Time to go Mark Neeld

[Demon Dynasty 16,286]

Dude. Name one game against solid opposition that he played well in.

It didn't happen all that often Roost i agree, but at the same time it didn't happen too often with any mid fielder of ours, Beamer or no Beamer in the middle. IMO if you can't find a ready made better replacement then you're better off sticking with the soldier you know. Beamer was like many in our mid field, stagnant and a bit of a one trick pony in terms of bombing the ball long into the 50 meter arc. He also suffered from what most of our team suffer from around the ground..... the "I'm pretty happy with that first up effort...what do you mean i have to go again if we're to have any chance of winning the ball and this match?" syndrome.

But there were "glimpses" of what Beamer could have been in rare matches. Matches when he hit the pack on the run with momentum and timing and the center line/Ruck appeared to be organised for a change with each soldier knowing where to run, who to block, where to position themselves pre ball up and each playing his part. Rare yes, but on occasions it magically appeared. One such evening (and i'm almost certain he had a better game against the Bummers under Bailey in 2011) Beamer stood up and got the team rolling that night IMO. He contributed all night, played his part, didn't get rolled and although he wasn't BOG, he was amongst the best players. He had 14 kicks, 9 Handballs, 6 tackles 2 marks, 1 goal assist, 11 Contested possessions and 12 uncontested. We beat an as yet undefeated Bummers team and started the rot which saw them fall off their almighty perch that season. This match and the 2011 one below were 2 of the biggest highlights for me and my son in a long line of watching so many painful uninspiring years of poor performance against pretty much any team that was rated. Some of the best nights i've had at the G. It's what gets memberships, sponsors and new supporters on board (provided it aint a one off lol).

The video below shows the highlights from 2012. Only one of Beamer in it but it's still there.....

http://youtu.be/uiB_w8Z8NuI

And yes there was Round 11 2011. I have a feeling he was even better in this as i went with my son and no one gave us any chance of beating them this night. I remember Beamer having a pretty big impact. 17 Kicks, 11 Handballs, 7 Marks, 5 tackles and 2 goals. Again, i doubt he was BOG that night but he was solid and scored the highest Dream Team points....

http://youtu.be/j3DS3otd2xs

How the hell we've gone from the above (and last year's win albeit a bit of a scrap) to 154 in the space of one season.....well that's another VERY long, pretty scary story lol.....

Edited April 29, 2013 by Rusty Nails

[Sir Why You Little 35,319]

He would struggle like Viney and Toumpas have in our side. Unless you have a flank of capable mature age players as a core then you are just throwing talent too early to the wolves.

So the coach has been so stubborn he has killed his own job??

Its possible, but an AFL Senior coach position? Of course the board could have already backed him, but you wonder how long they will survive at the table once Jackson begins toe cutting. 36 hours.....

[Swooper Northey 299]

Without doubt, Magner was one of our most reliable players last year, and one of the few good news stories at the MFC. He tired as the season wore on having shouldered the brunt of the midfield load with Jones.

He must feel cheated given the effort he gives and the fact he is stuck at Casey. It's poor man management, pure and simple.

[stinga81 210]

Port have a better list.

Thats a cop out.

They were 16th last year.

MN got rid of 13 players and selected blokes that suited his "style". He would have been happy with his list pre round 1. I wonder if he still is now.

[daisycutter 28,722]

I don't want Neeld gone until the blokes responsible for choosing him and Bails are gone too. We'll just be on the bloody merry go round again.

well schwabby has gone and gaddy has gone back to ch 9. Cuddles is on long service leave.

who else did you have in mind?

edit: sp

Edited April 29, 2013 by daisycutter

[The Song Formerly Known As 6,479]

i don't even know what i want to happen anymore...

[jumbo returns 6,619]

Thats a cop out.

They were 16th last year.

MN got rid of 13 players and selected blokes that suited his "style". He would have been happy with his list pre round 1. I wonder if he still is now.

It's not a cop out, it's a fact.

Our problem is our midfield.

Theirs is a beauty.

[jumbo returns 6,619]

well schwabby has gone and gaddy has gone back to ch 9. Cuddles is on long service leave.

who else did you have in mind?

edit: sp

Biffen?

[stuie 7,374]

It's not a cop out, it's a fact.

Our problem is our midfield.

Theirs is a beauty.

They had the same midfield (aside from Wines) when they finished 16th and 14th. It's no coincidence everyone is rating them all of a sudden since a new coach came in.

[Carrot Top 947]

well schwabby has gone and gaddy has gone back to ch 9. Cuddles is on long service leave.

who else did you have in mind?

edit: sp

I'm thinking the entire board. I don't trust anyone in the club to make a good call right now. I think without a top down clean out we're just going to keep making the same mistakes.

[Demon Dynasty 16,286]

Without doubt, Magner was one of our most reliable players last year, and one of the few good news stories at the MFC. He tired as the season wore on having shouldered the brunt of the midfield load with Jones.

He must feel cheated given the effort he gives and the fact he is stuck at Casey. It's poor man management, pure and simple.

It sure is Swooper. Low on mid field numbers/options = low on reasonable rotation options which places a heavy load on those that can run and hold their own through there which is very few for us at this point. Jones a definite obviously but the only other players who you could say might offer a neutral outcome through the mid atm is Grimes and Rodan IMO (once Rodan achieves some sort of AFL match fitness and rhythm....and that's IF Neeld gives him more than 2 or 3 quarters of match time and more than 1 week on the park before shunting him back to Casey....again!!!!). Yet we leave Magner on the rookie list. However, Pedo, Gillies, Sellar and McDonald who, IMO would struggle to get a game at any other AFL club, continue to get matches!

As is Neeld's ability to seemingly ignore and reward effort. If you remember Couch was in the best players at Casey for 3 or 4 weeks running early last year (i'm almost certain anyway) and yet he failed to get a call up. Not even once! I can't say i've seen Couch play at Casey as he was out injured for the 2 matches i went to last year, so maybe he's just not up to this level, but surely given our poor mid field options and some of the players we've seen tried there over the last 14 months, Couch deserved at least one crack at it for 2 to 3 matches??

Neither Magner or Couch are our saviors through the mid by any means. But it would sure limit the damage and possibly win us the odd game or 2 against poor opposition like the under done, junior Lions who still managed to send us packing yesterday. Development......what development??!!

[jumbo returns 6,619]

They had the same midfield (aside from Wines) when they finished 16th and 14th. It's no coincidence everyone is rating them all of a sudden since a new coach came in.

With their best players having massive injuries.....now, they've recovered.

Hartlett's a star, as is Boak....Wines is a bonus.

A lot of things can happen in two years.

[stuie 7,374]

With their best players having massive injuries.....now, they've recovered.

Hartlett's a star, as is Boak....Wines is a bonus.

A lot of things can happen in two years.

Not if you follow Melbourne...

[jumbo returns 6,619]

Not if you follow Melbourne...

Well....the wrong sort of stuff...

[deeko 937]

It didn't happen all that often Roost i agree, but at the same time it didn't happen too often with any mid fielder of ours, Beamer or no Beamer in the middle. IMO if you can't find a ready made better replacement then you're better off sticking with the soldier you know. Beamer was like many in our mid field, stagnant and a bit of a one trick pony in terms of bombing the ball long into the 50 meter arc. He also suffered from what most of our team suffer from around the ground..... the "I'm pretty happy with that first up effort...what do you mean i have to go again if we're to have any chance of winning the ball and this match?" syndrome.

But there were "glimpses" of what Beamer could have been in rare matches. Matches when he hit the pack on the run with momentum and timing and the center line/Ruck appeared to be organised for a change with each soldier knowing where to run, who to block, where to position themselves pre ball up and each playing his part. Rare yes, but on occasions it magically appeared. One such evening (and i'm almost certain he had a better game against the Bummers under Bailey in 2011) Beamer stood up and got the team rolling that night IMO. He contributed all night, played his part, didn't get rolled and although he wasn't BOG, he was amongst the best players. He had 14 kicks, 9 Handballs, 6 tackles 2 marks, 1 goal assist, 11 Contested possessions and 12 uncontested. We beat an as yet undefeated Bummers team and started the rot which saw them fall off their almighty perch that season. This match and the 2011 one below were 2 of the biggest highlights for me and my son in a long line of watching so many painful uninspiring years of poor performance against pretty much any team that was rated. Some of the best nights i've had at the G. It's what gets memberships, sponsors and new supporters on board (provided it aint a one off lol).

Simple question for all. If Beamer was say at Brisbane the last few years and came up as a free agent in similar terms, would Neeld have chased him?

Yes, Brent, he is a simple crash bash player, yes he loves kicking the pill long to no one in the forward line and yes this may make him a one trick pony but for goodness sake, its a trick we need right now more than anything!

If he's the secondary midfielder behind a Pendles or Cotch he cops a secondary tag (unlikely) and he can do his thing with a lot less pressure. Good teams with a simple midfield setup blocked Brent out of the clearances as it was the easiest way to beat us and they new we had no one else who could win it for us out of the centre. So of course he played ordinary against good teams, he's just an honest B grader who was trying to carry a team.

And he wasn't always ordinary, your examples above RN are great but I remember watching a nearly 40 possie game against the Magpies on QB once. That was handy.

[deeko 937]

I bought in to the 'Neeld way' at the start of the last season but after he dumped Brent and Riv especially I knew we would be in trouble.

Riv especially, not for just his solid (not awful, not champion like either) on field performances but he was a loved figure amongst the players group and was seen as spiritual leader. I spoke to two players randomly in the off season that I saw randomly and both said they loved Riv and were really upset to see him go.

I still don't believe the players have the actual 'buy in' to his game plan either as there is no way in the world we are as bad as we are playing.

We were absolutely dust on the weekend.

[Pipefitter 2,083]

Maybe we keeping him till the end of the year in a clever tanking scheme? Give the new coach 2 top 3 draft picks.

[Jaded No More 59,785]

These discussions alone are enough to suggest that our club is falling apart, supporters are frustrated and we are not performing to an acceptable level.

Say what you like, but many of us die hard fans have lost a lot of our love for this club since Neeld has come on board. I can only imagine how the players feel. Speak to the right people and you'll find out that many of our players, our better players, are as frustrated as us supporters and want out.

Something has to give. Coaches are not bigger than our club and our club is bleeding.

Keep him for the next 10 games or the rest of the season, it makes no difference, but come the end of the year, we need drastic changes. Again.

I wish I knew how to fix our club, but I don't. But I do know that it's easier to change the coach than throw out an entire list of players, some of which are actually pretty good or at least has the potential to be.

Our club is on a fast track to death. We need to change many things and we need to do it before it's too late, because the one thing we can all agree on, is that none of us want to see this club disappear into oblivion.

[Binmans PA 26,664]

We were at rock bottom before our current coach arrived, we just didn’t fully realise it.

No point sacking the coach at this point, let the interim CEO complete his review and then make educated decisions from there.

I'm inclined to agree.

[T-34 409]

.

.. But I do know that it's easier to change the coach than throw out an entire list of players, some of which are actually pretty good or at least has the potential to be.

.Maybe we as a club need to make hard decisions as opposed to the easy ones. We all complain about our poor culture yet are willing to axe a coach who is trying to change that on the hope that our players may one day realise their potential. At the moment the only one who can unlock that is the bloke looking back at them when they stand in front of a mirror.

I would very much like some of these prima donnas to decide they would like to be more than just an AFL footballer and actually try to use some of this much talked about potential, because presently all they are doing is pissing it away at the supporters expense.

How many coaches do we need to chew up and spit out before we realise our problems go a lot deeper than finding a messiah to coach us to our next flag, hell look at Port at least they have given their coach an environment where he has a chance to succeed and everyone has got on board. A pity this poor bastard Neeld has never received this same treatment.

[Binmans PA 26,664]

Simon Black rates extremely highly as a player and has played with some greats at Brisbane.

His comments on how highly rated Moloney is at Brisbane were insightful and absolutely damning to the idiot we have coaching at Melbourne

What else was Black going to say? Moloney's a bit of a flat track bully and won't get it done against the better sides?

[Binmans PA 26,664]

But Neeld doesn't have time on his side, he needs to keep his job.

That is what doesn't add up

Unless he does have the backing of the board. Then again, how could you trust them?

[Sir Why You Little 35,319]

Unless he does have the backing of the board. Then again, how could you trust them?

exactly. Wins are the only way he will keep his job. The long term backing is not there.

[Binmans PA 26,664]

It is possible (albeit unlikely) that Neeld and his FD simply felt the list was in better shape that it actually is.

[olisik 4,060]

Sad to say Neeld has lost me. I was onside with him, right up until the Essendon game.

Now it is flat chat evident we have gone backwards. Hell, we've turned over half a list and have next to no injuries. Really do not see what excuses their are. If players cant get fit in 18 months then I have no idea whats going on.