Stay the Course

[Bossdog 2,002]

COACH and FOOTBALL DEPT

When Neeld and his football dept first came to the club it became apparent that the fitness and the culture of the list was so far below the clubs that they had come from...We could do one of two things....1/ Train like Essendon and have half your list out with soft tissue injuries 2/ Build you fitness gradually for a result which was long term

Change the culture by bringing to the club older players who had come from premier clubs to teach training methods and attitudes to the younger players....It did not matter that they were not elite players but that they had the right attitude to training and preparation...Unfortunatly these two methods do not change overnight and take time to implement.....

I believe that the football side of things will change if we stay the course

BOARD

This board has had the years from hell to deal with.....Some of it was their fault some out of their hands....But they have all stood up and none of them have thrown their hand in the air and said "Give up...I'm out of here"...They preform an unpaid work and have the interest of the club and supporters at heart....They are all professional and hard working people who have a lot of business acumen....

I believe this club will prosper if we all stay the course.....

SUPPORTERS

I realise that all of us want instant success ....We bag the coach , the players, and the boot studders....and hate being the laughing stock of the competition

but it is now that we have to stay the course

If we sack the coach, the board, some players, and the doorman now, what will change.....We will put ourselves further behind and continue to be the laughing stock...Thompson, Malthouse, Hardwick, the Scott bros all came to their clubs with plans and it took a fair while before their teams became first competitive, then successful

If we don't stay the course, this club will implode and we can all go to the snow or where ever....

As a fifty year member I implore all supporters to stay the Course.

[Guest]

Wasn't that what George Bush said when Iraq was devolving into civil war?

[deestar 159]

I agree mostly .... But whe you refer to us all wanting instant success I can't buy. I've been waiting to watch a competitive side since 2007. Accountability needs to be somewhere.

I found myself pondering those 2010 games the other day, Brisbane rd 4 come to mind most. I really started seeing something I felt wow look at these young kids move the footy, chip and warnock killing brown and fev. Who else remembers how that game made them feel ??

And in thinking of it I get some what depressed thinking how have we gone so far backwards we have gone. And I'm truly lost for words on that

How ???

[Ted Lasso 19,549]

It's a very difficult situation to accurately base our judgement of anyone at the club on, in a normal situation a coach performing like this would get the sack fairly quickly, but we have had a horror few years and before someone sacks Neeld or the board they have to be able to prove this isn't the problem and that they are.

Personally i would be happy for them to sack Neeld providing they have the guarantee of a big name coach next year eg Paul Roos, Al Clarkson, Mark Williams, Kevin Sheedy

Pretty Hard to see how a name like that is going to want to come anywhere near this place at the moment though.

[Sir Why You Little 37,151]

Yes Round 4 2010....i bought that game on DVD.

The New Melbourne.

What the hell has happened in EXACTLY 3 years?

I have lost all faith in the current board. They are the constant in all this.

[Traja Dee 108]

Yes Round 4 2010....i bought that game on DVD.

The New Melbourne.

What the hell has happened in EXACTLY 3 years?

I have lost all faith in the current board. They are the constant in all this.

I believe that the course set by Dean Bailey was only ever going to make us a team with the potential to reach positions 5 to 10 on the ladder (depending upon luck: injuries, draw, etc). The Brisbane that we played on that night was, in hindsight, overrated, particularly as it transpired that Brown was playing with an injury. This is consistent with Melbourne being a 5-10 ladder position team.

Dean Bailey outward appearance worried me at the time and it still does; I rated him as a bargain-basement level coach. His simplistic attitudes to the winning quarters KPI (irrespective of which quarter, whether the game was in the balance or just junk time) and getting games into young players was not consistent with driving standards within the team to be the best.

The board has some culpability, in my mind, in that they oversaw Dean Bailey. On the other hand, they did not recruit Bailey and their hands were tied with limited funds. They had dual and conflicting goals of turning around the club's balance sheet and in improving the football department. My interpretation of history is that persevering with Bailey at the time was a reasonable risk based on what we knew at the time. I suspect that the strategy at the time was to keep economical coach and football department while accumulating top young players and to then switch to a higher performing coaching staff once the list was loaded with more potential. Hardly any of us were criticising the player accumulation strategy at the time, and if one or two of the recruits had blossomed into a Joel Selwood or Gary Ablett, and if chook hadn't opened his cake hole, all of us would be lauding their praise.

I agree with Bossdog. The board we have are highly accomplished and passionate Melbourne people who have had some filthy, rotten luck; surely our luck will turn soon.

I believe that the devils you know, the current board, is better for the time being than any alternative.

Edited April 20, 2013 by Traja Dee

[Cheap Seats 3,310]

Yes Round 4 2010....i bought that game on DVD.

The New Melbourne.

What the hell has happened in EXACTLY 3 years?

I have lost all faith in the current board. They are the constant in all this.

If.... probably should rephrase the to when... this board sack Neeld they should be all fired as well....

They re-signed Schwab for 3 years and fired him 12 months in (round abouts)

And Neeld 1/2 way in to his appointment

No faith they have the strength to stay the coarse and build a successful club - reactional decisions instead of leadership

They need to look at Essendon how to operate under extreme presure

I support staying the coarse Bossdog - but a lot of what comes out of this club is confusing and disappoing

Edited April 20, 2013 by Unleash Hell

[Little Richard 6,265]

COACH and FOOTBALL DEPT

When Neeld and his football dept first came to the club it became apparent that the fitness and the culture of the list was so far below the clubs that they had come from...We could do one of two things....1/ Train like Essendon and have half your list out with soft tissue injuries 2/ Build you fitness gradually for a result which was long term

Change the culture by bringing to the club older players who had come from premier clubs to teach training methods and attitudes to the younger players....It did not matter that they were not elite players but that they had the right attitude to training and preparation...Unfortunatly these two methods do not change overnight and take time to implement.....

I believe that the football side of things will change if we stay the course

BOARD

This board has had the years from hell to deal with.....Some of it was their fault some out of their hands....But they have all stood up and none of them have thrown their hand in the air and said "Give up...I'm out of here"...They preform an unpaid work and have the interest of the club and supporters at heart....They are all professional and hard working people who have a lot of business acumen....

I believe this club will prosper if we all stay the course.....

SUPPORTERS

I realise that all of us want instant success ....We bag the coach , the players, and the boot studders....and hate being the laughing stock of the competition

but it is now that we have to stay the course

If we sack the coach, the board, some players, and the doorman now, what will change.....We will put ourselves further behind and continue to be the laughing stock...Thompson, Malthouse, Hardwick, the Scott bros all came to their clubs with plans and it took a fair while before their teams became first competitive, then successful

If we don't stay the course, this club will implode and we can all go to the snow or where ever....

As a fifty year member I implore all supporters to stay the Course.

I like most of this, however in the footy department section you have left out a big concern for myself and others. The gameplan and Neelds tactical ability as a coach.

I personally like the professional attitude that seems to be exuded by the people in the footy department and the recruiting under Neeld so far (bar maybe a couple like Gillies and Rodan, who do have a bit of time to prove themselves at the dees) however what the players are doing in the middle on game day is terrible.

The defensive zoning which is going on is not at all effective and there needs to be much more accountability and some run through the middle. This kicking to packs and flanks isn't good enough, especially when the standard of our big men bar Clark is very average. We need to present more, run harder for the short passes and the skills need to be a big focus.

The game plan at the moment is far too flat footed and stand still for me, and won't ever be effective.

[Apocalypse XXXI 243]

Staying the course requires discipline and strength. Going by this forum, that is something that's in short supply among the supporting group for who it's easier to tear down than to build.

[old dee 23,872]

Staying the course requires discipline and strength. Going by this forum, that is something that's in short supply among the supporting group for who it's easier to tear down than to build.

How is it going after six years of building?

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

We only got our act together off the field financially around 2011. Moved in to new training venue around middle of that year too. We've only had 2 pre seasons there with an untried coach. Just moved on to a proper footy oval at Gosch's next to that facility after sharing the front paddock with soccer peeps etc. Not looking to make excuses and current on field 4 quarter effort and skills are deplorable. Haven't won 1 quarter of footy. However, I cant see an experienced proven coach knocking on our door to take over from here unless we pay massive overs and I doubt we can afford that.

No choice but to rally around the flag this year and give Neeld and the boys at least 1 more pre season. However, the board would need to lay down some very clear benchmarks for Neeldy to be there for the whole of next year given our pitiful results since he arrived.

Today is one of those hurdles. More experienced team, older and bigger bodied. Nothing but a win today is acceptable IMO. Today is the day that determines whether the players as a whole have any beliet in the Neeld mantra/and where he's taking them.

Unfortunately we are in such a poor state on the field, Neeld's ongoin tenancy is almost a week by week proposition from here.

Edited April 21, 2013 by Rusty Nails