Mark Neelds Press Conference:

Mark, what was your message for the players after the game?

Yeah, disappointment…………..ahummmmmmmmmmm………………no one likes to lose round 1. And the reality is; it’s worth 4 points, like every other round. But there’s a big………… big build up for it! (Ya know)…. The message included that um, in my opinion I think we had four players who would have rated a benchmark game, and it doesn’t matter what game style you have, or where you play, or who your opponent is, if you’ve got 18 players who you don’t rate, as at least average, you’re not gunna win.

Wow! That’s insight. I’m glad this guy is coaching MFC.

Help me out here. How much does it matter what game style you have? Or where the players on this list play? And when your opponent is Brisbane, not Hawthorn or Collingwood, how would you expect these players to play a benchmark game?

Is this guy cutting it so far?

After 1 game? Are you serious? Really?

Wow..................

Mark Neelds Press Conference:

Mark, what was your message for the players after the game?

Yeah, disappointment…………..ahummmmmmmmmmm………………no one likes to lose round 1. And the reality is; it’s worth 4 points, like every other round. But there’s a big………… big build up for it! (Ya know)…. The message included that um, in my opinion I think we had four players who would have rated a benchmark game, and it doesn’t matter what game style you have, or where you play, or who your opponent is, if you’ve got 18 players who you don’t rate, as at least average, you’re not gunna win.

Wow! That’s insight. I’m glad this guy is coaching MFC.

Help me out here. How much does it matter what game style you have? Or where the players on this list play? And when your opponent is Brisbane, not Hawthorn or Collingwood, how would you expect these players to play a benchmark game?

Is this guy cutting it so far?

What don't you understand?

He said four players were good enough to play at AFL level based on their performance today. What would you like him to say?

You can't polish a turd, it is what it is.

I actually thought his press conference was brilliant. But coming after "stonewall" Bailey, anyone's presser would be better.

He also said there would be changes for next week and wasn't prepared to keep putting his faith in a mob that won't perform ( words to that effect ).

Did you watch the rest of the interview you nonce?

Look I have faith in neeld in in the long run I think he will turn us around. We arent as good as we think or hope to be. Dont forget Baileys first 2 games we were thrashed by more than 100 points. Also Neeld wouldnt be used to losing having been at collingwood. He has been around a successful team including a premiership one. He would have hated today.

You could tell in the press conference he was seething and I think there will be some honest home truths told. Interesting to see how many changes he will make. But did have a laugh when he said not on your life when asked if the same 22 would play next week.

Mark Neelds Press Conference:

Mark, what was your message for the players after the game?

Yeah, disappointment…………..ahummmmmmmmmmm………………no one likes to lose round 1. And the reality is; it’s worth 4 points, like every other round. But there’s a big………… big build up for it! (Ya know)…. The message included that um, in my opinion I think we had four players who would have rated a benchmark game, and it doesn’t matter what game style you have, or where you play, or who your opponent is, if you’ve got 18 players who you don’t rate, as at least average, you’re not gunna win.

Wow! That’s insight. I’m glad this guy is coaching MFC.

Help me out here. How much does it matter what game style you have? Or where the players on this list play? And when your opponent is Brisbane, not Hawthorn or Collingwood, how would you expect these players to play a benchmark game?

Is this guy cutting it so far?

All this proves is 1, you are a troll, 2, no nothing about football, 3, just come out of the mental ward, 4, you are just reaching puberty, 5, no nothing about football, I know which one i'd pick.......

His first real AFL game as coach was as about as disappointing as it could have been, but it was his first.......I guess some here feel it should be his last .....news for you, it isn't.

Let's not crucify him until at least say round 6 or 8!!!

I don't agree with the OP.

Judge him by seasons end.

Its round 1 for gods sake.

Neeld was right.

Certain players will play their last game for the MFC this year. (Quite a lot i suspect)

One part i didn't understand... maybe im not quite getting the question right, but he was basically asked "were you surprised by the performance" he answered "no". Puzzled as to why. Does he have low expectations after our preseason or..? Bit of an odd answer. I'm all for realists but sometimes a bit of positivity from him wouldn't go astray.

the problem is, if he drops all the weak, heartless spuds out there today, who will be lining up for next week's smashing? a bunch of casey battlers, thats who

good luck neeld

One part i didn't understand... maybe im not quite getting the question right, but he was basically asked "were you surprised by the performance" he answered "no". Puzzled as to why. Does he have low expectations after our preseason or..? Bit of an odd answer. I'm all for realists but sometimes a bit of positivity from him wouldn't go astray.

I think not being surprised doesn't mean he expected it.

Neeld is smart enough to understand that these players are learning a new gameplan, and that takes quite a bit of time.

Some players, as he has already said, will struggle in his system.

We are seeing that now.

I think hes good enough to see that we don't have the quality that most teams have.

We have no stars and no quality senior players.

One part i didn't understand... maybe im not quite getting the question right, but he was basically asked "were you surprised by the performance" he answered "no". Puzzled as to why. Does he have low expectations after our preseason or..? Bit of an odd answer. I'm all for realists but sometimes a bit of positivity from him wouldn't go astray.

That Performance deserves no Positives at all..except for Jack Watts first Half...The rest was not AFL standard...The coach knows how much work has to be done.

We simply don't have the cattle to play Neeld's gameplan the way he wants. Now a 1st year coach doesn't come in and get rid of 10-12 players right away, they give a year to have a look at the list. Massive changes will happen to the list come end of year.

Another rebuild........ffs. It also goes to show how poor the recruiting was from BP and the tail end of CAC. A long year ahead, you bet. A long year i could take, if the players were giving their all, but what they put out today was pathetic. Look past the fact that it was the first game after Jimmy's passing, i question whether the majority of our players have any self-respect?

There's only so much a coach can do, it's up to the players to go out and execute, with this list.............i don't know, particularly with the likes of the more senior players.

I like the guy MN in so many ways. We are now up to the stage of performance. It's great the coach has a game plan. He believes in it and will stick by it. I think it will take most of the year for the guys to develop their football within its patterns. Today they were just beginning. While we don't take any notice of the NAB, perhaps there are somethings that are worth noting. The defensive structure has worked at times here and there. In all games our contested ball has been good, but most other stats have been disastrously poor. Radio commentators were saying we were so predictable. In both this game and the Hawks (didn't see any of the Port game) once the opposition coped with our defensive round the boundary, bomb it long game, they ran over us with their game plan and we couldn't put the genie back in the box. My concerns about the game plan are that we are not finding a way to score from it. Three quarter time there was no way we were gouing to get back into the game by a defensive approach. We needed all out attack. Try different things, different positions etc. It didn't really happen. Yes Mark has things to learn but I'm not giving up on him until 2014

In the post match conference it was one of the captains who said that once they got the ball out of the centre they got it out to their outside runners and off they went. We don't have outside runners. In our three quarter time discussion with my mate at the game we felt that the team was not balanced.

1. The forwards lacked the good crumbing midgets.

2. The mids were all scrubbers from McKenzie to Moloney.

3. The backs had the two runners who have such questionable skill level.

The only thing stopping me going next week is that it is in perth

But I'm looking forward to this year to see how we reestablish some light at the end of the tunnel.

I still believe

1. The forwards lacked the good crumbing midgets.

2. The mids were all scrubbers from McKenzie to Moloney.

3. The backs had the two runners who have such questionable skill level.

Really good observations, H. How in hell can you win consistently when you're taking such risk from the back half, lacking class in the midfield and a solid forward structure?

Did you watch the rest of the interview you nonce?

No. I didn't watch the rest of the interview, so I do deserve some pay out here. And I also deserve a pay out for exagerating Neelds input and isolating that part of the interview to start the thread. But I want a thread started on Neeld, preferably to put into context what his style of coaching does to benefit our list.

No one should be exempt after that performance.

That performance was shattering. I fully support Neeld for the future. But if people think that he is blameless in today's performance then they are wrong.

If Neeld can't get his players to compete in round 1, after a club champion/savior has just passed away then it needs to be scrutinized.

Lets be honest. The game plan looked horrendous. He could not get senior players into the game. And he could not inspire any player after 3/4 time to stand up.

Hey Bonkers TheMythbusters showed that you can polish a turd.

Frawley, Garland, Martin, Jones, Trengrove and others aren't turds.

Was the long bombs into the forward line the game plan? I hope not.

No one should be exempt after that performance.

That performance was shattering. I fully support Neeld for the future. But if people think that he is blameless in today's performance then they are wrong.

If Neeld can't get his players to compete in round 1, after a club champion/savior has just passed away then it needs to be scrutinized.

Lets be honest. The game plan looked horrendous. He could not get senior players into the game. And he could not inspire any player after 3/4 time to stand up.

Correct, he has as much to answer for as anyone.

At the end of the day he is the coach and he has to live and die by his choices both pre-game and on match day. He made some glaringly obvious mistakes at selection (and to think that he nearly left Watts out of the team, one of our best today!), with match ups and he couldn't rally the team at half time or 3/4 time. He needs to get his sh*t together before talking his players down, because our midfield was never as bad last year as it was today, despite the make up being largely the same.

He's been around 2 minutes, and they've been pretty woeful. He has plenty of time, but I hope he isn't the type who is too proud and too stubborn to make changes. Today I sat at the G and saw a grand total of zero moves being made in 2 hours. Not a good start.

Mark Neelds Press Conference:

Mark, what was your message for the players after the game?

Yeah, disappointment…………..ahummmmmmmmmmm………………no one likes to lose round 1. And the reality is; it’s worth 4 points, like every other round. But there’s a big………… big build up for it! (Ya know)…. The message included that um, in my opinion I think we had four players who would have rated a benchmark game, and it doesn’t matter what game style you have, or where you play, or who your opponent is, if you’ve got 18 players who you don’t rate, as at least average, you’re not gunna win.

Wow! That’s insight. I’m glad this guy is coaching MFC.

Help me out here. How much does it matter what game style you have? Or where the players on this list play? And when your opponent is Brisbane, not Hawthorn or Collingwood, how would you expect these players to play a benchmark game?

Is this guy cutting it so far?

Going by what he said...

..the team is [censored] and not everyone is up for it.

He just sugar coated it, dipped it in chocolate and served it up to you with a topless waitress. It was as diplomatic as one could get.