Consider this a bit of a view from the outter as I have been away from Australia (sitting in Cairo at the moment) for an extended period and have not seen my Demons play for quite a while. Atleast, I have not seen my Melbourne based Demons play. I have had plenty of other personal demons let loose to play in the not-too-distant past.

From all that I have read and watched over this season I am sure that the pre-season and season we have just all endured has been a brutally steep learning curve for all the players that are/were on our list. they have had to learn about a new reality in their working lives. Their professional boundaries were re-set and they needed to understand where they lay. They had a new set of working guidlines that they had to learn and adhere to for the games. Some players tried and failed to get to the required standards and some of those will be given another chance to achieve, some will not. Some players tried and found they flourished they, of course, will be kept. Some players did not try. Guess what will happen to them?

All the players will be assessed against a number of criteria set in place by the Football Department made up primarily of the coaching panel who themselves have gone through a steep learning curve.

First year senior coach with a new coaching team. I am sure that they have learnt a lot, not just about the players, but also about their jobs and personal abilities, the team work required of their department and the roles they are expected to play.

As I am sure that they will ask the players to assess their own performace, that of their team mates and also the performance of the coaching staff and administration, I am also sure that the coaching staff will ask the same of themselves. That level of season end feedback is the minimum that I would expect.

I believe that Neeld is on the right track and I will be very interested to see how he might adjust his style and methods in the next season. If he does not learn from his experiences them he will lose me and, I expect, a lot of the players.

I am not about to judge this season until I see it in context of the development over the next couple of years.

I am sure we, as supporters have learnt a lot this years. I also believe the players and coaches have learnt a lot. the difference between us and them is that they can effectively apply what they have learnt to achieve an improved outcome and we can really just decide to buy an membership or not.

Good to hear from you CHF.

Guess we'll all have to wait. Way past time for (quick) fixes.