Within 48 hours of the Grand Final- no mucking around. Good stuff

I'd say the phone call was made shortly after Neeld's appointment.

I really don't understand the hate for Josh Mahoney on here. Under his watch, the Dees have been in the top 8 for scores from i50's for the last three years. The real problem is the third-world midfield. If you want to blame anyone, surely it has to be Scott West.

Fair call. But surely he takes some of the blame for our forwards' inability to hold their positions/structures. And surely he takes the blame for some of our forwards' lack of development (e.g. Newton, Miller, Dunn, Bate). Of course, so does Bailey, and the midfield is also to blame. But one statistic does not validate his performance, even if it does give him something to hold his hat on.

Not sure about Brown, or Neeld for that matter. Looking forward to 2012 though -the results will speak for themselves.

And surely he takes the blame for some of our forwards' lack of development (e.g. Newton, Miller, Dunn, Bate).

Whoa, steady on! What's that saying about not being able to polish a turd? Yes that's it - "you can't polish a turd".

Anyway, what the rest of your post amounts to is that some of it might be Mahoney's fault, some of it might not be Mahoney's fault, some of it might be the midfield's fault and some of it might be Bailey's fault. Well done, you've just arrived at "no idea how much of it is Mahoney's fault".

DOF, I wonder what his theory is behind this? Obviously he has an idea in his head, I'm just interested to know what it is (and interested in the Demonland public opinions!).

One thing that Neeldy mentioned was that the TAC coaches come out of an outstanding learning environment. The TAC is fully funded by the AFL, and no expense is spared in developing the best young football talent in the land. If that's the AFL's approach, it stands to reason that they would want the best available coaches to develop the youngsters. I'd be surprised if a lot of AFL dollars aren't put into developing the coaches as well.

Whoa, steady on! What's that saying about not being able to polish a turd? Yes that's it - "you can't polish a turd".

Anyway, what the rest of your post amounts to is that some of it might be Mahoney's fault, some of it might not be Mahoney's fault, some of it might be the midfield's fault and some of it might be Bailey's fault. Well done, you've just arrived at "no idea how much of it is Mahoney's fault".

And just to put some of that in context, there are comments here and there on opposition boards, on what a good pick-up Scott West would be as midfield coach.

Wont be the first to jump ship. Got a feeling that Neeld left more of an impression on the Collingwood people than Buckley has.

Bring on trade week.

Wont be the first to jump ship. Got a feeling that Neeld left more of an impression on the Collingwood people than Buckley has.

Bring on trade week.

I keep having this strange thought on Pendelbury. Out of contract next year and seemed to be pretty close to Neeld.

Daydreaming I guess.

As to Brown, I'm hopeful there. Always admire a man who can will his way into a situation and he has done it all the way to a premiership (I'd like to see him get into Dunn). Also probably well versed in the notion of the press. However things turn out with Neeld, you can't say he hasn't had a good crack at putting together an exciting coaching team. I'd love to be a fly on the wall during this pre-season.

.

pretty happy to have some more premiership experience

neeld, brown and craig are hard men, just what we need

I'd say the phone call was made shortly after Neeld's appointment.

I'd say the option was raised when Neeld was still a highly sought after assistant coach that knew he'd probably end up with a head coaching gig somewhere.

I like the fact that Neeld is finding coaches who aspire to be a head coach in the future. This means they will bust their nut to improve so the can put their hand up for a top job someday which can only be a good thing for us right now. Don't be suprised to see Rawlings and brown applying for top jobs around the league in a couple of years.

I like the fact that Neeld is finding coaches who aspire to be a head coach in the future. This means they will bust their nut to improve so the can put their hand up for a top job someday which can only be a good thing for us right now. Don't be suprised to see Rawlings and brown applying for top jobs around the league in a couple of years.

So we give these guys a break and then they walk out on us, lovely.

Only joking of course, if they are sought after then they will obviously be doing a good job with us. Why is there such a long time between seasons?

SEN just announces Leigh Brown as our new forward coach.

Possibly the biggest spud in the AFL.

Not awesome imo

Possibly the biggest spud in the AFL.

Not awesome imo

You're out on your own there R_K, the general consensus on here seems to be one of tempered, but hopeful, positivity.

You're out on your own there R_K, the general consensus on here seems to be one of tempered, but hopeful, positivity.

It is the time of the year Kento80

All we usually have in early October is optimism.

I think the fact that Neeld, who would have worked closely with Brown for 3 or 4 years, has actively sought to get Brown to the club means that he rates his coaching potential. I am happy with that.

As for the rest of it, it's impossible to tell. However Brown, as a player, was a work horse. He always put his body on the line and kept playing footy because he was able to play the role he was told to play in the side. That's what he is trying to get our players to do now. Brown walked the walk, even though he didn't have the physical tools to dominate. But he was always a 'team first' player.

It's easy to offer a coaching job to a star player just because he's a star - but to grab an ordinary player as your priority because you think he has what it takes to be a coach ... that gives me more confidence.

has leigh been interviewed at all since the appointment

makes you wonder ( salivate more like it ) if many of our boys are ready for whats about to hit them ?

It is the time of the year Kento80

All we usually have in early October is optimism.

Fair call there old dee. I was meaning more towards the fact that Neeld knows Brown well, so if we think our coach is the right appointment, then we can safely assume that it is a positive appointment. For now at least!

has leigh been interviewed at all since the appointment

They are on Mad Monday, so I wouldn't be expecting an interview until around about Thursday

On the surface it would seem a rather lame appointment to not the assistant fwd coach but the fwd coach

However it would seem to be Neelds decision and he has worked with him so I have to accept at this stage that Neeld knows what he is doing

I keep having this strange thought on Pendelbury. Out of contract next year and seemed to be pretty close to Neeld.

Daydreaming I guess.

As to Brown, I'm hopeful there. Always admire a man who can will his way into a situation and he has done it all the way to a premiership (I'd like to see him get into Dunn). Also probably well versed in the notion of the press. However things turn out with Neeld, you can't say he hasn't had a good crack at putting together an exciting coaching team. I'd love to be a fly on the wall during this pre-season.

.

I'd like Neeld to get Prendergast, to get into dunn, next week. To share his wares elsewhere.

makes you wonder ( salivate more like it ) if many of our boys are ready for whats about to hit them ?

Agree BB59 but I just hope it hits them damm hard cause it would be nice for all our October optimism to be backed up in the season proper by the players (unlike the last 4 years)

Leigh Brown turned around his career at the Filth...Before that he was playing VFA as much as Nought Melbourne..

Mark Neeld might have been the one to wake him up...who knows, But they did work together for 2 year for 2 Grand Final appearances.

1 win, 1 honourable loss...

Leigh Brown could be a great coach for guys like Max Gawn & our other Big young guys.

He could well also be a great help to the Big Russian.....Brown was mobile & adaptable....what todays game is based on.

Could be an inspired pick up MFC....Welcome Leigh.

Welcome to great Gippslander!

I've followed his career from day one and he will be an asset to the club!

I'm getting more and more excited and its only the start to the off season.

I'll be delirious come February! I hope the cricket season will be good enough to distract me.

Gippy

Whoa, steady on! What's that saying about not being able to polish a turd? Yes that's it - "you can't polish a turd".

Anyway, what the rest of your post amounts to is that some of it might be Mahoney's fault, some of it might not be Mahoney's fault, some of it might be the midfield's fault and some of it might be Bailey's fault. Well done, you've just arrived at "no idea how much of it is Mahoney's fault".

And just to put some of that in context, there are comments here and there on opposition boards, on what a good pick-up Scott West would be as midfield coach.

Yes, we had a dud list.

No, that does not mean that Mahoney and West get excused from our bad performances.

If Bailey (rightly) copped blame, I fail to see how assistant coaches are absolved.

Nasher, don't be facetious. What did you want me to do, apportion numbers detailing the proportion of blame spread around? I was merely addressing someone else's view that Mahoney had actually been a decent coach because our conversion rate once inside 50 was good. That statistic may well reveal that he did some good work, but I don't think that's enough to say Mahoney was a good coach. I think there are plenty of areas we can improve on in our forward line and some of the fact that our forward line isn't terribly good at the moment stems in part from Mahoney.

To say that the lack of improvement in our forwards is solely due to their crappiness lets coaches off the hook. No doubt he was dealt a crap hand. But surely part of a coach's job is to develop players, whether they're the cream of the crop or the worst on the list. The fact that we had/have forwards on our list who haven't developed a lot cannot be solely the players' fault. No one expected players like Newton or Dunn to be the next Franklin/Johnson. But to at least see some development in our forward players over the past few years would have been nice, and the fact we haven't had that surely lies in part with Mahoney's drawbacks as a coach.