One thing about all the pain we went though, it made last year even better. 

OOOhhhh yes it was...

I will repeat this :

I went to a pre season game and purchased a pie just before that start.  By the time I finished eating the pie I came to the correct conclusion that the season was already over.

It was fun beating Essendon. The only problem was losing nine games before it and about 200 after.

22 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

Couldn't coach.  Couldn't sing.

Send the post straight to the grammar police thread.

Look, was the Neeld era horrible? Yes. What it also terrible? Yes. Did it age all of us 10 years? Yes. But have we got many LOLs out of it since? Also no. 

Edited July 29, 20222 yr by Jaded No More

The only good thing about the Mark Neeld era was that it came to an end.

Amazing how a bloke could inflict 5 years damage in the space of only 1.5 years.

8 hours ago, mauriesy said:

There was only one bit of brightness in Mark Neeld's coaching and that was the 2012 match against Essendon when we were bottom and they were top, and we won.

Yep that's what I was going to say. We beat Essendon

Can remember any positives, my lasting memory is that he had 2 desks in his office and talked alot about a reality bus.

8 hours ago, mauriesy said:

There was only one bit of brightness in Mark Neeld's coaching and that was the 2012 match against Essendon when we were bottom and they were top, and we won.

I'd like to throw in the pre-season game against the previous years premier collingwood, that we won.
Other than that .... I've got nothing.

I guess you could say it was a positive in the same way that Black Plague was great for Europe in that it created labor shortages which saw the emergence of a middle class in that continent.

It’s just a shame people had to die in unimaginable agony while hacking their lungs up to do so.😳

43 minutes ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

I guess you could say it was a positive in the same way that Black Plague was great for Europe in that it created labor shortages which saw the emergence of a middle class in that continent.

It’s just a shame people had to die in unimaginable agony while hacking their lungs up to do so.😳

Well at least Melbourne players didn't have pupas and sing rig a Ring a Rosey It certainly was a bleak time though

21 minutes ago, Mydee said:

Well at least Melbourne players didn't have pupas and sing rig a Ring a Rosey It certainly was a bleak time though

The first one we can dismiss. Some of the bizarre stuff that happened during that one and a year stretch, we can’t rule out the singing entirely. 😄

I remember really clearly that Neeld was gobsmacked at our poor pre season training standards and returning fitness level. So he when complete nuts and made the training standards really strict. He actually did that well.

The rest was a total mess. 

Unhappy players, huge losses, dysfunctional play, really poor skills, captains too young, low membership, a coach who couldn't communicate, etc... I remember emailing the club (1st and only time ever) asking them to give me a reason why I should renew my membership.

 

24 minutes ago, Maldonboy38 said:

I remember emailing the club (1st and only time ever) asking them to give me a reason why I should renew my membership.

 

Out of curiosity, after what game?

I wrote my first and (hopefully) last angry email to the club after our 101 point loss to the Swans in Sydney in 2012.

Neeld was out of his depth as a coach but we had a very ordinary list and the club itself had any number of issues

So I'm loath to just blame one person.  CS was seen as a below average CEO and of course was replaced before Neeld (by PJ) 

But if Neeld was chiefly responsible for the acquisition of Jason Taylor then kudos to him

We've got a lot to thank Taylor for and one could argue that he is our most important appointment from 2012 onwards.  MVP?  He'd go close

He's a gun recruiter who is arguably the best in the business.  Got the Midas touch

10 hours ago, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Out of curiosity, after what game?

I wrote my first and (hopefully) last angry email to the club after our 101 point loss to the Swans in Sydney in 2012.

From memory, the email wasn't after a particular game, more a build up over a series of disaster games. I saw the huge Essendon loss, WCE loss and Hawks loss and every time they were on TV (which was rare) we were embarrassing. My daughter was just getting into footy, and my entire family once caught the Dee-train from the city of Casey to the game to watch a massive loss. I thought, what is the point?

To give them credit, I did get a response and it wasn't a generic email but a response to my questions. 

I did sign on again. couldn't help myself. But it was more about my defiant sense of continual membership than it was about enjoyment. 

Ah . . . Windows 2012. Plasma panel thrown out of the 12th floor window.

On 7/29/2022 at 7:34 AM, dazzledavey36 said:

Not all hero's wear capes.

 

On 7/29/2022 at 9:43 AM, mauriesy said:

There was only one bit of brightness in Mark Neeld's coaching and that was the 2012 match against Essendon when we were bottom and they were top, and we won.

Yes, l recall that vividly, it was the night my son was born and my wife held on long enough for me to see the whole game after she broke her water ... 

As good as Taylor has been, numerous good drafting was overseen by Roos as well.

On 7/30/2022 at 2:06 PM, Colin B. Flaubert said:

 

Neeld could have used Frank Costanza's lawyer.