Beasts of burden

Former Hawk, Tim Boyle who I recall had some shocking injuries during his career, has an acute insight into the game 

After a match, the coach assumes his seat in the media conference with the demeanour of a penitent. You often sense him bristling, and its unclear if he's responding to the match directly, or if he's in contempt of the questions being asked of him. Win or loss, the strictures of his answers must be unbearably boring for him, and as the listener, you get almost nothing but his body language to decipher his mood.

Mark Neeld exemplified this after Melbourne's win last week. I felt bad for him, because after months of criticism, he had to leave all his colour on the field after the match. He went from embracing his players on the boundary, straight into that apologetic tone. ''How does it feel, Mark?'' came the eager first question. Neeld took a breath, frowned and said, ''It feels good.''

A coach knows that most of the questions will be asked in the hope of dramatising the club's position, and yet he is not permitted to contribute to this drama in his own words. He retreats into mediation, moderation, and politics. And after what was one of the great emotional victories of the season, the Melbourne coach had to nullify the press with strange metaphors such as: ''I'm a big fan of the reality bus.''

He and Martin Flanagan are head and shoulders above the rest of the pack.

The media are obviously an important part of the wider AFL landscape, but the majority of the loosely defined journalists are little more than blood-sucking parasites.

Good quality article! Seems to have a great understanding and perception of what a senior coach goes through.

Rob Murphy writes some good stuff too in the same paper

I read later that Neeld had said in another interview, ''We live in a society that requires instant gratification.'' There's a cracked door I'd like to push open and see what else is inside. Unfortunately, if the door opens any further it looks to Neeld's critics like a room full of excuses.

So true. He knows it'll take a while to get it right but can't come out and say it. The more astute of us know that but most are fed by the 24 hour, goldfish memory, ambulance chasing media.