This season has been a disaster - to date, at least.

Made me think, what would I like to see before the next pre season commences? Realistically, that is.

1. Number one priority - re-sign Sylvia and Watts, and contract extensions for the likes of Frawley, Hogan and Gawn (ie, keep all required players).

2. Get some experience and stability into the football department. It's hard to see Mark Neeld at the helm in 2014, but any transition must be handled sensitively and effectively. If Neeld is to go, he must be allowed to go with some dignity. And the new coach must absolutely be the guy to lead us for the next 4 plus years, and he must be someone who inspires confidence with the players and supporters alike. In short, we cannot afford another failed appointment.

Mark Williams and Junior McDonald seems like an obvious combination and an easy sell (I would be very happy), but the club obviously needs to ensure we absolutely nail the appointment this time.

3. Retain all major sponsors - and shows some genuine signs of returning to 'surplus' in 2014.

4. Draft really well, including securing a couple of really solid, experienced midfielders from other AFL clubs.

Not to much to ask. Surely ...

Wins, wins and more bloody wins

Edited June 4, 201312 yr by Gorgoroth

I don't think 'the happy scenario' is the one you get.

You might get a few of these things but not all.

Everything stems from performances - the confidence of the club and its stakeholders is dependent on what happens on the weekend.

I want to string together some AFL standard performances.

It all flows from there - keeping players and sponsors, attracting players and coaches, retaining support and memberships, and selling some hope.

Oh, and one more thing:

Don't ever tell me that Jack Viney and/or Jesse Hogan and/or Dimitri Toumpas and/or Pick 2 in the up coming draft will return this club to where it should be. They will be a part of it - but they are not here for our salvation. We are providing these boys with an environment to make their professional lives better and worthy. We have to, collectively, save ourselves, not rely on Tomorrow's Superman they may we always do.

Respect.

I'd like to believe that all levels of the club are on the same page.

I haven't seen that for a long while now, so to see 3 or so months of that would refuel the fire in my belly.

I need it. I'm beat. I really don't have much left but frustration so I need hope - real hope - and not words but actions.

90 days of that will make a big, big difference.

I want to see us start to play More combative & intuitive.

I want to see Mitch Clark back in the forwardline with Dawes, Howe pushing up from the flank & Watts pushing up from the pocket to high half forward.

- Get Frawley to sign a contract extension.
- Get Sylvia to sign a contract extension.

- Acquire Dale Thomas via Free Agency.
- Trade all high draft picks for establish midfielders. Getting more kids is won't help us as we can't develop them, and we are now running out of time as a club battling to survive again.

On-field performance is pretty much irrelevant at this stage. The team this year is probably the worst team I've seen play in the AFL for 25-30 years. We won't make finals. We don't play an enjoyable brand of football to watch. I'm going to go into football hibernation until the end of the year and hope we can do the above mentioned to steady our list and put forward an AFL standard team next year.

During the season:

Competitive performances, honourable losses and 3 more wins to finish with 4 for the season.

Increase our disposal count and uncontested possessions (I.e. chains of possessions)

Mitch Clark to return successfully at the 8 week mark and play the last half dozen with Dawes.

Sylvia and Watts to re-sign. I'm not as concerned with Frawley and Hogan as we still have a year or two to run on those contracts.

Post season:

Land a big name, big possession winning midfielder who has at least 5 years left in their career. We can and should be willing to pay significant overs in trade value and in contact value if required.

Land a young gun mid, preferably from another club I.e. GCS or GWS, but if not, draft is ok (ie first round pick type gun mid)

Start playing as a team and win as many games as we can. Hopefully a few at least.

By the end of the season or shortly after, we will hopefully have a well structured FD, with the right people in place and a Board that has a clear vision and is well led.

Ideally, the new CEO will have set us on a pathway of relevancy and viability and in the process, he unites the club.

Not lose any players that we don't want to lose. Pick up 2 or 3 reasonable midfielders from the list of free agents or with trades. To snag a top notch midfielder is a big ask but we have to at least make an offer or 2. If a priority pick comes our way, well and good.

Edited June 4, 201312 yr by Macca

Respect.

It's gonna take a while to win that back. Certainly longer than the rest of this season.

I know we all want an experienced A grade (or perhaps even B grade) midfielder, but don't think we should be holding our breath.

The decent players who change clubs are generally KP players or talls (Dawes, Hale, Lynch, Pedersen) where there are only 2 or 3 in a team, so it's easy enough to find yourself with reduced opportunities. On the other hand, clubs can easily fit half a dozen or more mids into a team, so being 3rd or 4th pick will still get you regular game time.

I don't know that the likes of Farren Ray would have made all that much difference to us this year, not on the field anyway, but he's the type of mid that is and will be available.

Hope I'm wrong, but based on previous years' trading and availabilities, don't really see it. Goddard was an exception.

Have a win so we can see Neeldy smile and the media lay off him for a week.

See Dawes and Clarke finally play together and show us what a great combo they will be

Have a win so we can see Neeldy smile and the media lay off him for a week.

See Dawes and Clarke finally play together and show us what a great combo they will be

Love to see that.

Marked improvement

** Note to Neeld winning 1 quarter in a 90 point smashing isn't improvement"

To minimise losses to under 100 points and not have injuries to kids.

To draft, steal or extrude a midfield.

To see the board replaced.

Maybe, just maybe, to somehow find anyone competent to work at the MFC - FD particularly.

To fight and fight and fight , to never give up, to focus on the major issues and not take the easy road and go those who are trying to fix the problem.

Win some games.

See Toumpas and Viney come into the side after the bye and blossom.

Re-sign Colin Sylvia and Jack Watts.

Frawley extend his contract beyond 2014.

Edited June 4, 201312 yr by hogans_heroes

Grab 5 more wins: Dogsx2, Saints, Brisbane & GWS

No more losses under 10 goals.

Put a fright into all the other teams we face with hard fought performances that they have to fight tooth and nail to get over the line in.

Clark and Dawes to have at least 6 games together at the end of the year and have them kick 10 combined in at least 1 game as a sign of things to come for the following season.

Secure Sylvia & Watts on 3 year deals.

Gawn & Taggert on 2 year deals.

Secure all major sponsors.

After encouraging finish to the season, Neeld at least able to start the final year of his contract, meaning even if he is sacked next year any pay out would be reduced.

Re-structure of the footy department with clear roles for all.

Partial un-contested spill of the board with some new blood coming in. Argus for example. And Freeman to become new president.

Go hard for Daisy Thomas.

Don't trade early picks for the sake of it, make sure any trade is balanced. No harm in securing a Daniel Cross for example as a free agent.

Well I've already seen the first thing I've wanted:

Strong Leadership from the CEO, and a contract extension until 2014 for Peter Jackson. Hopefully he can sought out our weak, gutless board he is just reactive to the pressures of the media and supporter base.

After that:

At least 3 more wins for the season

No more 10+ goal losses

Consistent effort from all players including a willingness to do the team thing

Watts to establish himself as a key player (this may not happen yet) for the club

Use the draft to pick the best midfielders available (experienced or juniors)

Continue the cull of those on the list not up to scratch

Strong returns from injury for Clark, Grimes, and Frawley.

Blease to get a strong run in the side for a number of weeks because he is able to show consistent effort defensively and offensively.

Give Neeld some "clean air" to coach once the revamped football department has been put in place, and make no further decision on his tenure until he has been given a legitimate chance to demonstrate if he is the right coach within that revamped structure. This is massive to me. The main reason is because if we continue to act the way we have with Coaches we will be an extremely unattractive prospect for future coaches considering our club. Time to start treating them right.

Wins. Look at our draw, we have no excuse not to win a couple of games. Get Grimes, Clark, Viney and Sylvia back on the park and get some wins!

I'd also like to see us stick with Neeld till close to the end of the year - sacking him after Queens Birthday after the soap opera of this week would be poor form

1) To win against St. Kilda and Bulldogs

2) See Davey's fitness at AFL level - the experience, leadership and spirit (apart from Tappy the only guy who backs up team mates) he provides is invaluable

3) Tommy Mac get some more experience. He was playing a bit better pre shoulder, its a long journey but considering the ball will be down there 90% of the game its a great chance to work on them.

4) I'd like to see Kent used similar to how Brisbane uses Rich. Next year we have a pretty formidable forward line up (Clark, Dawes, Hogan, Howe or Watts) but Kent's long bomb can make us more dangerous.

5) Re sign Silvia - priority

6) Keep Watts - basically a utility player, would like to see what he can do on the wind

7) Look for full bodied mids in the draft - we went for an undeveloped but skilled mid (Toumpas) last year which is good, but time to get a full bodied one this year

8) More effort

9) New leadership squad - I'm happy with the Jacks but would be nice to give some players more responsibilities and get a good leadership squad around them

10) To win against the Bulldogs (we play WBD twice)

What I want is the fairy tale, but in the world of realism I’ll settle for the following:

- The board to restructure the football department under the guidance of Peter Jackson. No ifs, not buts, just do what the man says

- McLardy to stand up to the media, tell them to lay off the coach and get a real job. Publically back Neeld until at least the end of the season and give him the clear air he needs so we can see if he actually is the person for the job

- On field performances to improve to the point where we are no longer losing by 60+ points

- Win at least 3 more games. Looking at our draw I would say we have 5 definitely winnable games to come, I’d consider winning 3 of them acceptable, as long as we’re not blown out of the water in the others

- Mitch Clark and Chris Dawes operating in the same forward line

- Grimes, Frawley, Viney and TMac recover from their injuries and get back in the team

- Re-sign Colin Sylvia and Jack Watts and tell James Frawley there’s no way we’ll be trading him during the off season

Once the season is over with:

- A credible ticket to present itself and force a spill of the board so we can get rid of them. They cannot be allowed to blunder along any more

More wins than last year would be nice but it'll take a big rise in effort, intensity and skill to see them.

Currently my post match behaviour consists of inhaling anything remotely alcoholic with fellow carping, bitter, recriminatory, pathetic, slobbering down in the mouth types constantly threatening to blow up their membership cards.

Whereas I would love the camaraderie and bonhomie of sharing celebratory post match drinks with an ever increasing group of fellow upbeat and positive demoniacs.

agree with resigning of Watts and Sylvia as well as some wins!

But importantly. really want to see significant development in the second half of the year from the following players:

Strauss, Blease, Tappscott, Taggert, Tom McD, Bail, Watts, Trengove, McKenzie, Kent, Evans, Gawn, Howe & Fitzpatrick...... it is this group of players with a few years under their belt that are crucial to our rise up the ladder. If they can all show significant improvement and start reaching their potential this will help us start winning games.