Before people shoot this thread down by saying it will never happen, please consider that he openly stated on radio that he was 'interested' in the melboune coaching position (2012) but was never approached by the MFC.

Right now, our club needs Leigh Matthews. He is arguably the greatest player of all time, has won 4 premierships as a coach and is still heavily involved in football analysis and is super intelligent and will remove all doubt and division from our supporters by eliminating the 'can he or can't he coach' question.

I keenly listen to him on radio, and have found him to have his finger right on the pulse, to the extent that it is very hard to argue against his opinions. His presence alone will unite our club - supporters and players.

With lethal as head coach, we can halve our coaching department and focus most of the coaching budget towards the head coach himself. Dare I say, a man like lethal barely needs assistant coaches.

Leigh understands the emotional and spiritual element to football, he is super tough and can quickly turn a bunch of losers into world beaters, ie, Brisbane, "if it bleeds we can kill it".

He is also tactically elite, he starts from defensive attacking strengths. With the lions, he put his best attacking players down back, and created a fierce attacking backline. This created drive thru the midfield and was capped off by penetrating kicks down forward.

Leigh is able to get the best out of his players and tailors roles specifically to his players strength. He works with what he has, and makes the team feel fierce and invincible. Some say he inherited a super team, others say he allowed a team to become super. I still think that our team can be super.

We must persue lethal, and at least ask him if he is interested, for if he is interested and wants to coach us, it would be negligent not to give him the position of head coach.

Presidents, the board, ceo's are very important, but nothing wins games of football like a "great" coach. And who could argue that Leigh Matthews is not one of the greatest football individuals in the history of the game.

Nb, he even looks like a demon.

Nbb, he is only 61.

How sad that he wasnt even approached last time around, and we got Neeld instead.

Two legends of the game we have burned (sheedy, matthews) and hired 2 absolute duds instead.

The common denominator in these failures - Garry Lyon.

It's now time to look forward, no use crying over spilt milk.

Get Him Now

I think Leigh would be a great choice but....

He isn't a ten year coach. There would need to be a succession plan. While he might have his finger on the pulse, he should be bought in to finally eradicate the cultural issues that have plagued us post Daniher.

would be able to get at least 5 years i reckon

Like listening to two cats having a scrap.............

I don't know that a ten year term should be our first criteria for a coach

Lethal is tough, respected and a winner. We need all of those qualities

Not sure hes up to the MFC standard.

Too over qualified for MFC as well like to mold new talent, so what your second choice?

Edited June 14, 201312 yr by TheBigFrog

Go back .... Look at the length of their coaching careers & who they coached ....maybe neeld deserves a chance .... I mean where does the next crop of super coaches come from? You can't just repeatedly sack every new rookie coach who doesn't do well in his first couple of years. A lot of these sackings come from disgruntled coterie groups who unfortunately tip in heaps of money then think it gives them the right to run the club. Why would you possibly want a Leigh Matthews or a sheedy.... Their time was a long time ago....their comments border on eccentricity & we accept this because of past reputations ( a situation very peculiar to afl). Neither of these people would be good for our club, maybe in terms of marketing, but definitely not on field. There is absolutely no super coach out there who will turn our team into a super team before their time. I will believe the players that believe in neeld & his coaching team & will back him until the end of his tenure. If supporters choose to drop off,they are fickle, try & generate the same passion for another team .have a chat to a fitzroy, south melb supporter &ask whether those premierships would have been sweeter under their original club than a blended club. I think not. Constructive criticism, yes, negative criticism, no. Bleed for the players who care.....we will get there !!

Sorry , I can't get the vision out of my mind of Lethal king-hitting Peter Giles from behind .

The issue isn't whether isn't if he can coach ten years or not. The issue more is if there is a suitable replacement waiting in the wings when he decides to move on (which I suggest will be 3 years at minimum, 5 years at maximum). I just put the number 10 year coach out there as a figure.

Go back .... Look at the length of their coaching careers & who they coached ....maybe neeld deserves a chance .... I mean where does the next crop of super coaches come from? You can't just repeatedly sack every new rookie coach who doesn't do well in his first couple of years. A lot of these sackings come from disgruntled coterie groups who unfortunately tip in heaps of money then think it gives them the right to run the club. Why would you possibly want a Leigh Matthews or a sheedy.... Their time was a long time ago....their comments border on eccentricity & we accept this because of past reputations ( a situation very peculiar to afl). Neither of these people would be good for our club, maybe in terms of marketing, but definitely not on field. There is absolutely no super coach out there who will turn our team into a super team before their time. I will believe the players that believe in neeld & his coaching team & will back him until the end of his tenure. If supporters choose to drop off,they are fickle, try & generate the same passion for another team .have a chat to a fitzroy, south melb supporter &ask whether those premierships would have been sweeter under their original club than a blended club. I think not. Constructive criticism, yes, negative criticism, no. Bleed for the players who care.....we will get there !!

If Leigh was available,, grab him.. quick... we missed him in the late 90's, & if we had of had him, we may well have Won that 2000 Grand Final, & who's to say there after.

He would have changed those players who became bruise free... & our whole future from that time would have been different than it has been.

# Maybe Neeld would like to assist one Lethal Leigh..... he could do a lot worse, than work alongside one of the Legends.

Sorry , I can't get the vision out of my mind of Lethal king-hitting Peter Giles from behind .

thats alright, you'll get over it.

Mitch Clark says welcome.

What a dog of a player he was, one of the dirtiest I've seen. Hated him with a passion after he whacked Smith in front of me.

Would love to have him as coach, badly wanted him to replace Bailey.

It's a yes from me.

If he can get the players to walk an inch taller and run a bit harder, then he's the one for me. Too many of our problems are between the ears.

What a dog of a player he was, one of the dirtiest I've seen. Hated him with a passion after he whacked Smith in front of me.

Would love to have him as coach, badly wanted him to replace Bailey.

I was there when he got Smith. Jarratt squared up. He got Giles a beauty too.

But I missed him at his best. No doubt he's the best of all time. Carey is the best I've seen, but one can't argue with Matthews' getting the nod.

What a dog of a player he was, one of the dirtiest I've seen. Hated him with a passion after he whacked Smith in front of me.

Would love to have him as coach, badly wanted him to replace Bailey.

I wanted him to replace Balme, we couldn't, or wouldn't?

then Danners came along, who I liked, so I settled,,, wish I didn't, what a mistake...

we learn, hopefully, & live successfully?

I've met Leigh a few times, and you respect the hardness of the guy, but he does have an expiry date attached, I wouldn't like another Barrassi situation. And there were some conferencing stories about why he left collingwood when he did.

Personally I think Neeld has the same 'tough love' approach, not sure we'd see significant difference, except he'd be given a fraction more time by the media, and remember when he got to Brisbane they had really benefitted from Fitzroy's best players.

Every week I'm seeing less bruise free football from our team, this is an improvement I'm happy with, decision making and footy use is the biggest box to tick now, and I think Craig will get us there.

One strong upside to LM though would be the FD would toe the line, I think we'd only have one chef.

I wanted him desperately before Neeld. I have grave doubts that he would be interested, but the right appeals to his ego (the trifecta - breaks the drought at the filth, first premierships x3 @ lions and saviour at the demons - the mythology would go gangbusters) and who knows.

I would then forgive him for Giles and Smith.

Edited June 14, 201312 yr by angrydee

Re lethal, I know he hasn't been out of the coaching game "that long", but I feel there have been significant shifts in tactics and potentially fitness levels since he left. He should be able to help with "culture" although Brisbane have become a rabble after he left. He didn't rate Mitch Clark when we got him either. Hee would need some up to date assistants coming out of Sydney and/or Geelong to make sure he was on top of current practices - yes he will be able to pick it back up but info from current coaches is required.

Also, regardless of what happens in the coaching stakes, o hope we keep Misson. He has been involved in so many successful teams and has such a good track record that I think we'd be mad to let him go because he is party of this regime.

Sorry , I can't get the vision out of my mind of Lethal king-hitting Peter Giles from behind .

thank you - common sense at last

Sorry , I can't get the vision out of my mind of Lethal king-hitting Peter Giles from behind .

Or Bruns.