Dud, killed our backline when he coached them, now has killed the mids.

Neeld was COllingwoods mid coach so he should know about mids.

Yeah he'll say "Get me a Swanny, Pendles and Daisy and we'll be halfway there"

The answer lies WITH Neeld. He has to take responsibility for the worst part of our game atm (if there is possibly a worst part) and that's the mid field set up/structure/plan and the rucking dept. We suck at both and this is where the game starts and ends.

Neeld needs to show some leadership here, takeover the running of the mid field (bye bye Brian) as a start where he supposedly did well with a premiership club in Collingwood. The best defence in the land couldn't stop the leeks from this dyke in terms of clearances from the middle and general stoppages tonight. I think they had something like 50 more i50s!

His selections pre match our questionable too. I said to my son before the ball was bounced tonight that we were at least a ruckman/tall short versus the Bummers. Trengove under done. Better to leave Rodan in who should never have been dropped. Showed something last week in the first half prior to things getting out of hand and also in the short time he was on this evening. Still not enough but better than most we offered through the mid tonight, Jones boy excluded.

EVERYONE APPEARS to be doing well when a club wins a Premiership ?? No one feels any pain in those times

Royal royally stuffed our backline when Wellman left for the Bombers, now he has royally stuffed our mids!!

We have the raw talent with so many first round picks but the management of them is abysmal. Their development of them is non existant. The young players are sent out onto the ground totally unprepared and I blame completely the ineptitude of the football department together with rest of the morons upstairs.

This entire MFC functionaries need to be locked up in a room and hold a no holds barred meeting to thrash out what has gone wrong and who is to blame!!! and then how to put Humpty back together again!!

Paying hard earned money watching football that is not fit for human consumption for the best part of 7 years has worn me out, while i baulk at saying Ill leave, but i will withdraw until I see the X factor thats needed.

They can keep my membership fees and i will rejoin, but hope they use the money wisely. Got better things to do than go to the footy and feel embarrassed wearing the colours and suffer the sympathies of oppo fans, so bad is it we get sympathy, how awful is that?-----thats what I got yesterday when I crawled out of the"G". i got up along with my long suffering wife, asked the Bomber fans I was sitting next to pardon us as we are leaving just after half time, they said "Oh sorry mate" in a downcast tone. talk about humble stuff!! Gut wrenching !!

Yep let's get junior McDonald back as midfield coach

You have to wonder what the KPIs for Royal are.....certainly aren't related to the performance of his charges.

An observation I had that had me yelling at the TV was that our players were continually on there own in a bit of space forward or back while essendon ran round into the areas between them often in numbers so they could do what they wanted. our blokes were flat footed and static while essendon were mobile. even around a pack our blokes were waiting for the ball to come to them and were flatfooted when it did Essndon were moving around so that wherever it came they were able to benefit.

Probably just selective viewing and memory but it sure was frustrating.

An observation I had that had me yelling at the TV was that our players were continually on there own in a bit of space forward or back while essendon ran round into the areas between them often in numbers so they could do what they wanted. our blokes were flat footed and static while essendon were mobile. even around a pack our blokes were waiting for the ball to come to them and were flatfooted when it did Essndon were moving around so that wherever it came they were able to benefit.

Probably just selective viewing and memory but it sure was frustrating.

Yep. Witches hats

The way Heppell was doing as he pleased last night was a good example of a completely inept midfield coaching department, from game prep and conditioning to game day.

Not enough Rhino Richards is around to defend him these days.

78 inside 50s to 28.

I thought our midfield was third world - I think that's being kind.

I think Neeld and co just need to let them play. There is NO flair NO instinct NO passion. Players just mope around the field trying to remember where they're supposed to be if the opposition has the ball in a certain spot, by the time they remember the ball has already been kicked forward of that position.

Let them off the hook. Set your non-negotiables but set it as a team. Let the players know what you expect but let them play with their natural flair and attack. Playing purely defensively has not only killed our offence, it's also killed our defence because they play one step behind.

Let the boys play!

Totally agree.

Let them play.

I've said for a while that we have the worst midfield in the comp - if you cannot get your hands on the ball first whether that be the ruck or the fall of the ball and get the clearance - you're well behind the eight ball. It's times like this when the thread "It's the midfield stupid!" should be bumped.

But I believe quite rightly that the heat should be on Brian Royal and his assistant mid coach. Jamar time and again was out rucked by both Ryder and Bellchambers, particularly in the centre. They literally smashed him.

Jones, Viney, Jones,...who else was there?? Because I barely saw anyone else......

And Viney went off injured....

No functioning midfield with very limited amount of class means TROUBLE. And that's what our backs found ourselves in.

But here's more trouble....When Essendon has the ball as much as they did thanks to first use and clever creative play with SPEED, it is quite bewildering and worrying that our club was only able to manage up to lay 35 tackles for the entire night....AFTER a miserable round one performance.

There shouldn't be much mindset required to lay more tackles.

I think the most amount of tackles from one of our players for the night was 3.

Yes 3!

35 tackles = hardly an ounce of effort.

Like you, I'm a Jack Grimes fan. But he should be able to show more tenacity and endeavour in the middle. To me he plays upright alot and when he's in the vicinity of the ball carrier he rarely extends himself to make ground and put pressure on. He's not alone though. The midfield made it far too easy for essendon to move the ball out of the centre through a chain of handballs.

Our midfield is - like 2011-12 - still very much third world. And with Moloney gone, McKenzie not playing and Rodan starting sub, we would have to have had the most inexperienced, least cohesive midfield going around.

And many Melbourne supporters - even members wonder what the hell is happening??

FGS! mids mids mids.

Dear god, I want four A-grade mids for Christmas.

I think you'll get your wish. Neeld said himself he has no idea what went wrong last week. So with this result he'll have to just step aside and let the players work it out for themselves.

Either that or he steps aside and lets someone else coach them such as Craig. I even think Leigh Brown might be a better option. At least he'd probably bring an attacking flair and mindset! Neeld moves into the mid field role. Royal out. Dawes coaches the forward line as player/line coach lol.

Leigh Brown would be a better option PLAYING !

Brian is just working under Neeld’s game plan with minimal talent. Talk about a rock and a hard place.

If your first ruck cannot get his hand on it and hit it to some sort of advantage, then a poor midfield will always look terrible. We've persisted with Jamar far too long. His best assets were his ability to jump and his body strength. Last night he was pushed around like a toy. C'mon Gawn, Spence or Fitzy. Time to rise.

Totally agree with this. Jamar has been completely outclassed two weeks in a row - hard to create anything when we never get first use. Our backs are constantly under pressure. It starts with the ruck

Brian is just working under Neeld’s game plan with minimal talent. Talk about a rock and a hard place.

Yes, it's a rock and a hard place, but it shouldn't be that hard to demand effort, intensity and support for your teammates. Or talk with Jamar to alter his position and change it up against Ryder/Bellchambers.

Brian is just working under Neeld’s game plan with minimal talent. Talk about a rock and a hard place.

you must be joking

seriously, we would be no worse off with no midfield coach

essendon and port just continually walked the ball out of centre bounces with little opposition

as an observer there is just no game plan or system whatsoever shown by our midfield

their mistakes stand out like the proverbials

just because we don't have the players doesn't mean we can't have a competitive system in place to at least keep the opposition honest

An observation I had that had me yelling at the TV was that our players were continually on there own in a bit of space forward or back while essendon ran round into the areas between them often in numbers so they could do what they wanted. our blokes were flat footed and static while essendon were mobile. even around a pack our blokes were waiting for the ball to come to them and were flatfooted when it did Essndon were moving around so that wherever it came they were able to benefit.

I hate to single out Grimes because he actually tries but there were numerous occasions at the centre bounces where he was a full second slower to react to the bounce. As a result his opponent was well in front of him and ready to receive the tap.

I hate to single out Grimes because he actually tries but there were numerous occasions at the centre bounces where he was a full second slower to react to the bounce. As a result his opponent was well in front of him and ready to receive the tap.

It was a poor game by Grimes IMO. He was playing on Heppell to my understanding (at least in the first half) and was no where near the player.

Was I the only one bit surprised when we got rid of scotty west?

Was I the only one bit surprised when we got rid of scotty west?

Yeah, that was when our problems started.

The Curse of the Red Bulldog.

The losses are our terrible midfield list, the magnitude of those losses is on Neeld, and Royal can take some of the blame of the stoppage work but that's where it ends.

I hate to single out Grimes because he actually tries but there were numerous occasions at the centre bounces where he was a full second slower to react to the bounce. As a result his opponent was well in front of him and ready to receive the tap.

sylvia was worse when he went on the ball

i watched him closely. he stood near no-one and didn't even move when the ball was bounced. i couldn't believe it

Yeah, that was when our problems started.

The Curse of the Red Bulldog.

The losses are our terrible midfield list, the magnitude of those losses is on Neeld, and Royal can take some of the blame of the stoppage work but that's where it ends.

If you fix up the clearance work at centre bounces and around at stoppages, you eleviate the opposition penetrating your defensive back 50 so much, reduce any magnitude, increase F50 entries and scoring, and get a leg up in trying to win a game and/or confidence.

It's a pretty important component the engine room.

If you fix up the clearance work at centre bounces and around at stoppages, you eleviate the opposition penetrating your defensive back 50 so much, reduce any magnitude, increase F50 entries and scoring, and get a leg up in trying to win a game and/or confidence.

It's a pretty important component the engine room.

The ball bleeds out of the forward line too. And our 'game plan' is non-existent and is allowing weasy passage through the middle. That is on Neeld.

The ball bleeds out of the forward line too. And our 'game plan' is non-existent and is allowing weasy passage through the middle. That is on Neeld.

Yes.

The way Heppell was doing as he pleased last night was a good example of a completely inept midfield coaching department, from game prep and conditioning to game day.

Not enough Rhino Richards is around to defend him these days.

He Zaharakis and Watson had 32 disposals between them in the first 15 minutes. Yet they ran around without a tag. WTF was that?? The world could see it but we couldn't do anything about it??

Give me a break.

sylvia was worse when he went on the ball

i watched him closely. he stood near no-one and didn't even move when the ball was bounced. i couldn't believe it

Perhaps we should put him in the ruck?!