The players seem to have lost any spirit and are totally demoralised

They cannot be this bad

Something is terribly wrong

Neeld seems to have 'lost' the players

Nothing seems to make any sense anymore

Edited April 7, 201213 yr by daisycutter

This club has some very deep issues at the moment. Here is my proposal....

'A Club-Wide Soul Searching Session' including players, coaches, board members, administrators, representatives of the supporters and past players. There needs to be a seismic shift to the culture of this club.

Watts must play 4+ weeks at Casey.

Howe and Petterd are adding very little.

Ummm... have you seen the game or are you going by radio or just what you think would be right? After WATCHING the game I thought Watts, Howe, and Petterd were at least consistent in running and effort, but I guess it's just easier to pick on forwards playing out of position than more popular guys like Garland, Frawley, Rivers, Jamar, Green etc who all had terrible games.

This club has some very deep issues at the moment. Here is my proposal....

'A Club-Wide Soul Searching Session' including players, coaches, board members, administrators, representatives of the supporters and past players. There needs to be a seismic shift to the culture of this club.

There are only so many crisis meetings you can have .We need weights and steroids .

The players seem to have lost any spirit and are totally demoralised

They cannot be this bad

Something is terribly wrong

Neeld seems to have 'lost' the players

Nothing seems to make any sense anymore

I'm worried about this post, but I'm inclined to agree with you.....Clark's goals were met with......disdain.

Players aren't helping each other up, nothing tactile and when there's a scuffle, there's no support. This is not good.

There are only so many crisis meetings you can have .We need weights and steroids .

I don't recall any crisis meetings

The list is not fit and strong enough Stuie. Misson told us that. He is right. Positional moves are not as crucial now as they were in the 70's - 90's. It's running and spreading now.

But after all the running we did in the preseason???

If we draft anything but two outside midfielders (To complement J Viney) with modern football endurance and skills with what now will be very low picks then I will give up this sorry excuse for a team.

Our midfield is not even VFL standard and that is demonstrated by the fantastic start of a VFL journeyman in Magner.

There is not a midfield in the competition that is worse than ours at the moment - this will translate into regular and substantial thrashings.

Having also lived through the 70's and 80's I thought it would not be possible to match some of the inept sides of the era - but this team would lose by 10 goals to any of those sides.

A long long long year ahead.

There are only so many crisis meetings you can have .We need weights and steroids .

Post of the night! Gave me a chuckle for the 1st time today

MFC is the opposite of AA - it drags me to drink. Repeatedly.

And I didn't watch or listen. I have a bar tab and a bourbon in hand. Thank Christ.

I posted this int he wrong thread... Try again

Decisions in the last ten years or so that have given me the $%#^ and are some of the things that are perhaps behind where we are at:

1. Losing Jolly because we refused to give him enough game time

2. Giving too many seasons to the likes of Brad Miller and Travis Johnstone (just saw Brad Miller kick a goal for Richmond)

3. Losing Scott Thompson (although this wasnt a decision of ours to make)

4. Losing Robbo, Bruce and ofcourse Junior when we needed their leadership.

5. Selecting crap players - so many players in the last ten years have been delisted from our side after a few seasons and then never make it in the next side (be it West Coast or RIchmond).

6. Choosing Scully and trengove when we REALLY need hardarse with some spine in the middle to change the culture of the club (Dusty).

Watts will never be the player he perhaps could have been because like most of Melb in the last six or so years the media hype gets in their heads and they let it become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And I never want to hear any player on our current list say that they 'bleed red and blue' - ive never once seen a melb player play like their life depended on it - I remember watching Braun and Cousins in the midfield vomiiting. And I remember reading that Scully was shocked by how lax many player's training focus and preparation was at melbourne.

And it really annoys me that Scully is being so clearly vindicated. So typical of Melbourne.

I hope that Tappscott and Gysberts with a bit of muscle on him can give something for Clark and young Viney to think positively about..

Ok so I am avid reader of demonland literally weekly and have over the past few years have been involved with the club in a more formal manner, however as a proud and very passionate supporter/member most importantly at am literally at a loss as to how we have gone so far backwards. Understand there is a new game plan, understand new structures and new metrics however for the past 4 weeks (including the practice games ) nab cup we play we are looking worst than Gold Coast in their first year. I am seriously at a major loss and please don't give me the crap about its only 2 games etc, we have just done a 4 plus year rebuild, tanked and I was happy with that on the hope we are getting somewhere which I thought I saw games of this over the past few years. Now I see a rabble, players who can't understand a new game plan, unfit (believe it or not and I actually went and saw the boys summer training both at Casey and AAMI Park), lacking motivation and hunger (for fook sake) have a go and show we are actually trying apart from magner and jones - thats it.... when you lose by that margin tonight everyone else did not earn their pay cheque. And on one final note - In business only the strong survive and with the AFL being solely a business. This rest primary with the mfc playing list need to understand this because if they were on my payroll they would be going hungry for the next week!!! btw - Happy Easter..... D

But after all the running we did in the preseason???

But how far back did we start? It is a long term job to get a team "Top 4" fit.

It is so obvious looking at other games.

Watching today I couldn't figure out if Neeld was actually shell shocked or was watching too see what he had to work with. Well if that was the case he sure as hell knows now. Not much! The game plan has to be modified. A simplified structure adopted and a gradual development of a new game plan introduced. Quite simply we have some of the dumbest and laziest footballers in the comp. Keep it simple Neeld anything requiring an IQ in the double figures to execute will be beyond them.Time to get ruthless and cull the crud that frequents our club.

Over 50 years, including the deep dark 70s - rarely did I witness such a dispirited dysfunctional mob as we put on the park last week and this. Now I was prepared to make allowances for an emotionally and mentally draining week last week, but this was just unacceptable. There was no chase, no spark, no 'team spirit', no fight (apologies particularly to James Magner).

For the first time in my life I don't really see myself having the mental strength to attend, or even listen for a while. I may check the scores from time to time, but I think if I keep attending I may permanently lose interest. The garden is looking more and more attractive- at least the plants and even the weeds are prepared to fight for their own survival.

This is the worst Melbourne team I have seen in my lifetime, and I started supporting in 1970/71. I hate to say it, but it reminds me of Fitzroy in the couple of years before they ceased to be. I am very afraid that within 3 years there will be no MFC. The current situation is that dire.

We have a serious problem with our senior players and this issue dates back to the Daniher years. I'm not at all surpised at our current situation however recent drafting decisions have made things worse.

My prediction is that things are going to get even worse before they improve, but Neeld is still the person to lead us

Ummm... have you seen the game or are you going by radio or just what you think would be right? After WATCHING the game I thought Watts, Howe, and Petterd were at least consistent in running and effort, but I guess it's just easier to pick on forwards playing out of position than more popular guys like Garland, Frawley, Rivers, Jamar, Green etc who all had terrible games

i watched the game and I couldnt agree less. Watts did very little and seemed riddled with doubt. Howe took a few marks and Petterd was never there when he should have been. Rivers played well in the first half. Infact our defense was the only part of the game that we even showed a whimper...

I'm a disappointed too but we seem to have gone from wanting to savie the club following the Energy Watch debacle to eating our own.

In the last six months we have appointed a new coach, a new football department, fitness coach and heavens knows what. The world has changed in more ways than one for this group. They are learning a new game plan and have totally different expectations on them both individually and as a team.

The last month has been horrendous both on and off the field BUT I am not burying my team just yet. I have to have hope that this group will learn to work together just as Neeld plans. I will not give up and neither should you - any of you. Instead I intend to look for the positives and they will always be there. Magner has been a great find but we can also ask why he is succeeding where others are failing and perhaps the answer lies in the fact he is a mature player, given a great opportunity and that he is not scarred by what has gone before.

I will be patient and hopefully there will be joy for us before the season ends. If not, I will shed a tear or more, crack a bottle of wine and think of the future.

The players seem to have lost any spirit and are totally demoralised

They cannot be this bad

Something is terribly wrong

Neeld seems to have 'lost' the players

Nothing seems to make any sense anymore

I've seen this a few times now and I call BS on this - how can you lose the players after one pre-season? If it is true then it is an indictment on the players and not the coach - the players have to go not the coach. What right do they think they have to complain or whinge about the coach when most of them have been rubbish their entire careers? The mindset that would require that train of thought is just astounding.

Or it could be the players are just soft lazy and rubbish. They were last year and it looks like nothing's changed.

My prediction is that things are going to get even worse before they improve, but Neeld is still the person to lead us

Could be right, but Neeld is the right man. And if people say he has 'lost the players' then that says more about how the players think they can influence club and coaching decisions through poor performance - not exactly a professional or 'elite' mindset. And a culture that seems to have appeared after the arrival of Bailey, Connelly and Schwab.

This club has some very deep issues at the moment. Here is my proposal.... 'A Club-Wide Soul Searching Session' including players, coaches, board members, administrators, representatives of the supporters and past players. There needs to be a seismic shift to the culture of this club.

We have had these session in the past and not much seems to happen . I do however like the idea of the players being exposed to to what the supporters feel. Do they know how it affects us, how we get ridiculed at work because we support MFC, how our kids don't want to support this club because we are a joke. Or as I suspect do they just see us as simply a pay check. This club treats it's supporters with contempt.

Edited April 7, 201213 yr by Outside fifty

All i can think is that we need a hardnut player to come in and remind the other players that you can influence the culture of a club.

I can guarantee that there are 20 or so suburban/ammo footballers running around right now in Victoria who would have it over half the players on our list for skill, toughness and heart. Jimmy Magner, BOG for us two weeks running, is proof of this.

I don't think there has ever been as big an assignment in football as the one Neeld faces right now.

Edited April 7, 201213 yr by Range Rover

i watched the game and I couldnt agree less. Watts did very little and seemed riddled with doubt. Howe took a few marks and Petterd was never there when he should have been. Rivers played well in the first half. Infact our defense was the only part of the game that we even showed a whimper...

Very true,i don't know which game "Stuie" was WATCHING!!!

Petterd and Howe gave us nothing and Howe adds 1 mark to his highlight reel each week,Woopee Do.

Watts will never improve as long as he has this lazy attitude.Like i said Casey for 4 + weeks.