yes , your right, most people posting whilst good hearted dees dont understand what BASE LEVEL FITNESS means. collinwood sydney and saints all have said it took 7 years of experiment to get it right and now those people in the fd have what they believe the answer. it will be judged after 3rd preseason.the board took this advice from people within and outside of the club.illinformed demons like redfox dont understand the thought process

For starters, it's not 3 years, it's 3 pre-seasons which isn't quite the same thing. Secondly, it's not about getting fit, it's about getting to the extremes of fitness needed these days to play professional AFL footy. Which takes time, because there's only so much loading the body can take without injuries.

They have no mental fitness. And that's what counts

"Mental fitness" is important but it's not the only thing that counts. Otherwise we could play Stephen Hawking at CHF.

I can understand that players pre-Neeld might have thought they were fit because the benchmarks being set might have been lower. Getting to that higher level will take time. I just wish that fitness was our only problem. I appreciate, though, that skills can diminish when legs are tired.

How the hell would you know if I can run a marathon tomorrow or not?

You are Kramer aren't you?

You are Kramer aren't you?

I have no doubt that Cosmo Kramer could run a marathon tomorrow.

well he finished the aids marathon in new york, and also completed 36 holes of golf .so another marathon would be a cinch

I have the feeling that Neeldy will be our 'Royce Hart' coach. A coach who couldn't deliver results on the field and alienated a large portion of the playing list but one who did the ground work as far as establishing the team. I don't think he is a match day coach. I don't think he is a coach who can get his men to play for him. BUT, he does have a team that are introducing high fitness levels. I don't think he will, nor think that he should, be around to see the end result but the results might become evident under someone with a bit better emotional intelligence and grasp of tactics.

I'm guessing the third quarter fade outs are coming from the floggings they have been getting on the track. Won't say 100% but it could be the case.

wish more people understood this fact of fitness. agree on matchday bit. which by the way is about 5% of coaching

I have no doubt that Cosmo Kramer could run a marathon tomorrow.

Are you kidding? He couldn't even finish that Walk-a-thon!

It is now Neelds list. He has to get them to play competitive football. So far he is failing very badly at this.

He cannot and should not lay blame elsewhere and neither should anyone. This is his making now, he must produce watchable football or he is gone.

When we had the ball, we were good downhill skiers.

I like a lot of what you say rjay but this 'downhill skiers' comment always riles me. Winning isn't downhill skiing! Winning against other AFL teams, regardless of which state they are playing in, is what everyone is trying thing to do. In 2011 we were at 7-9-1 with big wins and big losses and that is a fine for a developing team. We were playing exactly where our list could play at, that's not downhill skiing.

In any case, now we are at the bottom of the toilet getting downhill crapped on.

I like a lot of what you say rjay but this 'downhill skiers' comment always riles me. Winning isn't downhill skiing! Winning against other AFL teams, regardless of which state they are playing in, is what everyone is trying thing to do. In 2011 we were at 7-9-1 with big wins and big losses and that is a fine for a developing team. We were playing exactly where our list could play at, that's not downhill skiing.

In any case, now we are at the bottom of the toilet getting downhill crapped on.

You clearly never saw us repeatedly belted by Hawthorn and Collingwood, and I mean belted. It was all one way traffic against teams like Adelaide and Freo at the G. As soon as it got a bit hard we were absolutely flogged. As much as I detest Mitch Robinson, he got it exactly right with his bruise free footy comment.

You clearly never saw us repeatedly belted by Hawthorn and Collingwood, and I mean belted. It was all one way traffic against teams like Adelaide and Freo at the G. As soon as it got a bit hard we were absolutely flogged. As much as I detest Mitch Robinson, he got it exactly right with his bruise free footy comment.

I don't get what you're saying. I wouldn't mind a bit of one-way traffic. At least it would be better than the multiple-car pile up we find ourselves in at present. Beating Adelaide and Freo? I wish...

These guys are like politicians or new bosses: first thing you do is bag the old mob to make yourself look better.

When I see them desperate like Geelong Hawthorn and Essendon in the 4th quarter I will know they are trying until then they are soft and mentally weak

I don't get what you're saying. I wouldn't mind a bit of one-way traffic. At least it would be better than the multiple-car pile up we find ourselves in at present. Beating Adelaide and Freo? I wish...

These guys are like politicians or new bosses: first thing you do is bag the old mob to make yourself look better.

All I'm saying is that there is no point winning a few easy games against teams away from home, when you have absolutely zero chance of beating anybody who puts the remotest bit of pressure on you.

In the longer term, we are far better working out how to play decent defensive football, rather than beating teams in soft games and getting murdered against teams like Hawthorn. When a decent team with firepower puts pressure on us, we have absolutely nothing to fire back with.

I'm thinking in particular of a couple of Haw games where we were down by 10-15 goals at half time, and for large patches couldn't get the ball beyond the back flank. I honestly reckon that sucked worse than what is going on now.

I don't want that to be the trade off for winning a few games a year against interstate teams not at their best.

That said, there is no doubt the fitness credentials are higher now.

I have plenty of doubts based on what we've seen in the 12 qtrs of footy MFC players have attended so far this season

I like a lot of what you say rjay but this 'downhill skiers' comment always riles me. Winning isn't downhill skiing! Winning against other AFL teams, regardless of which state they are playing in, is what everyone is trying thing to do. In 2011 we were at 7-9-1 with big wins and big losses and that is a fine for a developing team. We were playing exactly where our list could play at, that's not downhill skiing.

In any case, now we are at the bottom of the toilet getting downhill crapped on.

My point on this is not so much about winning and losing or the flat track bully tag (maybe down hill skier is the wrong term) but is that we were prepared to run forward of the ball to set up attack but not so prepared to get back hard when our opponents had the ball. Also we were and still are not good at running to support teammates.

Unfortunately now we don't seem particularly good at running forward, back, in support or in any way.

When we had the ball, we were good downhill skiers.

Even then our spread and gut running to create options was non existent. The only frustrating part is nothing has changed whatsoever.

Even then our spread and gut running to create options was non existent. The only frustrating part is nothing has changed whatsoever.

Except that now we don't get the ball

Even then our spread and gut running to create options was non existent. The only frustrating part is nothing has changed whatsoever.

I think that's not quite right, I'm not sticking up for the old regime but we did spread and create options, it's why we were able to get some big wins. Gut running I associate with running both ways along with getting to the disputed ball no matter what and there's little doubt we failed there, it's why we got some big loses.

The ball is in motion more now with the new rules and it's not doing us any favours. We had been working to get better at the contested ball when the AFL has been working to free the ball up and get less congestion. I hope we are on top of this shift but evidence to date is to the contrary.

You clearly never saw us repeatedly belted by Hawthorn and Collingwood, and I mean belted. It was all one way traffic against teams like Adelaide and Freo at the G. As soon as it got a bit hard we were absolutely flogged. As much as I detest Mitch Robinson, he got it exactly right with his bruise free footy comment.

Ahh that 1 draw, was against Collingwood? OR was it Sydney... that's right in 2011 it was Sydney. In 2010 I think I remember us drawing and losing by a point to Collingwood. Don't worry I've been watching.

The truth is we sacked Bailey and crushed the players when they were still a chance to make the finals together.

We don't show promise anymore. Young teams get flogged but they also show some raw brilliance and an optimistic future. Remember the phenomenal future we all saw under Bailey when we flogged the Swans and Adelaide? Or the huge future that we could all imagine if Liam Jurrah, Ricky Petterd, Wona and Jack Watts were able to continue building self belief and cohesion in the forward line. Our full forward line at the weekend read: Byrnes, Sellar, Pederson.

You clearly never saw us repeatedly belted by Hawthorn and Collingwood, and I mean belted. It was all one way traffic against teams like Adelaide and Freo at the G. As soon as it got a bit hard we were absolutely flogged. As much as I detest Mitch Robinson, he got it exactly right with his bruise free footy comment.

I concur, but Collingwood is probably not the best example. We actually matched up against them quite well and came close under Bailey at least twice.