I hope the players watched that and see how he is hurting. As others said he made plenty of moves but a lot of the players were just shell shocked. This will take a lot to turnaround.

No quick fix with this, it goes deeper than the coach and talking about experienced AFL coaches, Neil Craig needs to get greater involvement if he hasn't already

I'm thinking Neil Craig really needs to get involved here. This situation is becoming diabolical. Regardless of whether Neeldy goes on, Neil Craig's experience and, from what I can gather, cooler demeanor may pour some water on some fires that surround the club. Plus he has been in the box before so he probably can help on that front.

I now get the feeling Caro (god forbid) was right and we didn't do prior diligence on Neeld. I think that those in charge of the decision went in with the belief that the players needed a rocket and a hard taskmaster to give it. With all their obsession with that and Neeldy's enthusiasm to do that, they were blinded to the fact that he may not have the skill set to be a successful AFL coach. I also place the blame at their feet.

It's just a sad situation for everyone.

His career is shot to [censored], and so is our club it seems.

Nobody wins here, nobody.

I wouldn't want to be a coach, and I appreciate everything he is doing because I know it comes for a good place of wanting to see this club succeed, but as the senior coach, you can't be lost for explanations, you need to know what is wrong and how to fix it, and he seems lost and spent.

I feel for him on a personal level just like I feel for a lot of our players. They must feel so utterly hopeless and humiliated most of the time. But at the end of the day, this club can't afford to keep going down this path of destruction and this is what it comes down to.

There are many many stakeholders who deserve better.

One word..... Clarkson

He was clearly shattered...but I think some are overstating his disposition. He was matter of fact, and gave the situation it's due respect. I dont think it looked like he had been or was about to cry at all.

In so many words, Neeldy basically ran roughshod over our midfield and said that Nathan Jones and Jack Viney are the only remotely AFL level mids we've got. So at least he's aware of the problem. Maybe he can get around to fixing it before this club goes down the toilet.

In so many words, Neeldy basically ran roughshod over our midfield and said that Nathan Jones and Jack Viney are the only remotely AFL level mids we've got. So at least he's aware of the problem. Maybe he can get around to fixing it before this club goes down the toilet.

Maybe he shouldn't have wasted time, money and energy getting crap like Gillies and focused on getting some C grade midfielders to help our F grade midfield then?

And no, Rodan on half a kneecap doesn't count. Seriously, the folk on Demonland have been complaining about our midfield for years now. Still, no change.

Besides, there is always Mitch Clark. Poor man on one foot is trying to play everybody's position on the ground simultaneously. He actually got one more clearance than some of our midfielders did tonight. Oh the shame!

Just watched the Neeld presser and not sure what all the fuss is about!

No tears, not even close.............he was actually quite matter of fact, and appeared strong.............had the usual face twitches which is unavoidable for him, but nothing like tears or a meltdown.

I wouldn't use your skills for a body language reading contest...

After settling down ranting over he should be sacked i actually really feel for him.. [censored] this sack half the players that put out this insipid peformance!!

We've already been down the path of sacking our way to success.......to much cheering here..this is supposed to be the mid point of that strategy delivering fruit...

Maybe he shouldn't have wasted time, money and energy getting crap like Gillies and focused on getting some C grade midfielders to help our F grade midfield then?

Not the time for arguments amongst ourselves, but in regard to our trading, hard to see that we weren't trying to address the midfield issue above all else. Basically all the draftees were mids (or will be), as were most of the trades.

In any case, you can only trade for players that are out there, and I don't know how many even C grade mids were available. According to reports, we tried pretty hard for Farren Ray, but I think we were somewhat screwed by the free agency compo for Rivers and Moloney, and were expecting higher/better picks.

As for Gillies, I don't necessarily disagree, but in ideal circumstances, he wouldn't even be playing. Our back 6 was pretty settled last year, and not our weakest link by any means. With Dawes out, we've lost Sellar from that to the forward line (Sellar had been OK on 2nd/3rd talls), and with then Tom McD out last week and Dunn this week, we've had to go for Gillies - who remains our only backup tall defender.

Hard to defend though, when the ball comes in the way it does and as often as it does.

Link for those interested.

We are like a house infested with termites, the whole structure is rotten.

Just watched the Neeld presser and not sure what all the fuss is about!

No tears, not even close.............he was actually quite matter of fact, and appeared strong.............had the usual face twitches which is unavoidable for him, but nothing like tears or a meltdown.

Neeld, in his matter of fact way, showed alot of character. He's been clear all pre season; we have a long way to go and he won't be trying to sell fairytails. I've been to both games and walked away devestated but their's no way I'm going for another quick fix, it smacks of desperation and weakness. Not after two games.

Agree J L

I'm thinking Neil Craig really needs to get involved here. This situation is becoming diabolical. Regardless of whether Neeldy goes on, Neil Craig's experience and, from what I can gather, cooler demeanor may pour some water on some fires that surround the club. Plus he has been in the box before so he probably can help on that front.

I now get the feeling Caro (god forbid) was right and we didn't do prior diligence on Neeld. I think that those in charge of the decision went in with the belief that the players needed a rocket and a hard taskmaster to give it. With all their obsession with that and Neeldy's enthusiasm to do that, they were blinded to the fact that he may not have the skill set to be a successful AFL coach. I also place the blame at their feet.

He did have a hell of a referee in Mick Malthouse who said in no uncertain terms that he was ready and that we should get him after we failed to get that man himself.

We also had anecdotal evidence from midfield players saying that he was the reason for them taking the next step.

He had also proven to be able to talk the talk in terms of getting players to move to us (Clark and Dawes). Does this make him a good coach, no. But these are all things required of a good coach.

I think the panel was well within their rights to hire him based on the information available. We also had DB has the coddler and that didn't work, now people are complaining because he's too hard on he players and saps them of confidence.

Honestly I think the players need to head to bunnings and harden the F up.

I'm not going to watch the presser, I can picture it well enough in my mind. Feel sorry for the bloke, but he too needs to move on and find a way to get the players up. Certainly no rest for the wicked, there's still 20 rounds to go.

Wasn't close to as bad as some have made it out to be.

I get a sense from listening to that, though, that he's trying his hardest to do the right things by the players. He understands the need to balance care with discipline, which is good, and he understands the pressures they're under.

It's completely unfair to pin everything on Neeld, IMO. It's easy to turn his responses into excuses, but when he says he came in with his team and they had to fix our training, he's right. When he says our midfield is truly in development stages, he's right.

Obviously, the buck stops with him, and he is currently the head of the worst coaching team in the AFL. His game-day coaching isn't good (it's actually awful), but right now it's not game-day tactical coaching that is hurting is. He could move players around, try new strategies, but that's not going to solve the bigger issues.

Possibly the most interesting thing he said was how strong he was in saying Grimes and Trengove are the best leaders we have. He didn't say 'they're exceptional leaders', or anything like that. He simply said (and repeated, when questioned) that they're the best we have. A clear indication of his recognition that our list, as delivered to him, had no senior leadership in it.

Neeld, in his matter of fact way, showed alot of character. He's been clear all pre season; we have a long way to go and he won't be trying to sell fairytails. I've been to both games and walked away devestated but their's no way I'm going for another quick fix, it smacks of desperation and weakness. Not after two games.

Are you serious; he's coached us to pre VFL levels, we are going backwards, we are desperate.

I've followed this club for around 60 years and this is the worst side and he is close to the worst coach I've ever seen.

Weakness is allowing him to wreak further havoc on our once great club.

He wasn't close to tears, he wasn't close to anger, he wasn't close to anything because he's the most uninspiring person I've ever seen.