An insider's POV - Comments from Russell Robertson

[RalphiusMaximus 6,024]

I have little to add at this point but I would like to take the opportunity to thank the posters in this thread for sticking on topic, avoiding the trolling we've seen in so many other threads and giving us a very interesting and informative read. I really appreciate hearing about the function and what the internal thought processes of the club are as compared to the sensationalised media version of reality. While it doesn't make the on-field situation look much better, at least in the short term, it gives me a great lift to have confirmation that there is method behind the madness and that the club is still moving in the right direction.

[dee-luded 2,959]

OK, good answer but it does point to problems we still seem to be having with our senior players. It made no sense for us to be playing so many behind the ball when we are supposed to be teaching a game structure.

It seems that so many still don't know when to stay or go, the game is not natural to them.

... have you ever met a well brought up clean living family who was dysfunctional in some ways,,, maybe overly superstitious or very un-trusting of some in their community for no real reason...

& no amount of suggesting they change will make them,,,, as they're beliefs that they grew up with, have more control in their minds, than their desire to search for the truth & the Real-ity...

???????????

.

[jnrmac 20,055]

So who is going to be the first sceptical person to come out and make a statement like "Robbo is employed in the marketing department for the club. Of course he is going to say something like this. It's his job"???

Surely someone will.

"Robbo is employed in the marketing department for the club. Of course he is going to say something like this. It's his job"???

[dee-luded 2,959]

I reckon they'd leave to go to a club that has the guts to follow through on what it has planned to do, and not give up half way through just because it gets hard due to public pressure.

... its a bit like the natives on the hill seeing a chopper flying past for the first time, & the volcano spews up some lava just after... the fear takes hold & all sorts of fantasies run rife.

Add some scaremongering, from vindictive individuals about... all of a sudden the supporters want to go back to safe ground that they are familiar with, even if its failed ground.

[Choko 493]

I don't have a problem with Robbo's comments, I think they were fine. I know he thinks the MFC is far a more professional FD under Neeld than it was under Bailey.

I think there is no doubt Neeld was saddled with a terrible list, culture issues, poor corporate structure and some bad luck. No-one fair minded could say that he can coach, but equally no-one fair minded could say he can't... Yet.

The thing I worry about is that as this crap was happening before our eyes since Daniher departed, it was obvious to those who knew how to look... yet most people, and the club itself, continued to believe all was well. When you went to a club function then, you could easily walk away believing we had great development coaches, a really switched on club and all was going well.

In short, I think it would be excellent if the club of the past 5 years was as good at doing its job as it was at selling how good it was at doing its job!

[Sir Why You Little 36,972]

I suggest you get your Dad down to the Transport at Fed Sq before the game on Sunday, here you will find supporters with all sorts of differing views of what is wrong/what went wrong/how to fix it........but they are standing behind the team right at this moment coz that is what is needed.........that is the disappointment I feel when posting on this board.........supporters who say they love the team and do nothing but pick holes in it from the Chairman down..........hindsight is a wonderful thing........but we have AGM annually, I have been to the last six or seven and the silence has been deafening

No. You don't get it....My Dad does not wqant to go anymore...he was there in '54 onwards.

He doesn't want to hear words that are not backed up anymore...Last weeks first half was his tipping point.

The only thing that will get my Dad back to see his Mighty Demons is Wins..

My dad is not a quitter, but he is [censored] off with the rubbish from the last 6 years.

[Sir Why You Little 36,972]

DL can you please stop posting as if i do not understand the Culture Rebuild...I Do.

I question whether we have employed the right people to do the job, and that is also taking in the horrendous list management mess they were handed.

WYL there Is no time like the present.

not many coaches are prepared to risk their potential careers, on a culture rebuild... its hard & dirty work, but its the Only Way to sort out the decades of 3rd gear efforts & lack of Professionalism.

I put it to you that if the club gives up on this hard Route, we will lose Misson & Craig, amongst others, who will leave to go to a Pro-gressive Club.

.

[Redleg 40,835]

Has it occured to you Pates that we are seeing their maximium ability.

IMO what you see is what we have.

The majority of our problems IMO stem from a poor list.

From our 40+ players we have approx. 12 that are good AFL standard, we have 6-7 kids who are in a development stage.

The rest are good VFL players.

End of story

That is as good a summary as one can make about the list. What you haven't addressed is the lack of effort in many games, that is not dependent on quality but rather attitude.

[dazzledavey36 54,279]

Robinson would really know about dropping his head, a cheap shot at a B&F winner, if this is his new role at the MFC he should go back to singing for his supper.

Before pot shotting a melbourne champ learn to spell his name bluey! Rack off

[Lordweaver 235]

Neeld & Craig may have both spoken well & truthfully last night

I hope they did. But without some visible improvement & some wins on the field it will be a hollow sell.

We have got to see something.

8 inside 50's in the first half last week is deplorable.

This is not written in a negative sense. It is the reality we are served up each week.

For Mark Neeld to keep his job, it is going to be a hard sell.

We cannot afford to lose our Queens Birthday Fixture.

seriously, you can't expect us to beat the pies, wait for round 13 and 14 saints and dogs to judge

[Sir Why You Little 36,972]

I don't expect to beat the Filth...i worry for the long term future of the
QB Fixture...it is going to be very ugly on June 10

seriously, you can't expect us to beat the pies, wait for round 13 and 14 saints and dogs to judge

[Sir Why You Little 36,972]

If Robbo is speaking the truth here and i have no reason to doubt it, then Moloney can get stuffed, he should NEVER be welcome back...A years salary he was happy to take & he sulked becauise he was not the captain.

Should have played at Casey all year in 2012.

It is a shame that the playing group could not turn him around...Not everyone can be captain, but the whole team can drink from the Cup.

Enjoy the Soulless Paddle Pops Brent....The jumper looks good on you.

[angrydee 842]

The club's rhetoric is good. The coaching and performance on the field is 10th rate

Let's hope hot air can win games and change culture

[deanox 9,898]

Culture change and winning games are related, but one follows the other. Until we get the culture right we won't win the games, and where we do win games they won't be the big ones.

WYL, I'm struggling to follow your arguments, you seen too accept that a culture change and rebuild is needed, you seen to acknowledge that these things take time, yet you seen most concerned with getting immediate results.

I don't think that both aims (culture change and immediate results) can be achieved together, not when our supposed on field leaders leave the club in the lurch instead of helping us get to the top, and definitely not without the culture change taking even longer.

[Sir Why You Little 36,972]

I agree..And for this i blame the CLUB for the deplorable state of the list...it is not as if we did not recieve assistance....we completely blew that & blew a few $mill it seems

The Culture change is needed just as much off field as on.

That still does not give any answers to the LACK OF EFFORT by the players on the field.

LACK OF EFFORT to learn

LACK OF EFFORT to execute on the field...i do not expect the execution to be spot on yet, BUT the efforts have not increased since Round one 2012

That falls on the Head Coach and his assistants

Culture change and winning games are related, but one follows the other. Until we get the culture right we won't win the games, and where we do win games they won't be the big ones.

WYL, I'm struggling to follow your arguments, you seen too accept that a culture change and rebuild is needed, you seen to acknowledge that these things take time, yet you seen most concerned with getting immediate results.

I don't think that both aims (culture change and immediate results) can be achieved together, not when our supposed on field leaders leave the club in the lurch instead of helping us get to the top, and definitely not without the culture change taking even longer.

[pikeout 41]

Best discussion I've read in a long time. Thanks to the contributors. Hope it stays on track.

[deanox 9,898]

Fair comments, all of them, although I think some of saty's comments today, particularly relating Neeld and Craig's description of how they had to convince the players to maintain their structures after half time explains some of it in terms of onfield experience.

It hurts when they look like they aren't running for each other or for us.

I am not sure what benefits starting another rebuild mid season will give us when this one hasn't been given a chance to get off the ground. I imagine any new football department would bee in a similar boat to this one, perhaps the fact that some of the foundations of culture change has been laid would assist them.

[pm24 451]

If Robbo is speaking the truth here and i have no reason to doubt it, then Moloney can get stuffed, he should NEVER be welcome back...A years salary he was happy to take & he sulked becauise he was not the captain.

Should have played at Casey all year in 2012.

It is a shame that the playing group could not turn him around...Not everyone can be captain, but the whole team can drink from the Cup.

Enjoy the Soulless Paddle Pops Brent....The jumper looks good on you.

Can't help but think that it's pretty obvious why the playing group didn't vote him for the leadership group if this is how he behaved.

Damn straight he shouldn't be part of the leadership group if he just sulks when he doesn't get what he thinks he deserves.

[Sir Why You Little 36,972]

An experienced Coach would have got this in place last year.....Look at The Shockers...Took them about 6 weeks to sort out the Ross Lyon way.

A lot of this the players should be able to sort out themselves over team meetings and dinners....

If Neeld has made no impression on the field up until now (which he hasn't sadly) why must we endure another 13 weeks of wasted tiume??

A good respected communicator would have got the team motivated to play for each other...Not scared to run in case it's the wrong place...That is the Fault of the Coaches. And it is very hard to change a teaching style mid stream.

Fair comments, all of them, although I think some of saty's comments today, particularly relating Neeld and Craig's description of how they had to convince the players to maintain their structures after half time explains some of it in terms of onfield experience.

It hurts when they look like they aren't running for each other or for us.

I am not sure what benefits starting another rebuild mid season will give us when this one hasn't been given a chance to get off the ground. I imagine any new football department would bee in a similar boat to this one, perhaps the fact that some of the foundations of culture change has been laid would assist them.

[deanox 9,898]

An experienced Coach would have got this in place last year.....Look at The Shockers...Took them about 6 weeks to sort out the Ross Lyon way.

A lot of this the players should be able to sort out themselves over team meetings and dinners....

If Neeld has made no impression on the field up until now (which he hasn't sadly) why must we endure another 13 weeks of wasted tiume??

A good respected communicator would have got the team motivated to play for each other...Not scared to run in case it's the wrong place...That is the Fault of the Coaches. And it is very hard to change a teaching style mid stream.

Agree with a lot of that but malthouse and Ross Lyon were the only two experienced available coaches and we didn't exactly have a chance at either of them unfortunately.

At this stage, if we have Paul Roos putting up his hand to take over I think it should be considered, but I haven't heard any other reasonable available options. Neeld may not have been the first preference but he may have been, and may still be, best available for us.

[demon3165 2,711]

An experienced Coach would have got this in place last year.....Look at The Shockers...Took them about 6 weeks to sort out the Ross Lyon way.

A lot of this the players should be able to sort out themselves over team meetings and dinners....

If Neeld has made no impression on the field up until now (which he hasn't sadly) why must we endure another 13 weeks of wasted tiume??

A good respected communicator would have got the team motivated to play for each other...Not scared to run in case it's the wrong place...That is the Fault of the Coaches. And it is very hard to change a teaching style mid stream.

WYL your seriously are not trying to compare our list to theirs are you? all they had to work on is structures not how to train, think and play like an elite side.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,175]

The whole reason this board is falling to bits is comments like the above, but never mind, so here goes

I went to a forum last night organised by the Club, in attendance were Mark Neeld, Neil Craig and Nathan Jones, they were asked questions by Robbo and then audience members were able to ask questions as well

One of the questions (persistently) was about the leadership

Mark Neeld said there was a listing of 10 behaviours, and every member of the Footy Dept rated all 44 players, Trengove and Grimes came out on top and you can assume the rest of the leadership group were below them, the point was made this exercise was done twice and the gap between Trengove and Grimes and the rest narroved over time, think it was first up at pre season and post Darwin

There were lots of other questions as well, covering quite a few subjects

So did the FD choose the captains or did the players?

[Moonshadow 17,675]

An experienced Coach would have got this in place last year.....Look at The Shockers...Took them about 6 weeks to sort out the Ross Lyon way.

A lot of this the players should be able to sort out themselves over team meetings and dinners....

If Neeld has made no impression on the field up until now (which he hasn't sadly) why must we endure another 13 weeks of wasted tiume??

A good respected communicator would have got the team motivated to play for each other...Not scared to run in case it's the wrong place...That is the Fault of the Coaches. And it is very hard to change a teaching style mid stream.

The experience part of the coaching mix is Craig. He's overlooking everything that Neeld does. These two are inseparable a lot of the time. I think Craig is a true mentor to Neeld in the sense that he's not telling him what to do, but guiding and explaining.

We don't have the quality and fitness in our list that Freo has. Except for Nate Jones, we have no midfielders that would get a game with them IMO, and they'd be playing Toumpas and Viney in the ressies this year for development rather than throwing them into the deep end.

[Harrisonrules 273]

Robbo has just recently been employed by the club. That is fantastic. I understand his role is to help with the promotion of the club for financial purposes. To spruik on the interior dynamics of player relationships can hardly be reliable for he is speaking of what he has been told. One side of the equation remains untold. People pick up information from a range of sources such as family members. There is loads more than the spin that comes from any one person.

What do people make of the information now in the public domain that jarrod rivers was offered a mere 100.000 to stay. No not 100.000 extra to stay. 100.000 in total.

As I say there is so much more than any one knows.

The MFC community has drastically broken down.

[Sir Why You Little 36,972]

And why is our list so shabby....The Club let it become that way, which is why a lot of them have to go.

I do not trust them a second time around..

You are still not addressing the EFFORT our list REFUSES to show.

The Shockers may have more skill (what a disgraceful concept) but our effort should be no different...& that must be the fault of the Coach(s)

WYL your seriously are not trying to compare our list to theirs are you? all they had to work on is structures not how to train, think and play like an elite side.