the cause and that is to make it the hardest day for any opposition on occasions when they come up against the might Dees.

For this to happen the make up of some elements of the team will need to change. If the notion of 'bruise free' was to be dismissed then now it is to be banished. Every contest is just that , a contest. Its not sonething to be spectated, well not by the players and ive seen this occur far to ooften; the waiting for someone else to do the HARD work.

I cant wait to see this new improved hard Melbourne. Ive waited far too many years to see teams called the Demons feared like ones.

In watching Collingwood you sense theres not too much room for 'outside' playing. In fact when you look at the teams that are in the finals you see a common thread. They are indeed hard to play and hard at the ball.

We arent, not yet. Looking forward to seeing this New Melbourne. I would think the list will look a little different next season, not just because some nameswont be there but because I imagine ( or more proable, hope ) some will have transformed themselves , some beyond recent recognition.

Go Dees.......the new hard ones !!

Watched a fair bit of the game last night and I couldn't believe how hard Hawthorn were at the ball. They were relentless and I guess that that's the way you need to play to win finals.

Hopefully we can play that way in the future because we haven't played that way in the past few years.

Interesting Article on the club site.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/123628/default.aspx

Who? Neeld? Neale D? What?

On a serious note - I love him already. He's signed up, and the first thing he's said is that the club needs to harden the **** up. No passengers.

Very excited indeed. It may be a rude awakening for some of our players, but its come to that point where its either, shape up or ship out. I look very much forward to seeing our boys play hard, tough, consistent footy; something that I can honestly say I don't remember seeing for a long time.

The MCG deserves to have the Red and Blue in charge on it's own Grass

It has been way too long...................

I'll believe the hard edge when I see it. Making this list (and club) hard will be a hell of a task... Jones, Moloney, McKenzie... they can all sit back and relax... but Morton's gonna be sitting in the corner in a ball peeing his pants, rocking back and forth.

This pre-season had better be painful for all concerned. Cos it's painful for us.

Queens Birthday Buckley v Neeld.

85-90,000 is definately possible now....

Sweet.

Count me in!!!! Neeld vs Buckley, which one learnt better from the so called master coach . I think that crowd will only roll in if we are playing well and i can almost guarantee that no club will call us soft again. HARDEN THE **** UP WAS HIS MESSAGE, HARDEN THE **** UP IS WHAT WE WILL DO! FROM ADVERSITY COMES HARDNESS! BRING ON 2012

I'll believe the hard edge when I see it.

I am with you too Dappa Dan. We will see in pre-season how much the blokes have hardened up! I can sense a great season awaiting in 2012

I took " 'Hardest' to play" to mean " 'Difficult' to beat".

But I do believe we need to harden up and hope he achieves that too.

So did I but then again, when the guy says things like that and he looks like he cudda killed someone at that presser, I think it was the HARDEN THE **** UP approach

I took " 'Hardest' to play" to mean " 'Difficult' to beat".

But I do believe we need to harden up and hope he achieves that too.

In essence it does.. and I touched upon that . But there is a commn denominator amongst the better teams, they are hard of mind. They are resolute. Theres no dithering. Invariably the hardest teams to play are those who are the best trained, best equiped , best skilled and those prepared to best their opponents. To do this week in week out you need to steel your resolve and take the knocks without flinching.

Melbourne have been accused of playing pretty football. It looks terrific but is succeptible to to hard and persistent testing. We have gone to butter all too often. Butter is soft.

We need to be hardand play hard in order to be hard to play.

This is exactly what we need!

Weed out the softies, the ones that are'nt 100% hammer and tongs commited.

Relentless tough football.

Jack Viney will be the icing on the cake.

I see the light!

Heard him on MMM and he went about us being hard again, I can't wait either because I've been around the Demons all my life and there's only been a couple of times when we have been hard, it's going to be interesting, he'll have to get rid of a few players which is good.

I wanted a tried and true senior AFL coach, ideally someone who had coached a premiership (Choco, MM, Paul Roos, Lethal)...

However in saying that I was impressed with how he spoke in the press confrence, and also very impressed when Malthouse said he would not put up with players that didnt play his way.

We have a few "hard" players - Beamer, Chipper, Tappy, Jones... But they are not near a J. Brown or J. Selwood which is what we need.

I hope he can make some of the guys accountable, especially the senior guys that went missing in so many games this year.

Fingers crossed and time will tell...

I took " 'Hardest' to play" to mean " 'Difficult' to beat".

But I do believe we need to harden up and hope he achieves that too.

I picked up on that too.

I wonder if he's being diplomatic. Otherwise it's a nothing statement. I think the former is true, he got the term 'hard' in, without making too hard a statement. Love him already.

I picked up on that too.

I wonder if he's being diplomatic. Otherwise it's a nothing statement. I think the former is true, he got the term 'hard' in, without making too hard a statement. Love him already.

Listened to the MMM interview and he talked about being hard again. But this time when pressed on what that meant by Barrett I think, then he unequivocally stated that we would be a HARD football team.

I was under no illusions that he meant ferociously hard at the FOOTY and by extension the hardest team to play.

The thing about the pies I like is that if one of their players misses/loses a one on one contest they genuinely seem [censored] with themselves and the bust their gut to make for it the very next second. If he can instil that culture into our team then he will have done an enormous job.

Hard? I'll give you hard: our kick outs. No one has yet solved the riddle of Melbourne's kick outs.

Hard? I'll give you hard: our kick outs. No one has yet solved the riddle of Melbourne's kick outs.

Frawley is the only b*stard who should be kicking out. To whom is another question.