Mark Neeld's Spray on Morton.

[PaulRB 6,312]

I was at the game and when Morton turned it over, approx 30,000 MFC fan collectively howled/cried/moaned.

Cale knew he'd just humiliated himself.

Being pulled and having the coach give him one is about Neeld clearly establishing standards and Cale dealing with failing to live up to these standards. Standards that every successful elite sporting team has.

Babying him or having a go at MN for being too tough on him is OK for boys, but not for men, and certainly not for an experienced professional man as Cale is aspiring to be.

[rpfc 28,087]

It was public and, from what I saw on TV, in my opinion it was humiliating. As you know, it's often the way that something is said that has far more significance than the actual content. I don't think anything was gained from the display other than to raise some man-management questions.

The more humiliating thing was the thousands of MCC members that jeered the kid as he came off.

Neeld is his coach and gave him a direct message that would have been given via the phone - we Melbourne fans ridiculed him.

[beelzebub 23,254]

Diddums for Cale.

No wonder we all ( well many ) think he needs to harden up. Its not a kindergarten excursion....... Its bloody afl footy ffs.

If he cant or wont suffer a bollocking when he f#%&s up then he has no place in this business .

[stinga81 210]

He was copping in the bars as well. Some bloke went absolutely nuts at him with words to the effect of "Get off the ground Morton, you peice of ...". He was saying what we all thinking at the time. Not sure whether he got kicked out or not, it was in the members dining room.

[Nasher 33,607]

Diddums for Cale.

No wonder we all ( well many ) think he needs to harden up. Its not a kindergarten excursion....... Its bloody afl footy ffs.

If he cant or wont suffer a bollocking when he f#%&s up then he has no place in this business .

wtf bub? It's the folk on here having a whinge, not Cale!

[beelzebub 23,254]

You werent watching cales reaction to Neeld then i gather

[Hannibal 5,814]

It was public and, from what I saw on TV, in my opinion it was humiliating.

Big deal.

You are so precious.

[dpositive 1,662]

Just consider given the diversity of opinion

What would the consideration been if Melbourne had won by 4 points despite Mortons and everyone elses blunders

I would like to think a similar response but in the context that we won the game but there are still things that we need to do better

and perhaps we would be congratulating Morton for the successful things he did including running down and turning a goal into a point

[Guest]

Cale gets paid pretty handsomely for playing football each week. With a high paying job comes expectations and a severe backlash if you can't cut the mustard. He is a big boy. If he can't take some home truths, then he should find an easier paying job.

[Akum 2,660]

I was at the game and when Morton turned it over, approx 30,000 MFC fan collectively howled/cried/moaned.

Cale knew he'd just humiliated himself.

Being pulled and having the coach give him one is about Neeld clearly establishing standards and Cale dealing with failing to live up to these standards. Standards that every successful elite sporting team has.

Babying him or having a go at MN for being too tough on him is OK for boys, but not for men, and certainly not for an experienced professional man as Cale is aspiring to be.

I'd imagine that Neeld would just want to satisfy himself that Cale was sufficiently disgusted with himself and sufficiently aware of what he should have done. I have no concerns with either man's response.

[greenmachine 21]

was a massive spray but everyones got one sometime in there life no biggy

[Ryan Dee 140]

You werent watching cales reaction to Neeld then i gather

Your such a spud, this reminds me why I skip your posts when reading these forums.

Supporters are having a sook, not Cale. He copped it and copped it good.

[Sir Why You Little 36,773]

The more humiliating thing was the thousands of MCC members that jeered the kid as he came off.

Neeld is his coach and gave him a direct message that would have been given via the phone - we Melbourne fans ridiculed him.

There is only one way to stop the jeers......Get Better & Get Stronger.

Losers are Losers. Winners are not.

[Nasher 33,607]

You werent watching cales reaction to Neeld then i gather

Yes, he just kept walking. You make it sound as if he burst in to tears.

We're 5 pages in to this thread and still nobody's been able to tell me what the correct reaction would have been, especially when Neeld's body language after his comment suggested the conversation was over. Apparently walking over and taking a seat is equal to a tantrum.

[old55 23,106]

Morton was pretty good and gets involved. He made some creative play in heavy traffic and he also made some skill errors. In this instance he broke a team rule, that's more important than the associated skill error.

[Ricky P 757]

I have my head in my hands after reading that.

Surely sometimes a player needs to stay out of the contest to be a receiver...

Agree. If anything, we fell into the trap of letting a Collingwood bloke sit 10 metres off the pack whilst we all piled in. They'd get a handball out and be away.

[Sir Why You Little 36,773]

Yes, he just kept walking. You make it sound as if he burst in to tears.

We're 5 pages in to this thread and still nobody's been able to tell me what the correct reaction would have been. Neeld's body language after his comment suggested the conversation was over, but apparently Morton was supposed to stand there and look him in the eye or some [censored] like that. Whatever.

It doesn't matter what the reaction was....it is just that incident prior should never have happened.;

People are tip toeing around this like Cale is a first year Rookie. He is not & far from it

Bottom Line is he is a liability when he has the ball, & only one person can fix that up

Otherwise his AFL days are over, just like the rest of his family.

If the Demons had kicked 1 more goal during that run on....it was on, under 20 points....12 point turnaround.....

He is lucky he only got a spray.

[binman 42,169]

It doesn't matter what the reaction was....it is just that incident prior should never have happened.;

People are tip toeing around this like Cale is a first year Rookie. He is not & far from it

Bottom Line is he is a liability when he has the ball, & only one person can fix that up

Otherwise his AFL days are over, just like the rest of his family.

If the Demons had kicked 1 more goal during that run on....it was on, under 20 points....12 point turnaround.....

He is lucky he only got a spray.

I thought he had a pretty good game but yes this was a bad turnover in terms of timing as he had multiple players free, which if hit could have taken the ball inside 50 and perhaps we might have got a goal. My mate, a demon fan, said to me - as soon as Morton hesitated - "he's gonna stuff this up" and sure enough he did.

But a bit of perspective. Both Watts and Trengove each turned the ball over with a poor kick and a direct goal and on both occasions each player elected to kick left footers (when they could have used their natural foot).

[PaulRB 6,312]

I think Cale and Jack are being developed as our rebounding/switch/ kick to boundary line contest/ kick long options and Cale muffed it.

The sting of humiliation is a more powerful teacher than a private video correction exercise two days later...

Cale will grow or wither, I hope the former.

Edited June 12, 2012 by PaulRB

[Harrisonrules 273]

So you think he was the only one who got a spray for the day.

8 goals before we scored. If Neeld didn't spray most of the team then he was derilect in his coaching.

If you want to pick mistakes, you had better start a long list. Our performance as usuall was riddled with them.

Yes that one looked bad because it directly ended in a goal. But where were the leads 'Collingwoodlike' that cut us up all day. While Morton was reluctant to just give the ball up everyone stood flat footed.

It's our mistakes all over the ground that is killing us week in week out. Collingwood's passing was precise and effective.

Don't single out Morton for that one if you want to indicate you understand what's going on all over the ground.

[jnrmac 19,949]

Brent Grgic was a better footballer than Cale.

[beelzebub 23,254]

Brent Grgic was a better footballer than Cale.

ouch !!!

[Guest José Mourinho]

Keep it up Jose. Week after week. Same mistakes, week in week out, No defensive pressure, knocked off the ball too easily, turnovers, sloppy decision maker. What has he actually got?

Your support won't save him.

Nor will your ignorance condemn him.

If you haven't noticed the improvement in him this year, you're blind.

If you think he has reached his ceiling, you're wrong.

[Guest José Mourinho]

I judge all players on their ability to stand up in the heat of a Grand Final. I don't think Morton has the intensity, or physicality to be one of those players. Does he have talent ? Of course. You don't get to this level, or be judged as one of the best juniors in the country if you don't. He's tall, he can take a mark, he has good endurance, his pace is good for a tall, he can actually read the play pretty well. I too agree that he lacks confidence, but it's his aversion to the contest, which is my main concern. Like Jose, I don't get too concerned by the odd error, they're trivial if you're playing your role and doing most things well, but his intensity is a major worry.

Did anyone hear Dermott Brereton's comments on SEN ? They were harsh, but funny. When lamenting Morton's physicality and desire to win the hard footy Brereton jided, "most players have an orange at half-time, but Cale asks for fairy bread".

Sure it's a silly exaggeration, but ...

Btw, I also thought Neeld said "kick on your effing right foot", which makes the most sense to me. My face resembled some of Neeld's contorted looks after that kick, but I can forgive that type of error.

I think we've had this conversation before in another thread...

But at the same stage of their careers, what would you have said of Andrew Mackie?

Travis Varcoe?

[rhaz 342]

Even better than Neeld's spray was Tim Watson's huge, angry moan on the ch7 commentary. It was like he was THAT frustrated by the turnover that he just couldn't hold it in... it might sound weird but i enjoyed that.