Message from the President...

[olisik 4,060]

The best way ahead now would be to develop the younger players into the senior players basically. get rid of the current ones. it will take a few years but we ll be better off for it.

[Hells Gates 505]

The best way ahead now would be to develop the younger players into the senior players basically. get rid of the current ones. it will take a few years but we ll be better off for it.

Mice on a hampster wheel kinda stuff

[binman 42,896]

4-5 decades of neglect cannot be sorted out overnight, & going too hard too quickly which i think has happened, could be disaster.

To me this is the nub of the issue. No one can argue huge changes were (are) needed at the club but i agree with the sentiment above and to be honest was concerned from the outset with Neelds tough man, what's past is in the past approach. I get the feeling he is moderating this a bit though and one hopes he is savvy enough to change if required (not that he should be knocked off course by the players, we def don't want the tail wagging the dog but getting 40 odd blokes heading in the same direction is obviously a very complex process and requires a level of sophistication and acknowledgement that one size doesn't always fit all)

[Arrow 1,257]

What a load of rubbish Don. I know for a fact Mark has lost quite a few players, and it's not just the senior players. Get your head out of the clouds, stop denying & hiding what's going on and fix the friggin problem, if you can't then you and Cam should step down and give someone the jobs that will have a crack.

I hope the ones who Mark have lost is Moloney and Davey; that way it'll be easier to delist them come years end.

I happen to know unequivocally that Mark has exceptional support of the players and his coaching compared to Baileys is far far more educational and hands on. From my source who is a current player is that the past few weeks they have been training the house down, he told me in the Bulldogs game that we'll win if we play like we trained but it's just not happening on the field at the moment.

Sometimes it just takes some time for the training track drills to make sense in the real game and it appears to be that way currently. We have a few patches of good play re 1st quarter v Hawks but we lose our way. It'll come together, but people calling out Mark Neeld are really just ignorant buffoons.

[rpfc 28,383]

The best way ahead now would be to develop the younger players into the senior players basically. get rid of the current ones. it will take a few years but we ll be better off for it.

Yes and no.

We should continue with those we have chosen but we need to get them help.

Sewell, Black, and Hayes in FA.

[Sir Why You Little 37,033]

The best way ahead now would be to develop the younger players into the senior players basically. get rid of the current ones. it will take a few years but we ll be better off for it.

We need to recruit mature age players with Viney, with the draft picks we have...Trade Hard and spend the $$$...If this club wallows for another 5 years waiting for things to happen we are dead.

The first list rebiuld with kids has failed...the next step (sydney template) must work for our survival.

[Ouch! 2,262]

All i heard was a man in denial....Don there are big problems...We know, You know Let's be honest and face them all.

Don just sounded like it was business as usual.

The Dark Cloud has not lifted yet, regardless of what our CEO said late last year....Stormy weather is forecast.

I think Denial and Diplomacy often get confused in emotional times like this.

We don't have an Eddie or (heaven's forbid) a Kennett who are all bluster and go out there into the media all guns blazing. But Don has more than just the football department to worry about (even though it is the onfield issues that are of the greatest concern)

I don't think it would be appropriate for Don to drag too much out in public at the moment, the club has sponsors who it could be argued are not getting great value so far (unless you subscribe to the theory of any publicity is good publicity) But he also has to be mindful of the AFL, the Players Association, and obviously the supporters. McLardy has to be seen to keep everything together in the public eye. Perhaps he doesn't outwardly show passion, but I suspect there is a lot of pride and passion there. It's just that we don't all have to show it the same way that the Ox did (Which was fantastic in it's own way)

When this is all over, I reckon someone somewhere would be able to make a gripping book/movie of this chapter of our football club, hopefully though it doesn't end with an obituary.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Oucher

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

They'e (the players) have had it easy the past few years and now a tough coach has come in with tough/elite expectations and they are expected to be proffesional, disciplined and work bloody hard. Of course they are going to be put off side about it but those who are put offside by having to work towards an elite level can just sulk off away from the MFC as they are cancerous and you don't win Grand Finals without hard work.

[H_T 3,043]

Wow that was an essay! Sorry guys...

Yeah, excellent post deanox. No need to apologise.

[binman 42,896]

We need to recruit mature age players with Viney, with the draft picks we have...Trade Hard and spend the $$$...If this club wallows for another 5 years waiting for things to happen we are dead.

The first list rebiuld with kids has failed...the next step (sydney template) must work for our survival.

I reckon they will do a bit of both. There's no doubt he will cut the list back as far as practicable (there is a limit, perhaps no more than 9?). Neeld will want some hard bodies who will do what they're told and play whatever role they are assigned. They will come from a mix of FA, trading and picking up ready to go players from the VFL (or other equivalent comps). If you are a committed, hard training, strong VFL in the early to mid 20's you've got look in. Some of the Casey boys would be on that radar no doubt. Basically they need a new senior group. But they will also want some quality young players with their early picks. Can't have it all i guess but they will do their best to balance these demands.

Edited May 22, 2012 by binman

[Hells Gates 505]

I hope the ones who Mark have lost is Moloney and Davey; that way it'll be easier to delist them come years end.

I happen to know unequivocally that Mark has exceptional support of the players and his coaching compared to Baileys is far far more educational and hands on. From my source who is a current player is that the past few weeks they have been training the house down, he told me in the Bulldogs game that we'll win if we play like we trained but it's just not happening on the field at the moment.

Sometimes it just takes some time for the training track drills to make sense in the real game and it appears to be that way currently. We have a few patches of good play re 1st quarter v Hawks but we lose our way. It'll come together, but people calling out Mark Neeld are really just ignorant buffoons.

I agree Neeld is the right man for the job. They have been training the house down for 5 years!! I hate writing on here but my source, who is also a current player says that Neeld has lost a few players, not just senior players but young ones too and even some LG players also, there are quite a few. As WYL has stated maybe he went a bit too hard too soon. Having said that they are all loving the new fitness regime. Dont shoot the messenger.

[rjay 24,917]

We all judged Hawthorn as thugs when Brereton pointed out a line he saw in the MCG sandpit, but along with a hardworking captain and a clean out of underperforming senior players, it instilled in a young team a tougher mind and resolve that helped them turn their fortunes around.

We don't really have a Brereton to draw the line that is current enough, that players really know and can respect. Not sure Ron Barassi would do it, maybe Hassa Mann, but anyone short of a premiership champion doesn't cut it.

Get Crackers, Jacko and Big Carl to put the fear into them lol.

[Sir Why You Little 37,033]

I think Denial and Diplomacy often get confused in emotional times like this.

We don't have an Eddy or (heaven's forbid) a Kennett who are all bluster and go out there into the media all guns blazing. But Don has more than just the football department to worry about (even though it is the onfield issues that are of the greatest concern)

I don't think it would be appropriate for Don to drag too much out in public at the moment, the club has sponsors who it could be argued are not getting great value so far (unless you subscribe to the theory of any publicity is good publicity) But he also has to be mindful of the AFL, the Players Association, and obviously the supporters. McLardy has to be seen to keep everything together in the public eye. Perhaps he doesn't outwardly show passion, but I suspect there is a lot of pride and passion there. It's just that we don't all have to show it the same way that the Ox did (Which was fantastic in it's own way)

When this is all over, I reckon someone somewhere would be able to make a gripping book/movie of this chapter of our football club, hopefully though it doesn't end with an obituary.

Yes Don is in a tough position...and i do not like seeing him in this predicament,

But there are also 35,000 members who have had enough, quite simply..so the problems have to be faced up to.

[daisycutter 29,613]

I agree Neeld is the right man for the job. They have been training the house down for 5 years!! I hate writing on here but my source, who is also a current player says that Neeld has lost a few players, not just senior players but young ones too and even some LG players also, there are quite a few. As WYL has stated maybe he went a bit too hard too soon. Having said that they are all loving the new fitness regime. Dont shoot the messenger.

It's obvious HG that Neeld has "lost" a few players, however maybe he didn't really "lose" them himself as they were really "lost" before he came on board

Certainly putting them to the blowtorch brings the malcontents to the surface

It may not be the way you or I would do it but we are forced to give Neeld time. Surely with experienced guys around him like Craig and Viney he must have support/reasons for his approach

Time will tell, but I don't think we will see any fruit being borne until next season

We are going to really hate the rest of this year i fear

[rpfc 28,383]

It's obvious HG that Neeld has "lost" a few players, however maybe he didn't really "lose" them himself as they were really "lost" before he came on board

Certainly putting them to the blowtorch brings the malcontents to the surface

It may not be the way you or I would do it but we are forced to give Neeld time. Surely with experienced guys around him like Craig and Viney he must have support/reasons for his approach

Time will tell, but I don't think we will see any fruit being borne until next season

We are going to really hate the rest of this year i fear

Yes, I have the same gut feeling about the rest of 2012. More rumours and whispers of Neeld losing the lost.

But I can see the benefits of it, I can see the fruit.

[praha 11,240]

Unfortunately I think this entire saga is more indicative of the club than of certain players. A lot of people stop short of the leaders and tell them to [censored] off if they don't like the situation, without really knowing what's happening, or even asking why it is they are the way they are.

The way I see it, a football club is no different than any other organisation. You have young people coming in with undergraduate education -- in the case of footballers: underage, amateur-level football -- and you need to educate these people about the level of professionalism dictated by an organisation run by adults.

If someone comes into the club and concludes that the current leadership group is not sufficient, that they get away with too much, don't train to the level required, and don't quite instill the level of professionalism required, do we blame the players that don't know any differently and have been taught to act this way from the moment they were drafted, or do we blame the players simply because they're footballers on high salaries?

I almost exclusively foot the blame onto the football club. I acknowledge that it is clearly trying to turn the tide, but it shouldn't have been the way it was for as long as it was. The club had dire facilities for decades and it wasn't addressed. The clubs finances haven't been secured until just recently, and even still we are dead last when it comes to things like social media. Our President said that, despite on-field problems, our membership has only dropped off a bit, as if to suggest that on-field performance dictates membership numbers. Someone started a thread earlier this year about membership numbers and why they had fallen, and everyone got on his/her back.

I think we need to go beyond the playing group and start asking series questions about the club. I don't trust a word that comes out of anyone's mouth, and I am not longer instilling blind faith in anyone anymore, including players, young and old. It's simply results. I'll still be at the games, but beyond that, they'll only truly get my support once they start acting like a professional outlet.

In that regard, boy do they have a long way to go.

Again, I'll ask: why, if it is the case, are senior players revolting against the current regime? It's incomprehensible.

[Hells Gates 505]

It's obvious HG that Neeld has "lost" a few players, however maybe he didn't really "lose" them himself as they were really "lost" before he came on board

Certainly putting them to the blowtorch brings the malcontents to the surface

It may not be the way you or I would do it but we are forced to give Neeld time. Surely with experienced guys around him like Craig and Viney he must have support/reasons for his approach

Time will tell, but I don't think we will see any fruit being borne until next season

We are going to really hate the rest of this year i fear

Yeah mate spot on.

If I were the club I would be seriously chasing Brian Cook and getting leaders into the club on a consistant basis, even if only for a few days a week, whether thats Malthouse, Matthews, Ling, Harley, Carey, Pagan, Blight or whoever to give these players the best and fastest direction to success they need.

At years end we will obviously lose some senior players also so go chase blokes with a year or two left even if its a 4th or 5th round pick. Get Black, Stanton, Goddard, Scarlett, Chapman or whoever (not that I think a few of those will come, but you know what I mean). Our club needs leadership and knowledge of success to move forward. Do whatever it takes, even if it comes at a small price financially. We need direction.

It is not just the senior players who the coach has lost, but quite a few young and even leadership group players. Im right behind Neeld but something has to give somewhere soon for our club to move on.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Hells Gates

[daisycutter 29,613]

Again, I'll ask: why, if it is the case, are senior players revolting against the current regime? It's incomprehensible.

Because maybe they "bought out" before the current regime and the many recent, overdue (good) changes and are "damaged goods" that can't be resurrected

As well as removing these players we probably need to remove a few "damaged" executives too

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Tom Scully represents everything I hate about football and this club

-He represents our continual failure. We lay in the gutter and tanked, only to have our 'prize' taken off us. That's cos we are a weak, poor, minnow club.

-He represents another 'elite' football person that was 'too good' for our amatueur outfit. Under no circumstances must the MFC ever have anything off the top shelf. From the CEO to the bootstudder. It is in the constitution.

-He represents the death of loyalty in football, and the individual greed of most people in life who put money well before anything else life has to offer, as well as the tendency of people to lie and sneak around in order to satisfy this greed.

-He represents the modern athlete, who is nothing but a mercenary. He is a non-drinking robot who probably doesnt have any mates at all because he was too busy running laps his whole life. Let's never hang out.

Most of all he is just another chapter in our pathetic story. Another example of how we manage to balls everything up. Look at the 8 number1 draft picks from 2000-2007: Riewoldt, Hodge, Goddard, Cooney, Deledio, Murphy, Gibbs and Kruezer. Then there was Swallow in '11. Think about the service they have/will given to their clubs. What happened with us? Watts and Scully. You beauty. Then you chuck Morton, Sylvia, McLean and Trengove(who has joined the elite-gone-stale club) and its enough to make you eat a bullet.

Watching the Tigers/Dons game on Saturday made me want to cry. Two clubs rising out of their bad patch under new coaches. Each loaded with high draft picks that are paying dividends. The passion, the heart, the individual brilliance. The big crowd and the tight contest. The bright future for all to savour. These are not the experiences of the Melbourne supporter. This is not our domain. Through it all, year after year, the pain is multiplied byt he constant media-bashing and sniggering of everyone you know about how bad we are.

I have to resent my dear-departed Grandfather for picking this club. In his defence it was the 1940s and he had no idea that 70 years later his descendants would be putting up with this nightmare.

I hate you Melbourne.

[daisycutter 29,613]

Yeah mate spot on.

If I were the club I would be seriously chasing Brian Cook and getting leaders into the club on a consistant basis, even if only for a few days a week, whether thats Malthouse, Matthews, Ling, Harley, Carey, Pagan, Blight or whoever to give these players the best and fastest direction to success they need.

At years end we will obviously lose some senior players also so go chase blokes with a year or two left even if its a 4th or 5th round pick. Get Black, Stanton, Goddard, Scarlett, Chapman or whoever (not that I think a few of those will come, but you know what I mean). Our club needs leadership and knowledge of success to move forward. Do whatever it takes, even if it comes at a small price financially. We need direction.

It is not just the senior players who the coach has lost, but quite a few young and even leadership group players. Im right behind Neeld but something has to give somewhere soon for our club to move on.

agreed HG, we are thinking along the same lines

it's a question now of "if" they can get the right leaders both on and off field

[DemonWA 3,933]

Yes, I have the same gut feeling about the rest of 2012. More rumours and whispers of Neeld losing the lost.

But I can see the benefits of it, I can see the fruit.

rpfc, please elaborate on the so called fruit that you are able to see?

[daisycutter 29,613]

Tom Scully represents everything I hate about football and this club

-He represents our continual failure. We lay in the gutter and tanked, only to have our 'prize' taken off us. That's cos we are a weak, poor, minnow club.

-He represents another 'elite' football person that was 'too good' for our amatueur outfit. Under no circumstances must the MFC ever have anything off the top shelf. From the CEO to the bootstudder. It is in the constitution.

-He represents the death of loyalty in football, and the individual greed of most people in life who put money well before anything else life has to offer, as well as the tendency of people to lie and sneak around in order to satisfy this greed.

-He represents the modern athlete, who is nothing but a mercenary. He is a non-drinking robot who probably doesnt have any mates at all because he was too busy running laps his whole life. Let's never hang out.

Most of all he is just another chapter in our pathetic story. Another example of how we manage to balls everything up. Look at the 8 number1 draft picks from 2000-2007: Riewoldt, Hodge, Goddard, Cooney, Deledio, Murphy, Gibbs and Kruezer. Then there was Swallow in '11. Think about the service they have/will given to their clubs. What happened with us? Watts and Scully. You beauty. Then you chuck Morton, Sylvia, McLean and Trengove(who has joined the elite-gone-stale club) and its enough to make you eat a bullet.

Watching the Tigers/Dons game on Saturday made me want to cry. Two clubs rising out of their bad patch under new coaches. Each loaded with high draft picks that are paying dividends. The passion, the heart, the individual brilliance. The big crowd and the tight contest. The bright future for all to savour. These are not the experiences of the Melbourne supporter. This is not our domain. Through it all, year after year, the pain is multiplied byt he constant media-bashing and sniggering of everyone you know about how bad we are.

I have to resent my dear-departed Grandfather for picking this club. In his defence it was the 1940s and he had no idea that 70 years later his descendants would be putting up with this nightmare.

I hate you Melbourne.

You could always join Opus Dei C&B. They have excellent techniques for relieving the addictions of masochism :)

[Hells Gates 505]

Again, I'll ask: why, if it is the case, are senior players revolting against the current regime? It's incomprehensible.

I dont think its the regime, from my understanding they love the fitness side of things, direction and Misson. And its not just the senior players like they always seem to get the blame for everything, for obvious reasons. I think Mark may have gone too hard to early. The saying goes you have to earn respect before you can get it. From my understanding Neeld was quite often missing on the training track all summer, instead got his assistants to pull the strings. Also the fact of the way he is speaking to alot of players has obviously upset a few, theres nothing wrong with a few home truths but to be treated like school kids wasnt the way to go. Nobody likes a control freak. But as I said remove the dead wood, get leaders in on all levels and away we got, it should click!!

[andrewlamprill37 24]

I dont understand the people here calling for the head of schwab or mclardy. This is an administration that has saved the club and people forget that the club saviour, big Jim was Dons biggest supporter. I think he was in a better position to make a call on Don than any of us on here. We've had a [censored] start to the year, stop crying, from what ive read and seen the football department and players are on notice and if the effort levels are not there they will be dropped or told where to go. As davey, green and watts have already seen this year. If we want to see the club fail again like the last 30 years lets all go our seperate ways, have a fight and break the club. Or if we back the vision and plan of big Jim, we must come together in this time and back what we have in. It is way to early and destructive not to

[H_T 3,043]

Again, I'll ask: why, if it is the case, are senior players revolting against the current regime? It's incomprehensible.

We don't know that is the case Cudi_420, but as GT mentions, again, there may be some signs of players not buying into new playing instructions, and players looking after their own self interest. Deciding for themselves what is best for them and not their teammates and when to contest. It's up to the coach to get everyone pulling in the same direction. If there are one or two strays cut 'em loose to Casey. Until such time they buy in and meet the demands put in front of them.

It will be a long frustrating season, we may not have wanted that prior to the season but we've got what we've got still seeing a young side bereft of strong leadership finding its way with new direction.

Neeld IMO needs to make a few big calls this week and stay the course. Moloney, Sylvia and Davey would be very lucky to get a game v Carlton in my opinion.