stick with the kids

[Guest baysidedave]

ND should now realise the years gone and stick with all the young blokes, sign him up and go with the young kids

[sylvinator 96]

i agree...we cannot make finals this year and we certainly cannot win the flag!

therefore, i propose we play the kids, even though playing our more experienced players will make us more competative. it might mean this season will be painful, but it means we get a talented draft pick next year (i'm sick of having picks like 12,14,15,16 like we have had in past years...would be nice to have a top 5 so we can pick up a gem (ala mclean pick 5)

so...drop players like ward, brown, holland and do not play bizzel. this is a harsh call because they will have better output than our youngsters, but decisions must be made if we are to go for a premiership next 2 years. also, if we are going to get this premiership, our youngsters need atleast 50 games under their belts coming into 2009 because otherwise they won't have as big an impact.

decisions must also be made on fringe players. imo i would not play ferguson, jamar, or wheatley again and delist at season's end. similar decisions could be make regarding pickkett, warnok, godfrey and C. Johnson. All these players could be really good for mfc, but perhaps a hard decision must be made.

My best 22 (with all players available) that should be played for the rest of the season. (Note: this is not the best 22 i would play if we had a chance for the finals!)

FB: Whelan, Carrol, Frawley

HB Pettard, Rivers, Bell

C: N. Jones, Mclean, Johnstone

HF: Bate, Dunn, Green

FF: Robertson, Neitz, Davey

Fol: White, Bruce, McDonald

Interchange: Miller, P. Johnson, C.Sylvia, B. Moloney, A. Yze, C. Bartram, Buckley, Newton

Emergency (i.e. next in line to come in when injuries occur, but hard decisions must be made regarding them at seasons end): C.Johnson, M. Warnock, Godfrey

Developing (not quite ready for seniors yet)- Weetra, Neville, Garland, Hughes, Neaves, Bode

Players to not play again this season (despite probably giving better output than the youngsters)- N. Brown, Ward, Ferguson, Jamar, Bizzel, Pickett, Wheatley

it's harsh but when we add another 200 game mcleanesk player to our list next season and have 20 more games into our youngsters people will look back and be thankful.

thoughts?

[Demon2 58]

ND should now realise the years gone and stick with all the young blokes, sign him up and go with the young kids

sign who up??? Daners...

no thanks..10 years is enough time....he can't taint another batch...especially since this one looks the goods

[45HG 1,539]

looks the goods? he turned the last batch that 'looked the goods' into grandfinalists and club culture away from a premiership. second most succesful vic coach of the past decade.

[Demon2 58]

looks the goods? he turned the last batch that 'looked the goods' into grandfinalists and club culture away from a premiership. second most succesful vic coach of the past decade.

the GF was 7 years ago...Bruce..green had awesome season...they haven't improved since...

what have we done since the GF???

and sorry but i consider success to be GF not elimination finals

[tooly 0]

ND should now realise the years gone and stick with all the young blokes, sign him up and go with the young kids

Sign him up for what reason! stop the love and win a flag!!!!

BUY BUY you done your best time to go

[45HG 1,539]

add victorian wins in the past 10 years.

i don't get people that want to kick the coach off for any alternative. no victorian coach has found bigger sucess, save sheedy, and yet we think daniher has wrecked us. 2000 we shouldnt have made the granny yet still did through innovative coaching. what victorian club has had as much continual success as us in the past decade?

[sylvinator 96]

we have made finals 4 out of the last 5 seasons with a limited list.

we do not have 1 star in our team, and this is the reason we have not been real premiership contenders the last few years. the premiers (in fact all top 4 teams) have atleast a few stars...and no1 say sydney doesnt have stars because they have many, including hall, goodes, kirk and o'loughlin, while we have not a single champion...

daniher cannot create champions, you cannot develop a mediocre player into a chamption, so with what he has had on offer he has done quite well...i still think 10 years without a premiership is too long and he should step down at season's end, for the simple need for change if nothing else...

BUT, can we please stay on topic!!!!!!!

should we play our youngsters and leave guyz like ward, brown, and co to rot in sandy depite being more capable of impacting a match than our 18 year olds...

i think so (look at my post above)

[45HG 1,539]

yeah i agree, esp. considering how our youngsters try so hard

[Gorgoroth 12,712]

ND will play those players over kids cos his coaching future relies on it

[deanox 9,678]

those players will be the first to go when mclean, rivers, wheelan, robertson and pickett are ready to come in. and he will continue to play the kids that are performing and deserve to be given a run at afl...

[Gotta be the year 0]

FB: Whelan, Carrol, Frawley

I think you are being kind to Whelan.

[godees 817]

I think you are being kind to Whelan.

You have got to be kidding me! You just wait til he is fit again - he is a vital member of our defence and at 27 still has plenty of years left.

Re: Brown. When it comes to Brown I don't want kids played ahead of him just bc he is old, IF he is playing well (as he has been for the last few weeks). He plays his heart out for the team and that MUST be rewarded. We MUST encourage our players to fight the way he does (and Godfrey) and reward them when they do.

[Guest baysidedave]

sign who up??? Daners...

no thanks..10 years is enough time....he can't taint another batch...especially since this one looks the goods

I've been one that wants ND out but I'm starting to change my mind, theres some really good young blokes in our team now and they will be good soon and he could be the one to take them forward, but then again young blood in the coaches box ?????

[deanox 9,678]

i think when you look at danners tenure you realise that he has always been left with a hole somewhere. the lost draft picks over salary cap issues a few years ago really cost us. everyone talks about how we have a couple of great oldies and a really good bunch of 18-22, but nothing in that 25-27 region well that is exactly why. thats the group we missed out on. the pending retirements of neitz, white, yze et al will end that old guard, and leave the young group (brock et al) to take charge of the club. if we keep bringing in youngsters like petterd, bartram, frawley, dunn etc we look like having a bright future...i am not either way on ND yet but could see why he could get another gig...

[praha 11,131]

Daniher won't be at the MFC next year, or any other AFL club. My bet is 2009 he will be somewhere else, around the same time we will win the flag....seriously.

[Rogue 585]

Emergency (i.e. next in line to come in when injuries occur, but hard decisions must be made regarding them at seasons end): C.Johnson, M. Warnock, Godfrey

thoughts?

CJ may as well pack his bags [in this ficitious world where you're choosing the team ]

[jacey 333]

i agree...we cannot make finals this year and we certainly cannot win the flag!

therefore, i propose we play the kids...

There's no point playing the kids for the hell of playing them. If they aren't ready, they shouldn't be picked.

However at 0-8, CJ should be given the chance to show what he's got till the end of the season.

Petterd, Dunn, Jones, Sylvia, Bell, Frawley, Bate, Bartram to continue on their merry way.

Buckley, Newton to have a stint some time later this year.

The rest are way off and hopefully will show something at Sandy.

[dazzledavey36 52,908]

sweet avater!! if only it could come true one day

[DemonDoug 0]

I agree, some of the older players, although solid triers, are just going to get us anywhere. You have to turn players over and hope you might find one or two real match winners. Its so hard to judge ND's performance. If you judge him by the standards of West Coast, Adelaide, Brisbane etc, he should go, but when you look at his results compared with the last 42 years at Melbourne, it does not look too bad. The knockers of today may not remember that between 1965 and 1987 we did not make the finals even once. So finals in 4 of the last 5 seasons does not seem too bad (mind you, none of those were top 4 finishes).

[pantaloons 2,019]

I feel for those who have to make the call on Daniher at the end of the season - I'm glad its not my decision. Whatever they do, they'll have a lot of angry members wanting to make a lot of noise and incinerate their memberships.

I'll make a few points on Neale from my perspective, some of which have been mentioned already:

Neale took over a team at a time when the club had just won the wooden spoon with four wins and a percentage of about 12. The club was in complete disarray and Joe Gutnick, for all the good he did the club, didn't make life any easier for Neale with his chronic verbal diarrhoea in the media. He not only survived a club which was unstable off the field, but then had to contend with salary cap penalties, the likes of which Carlton have blamed for their current vomitous plight, while the Dees went about picking Green at 19, Wheatley at 20, Whelan at 50 and Bruce at 64, all 100+ game players.

Neale's sides have made the finals in 6 of his 9 years as coach. I agree that 10 years is a very long time to coach a side without a premiership, but if we are basing his sacking on not winning the flag in his tenth year as opposed to the other nine then that's not particularly fair. No coach in the league could have taken the Demons to a premiership this year with the accursed spate of injuries we've suffered. Paul Gardiner is right in saying that Neale can't be judged solely on this season when assessing his contract status at season's end. In addition, I'm sure sure that in this climate, with the difficulties asscoiated with winning the flag as a Victorian club, especially an impoverished one like the Demons, that success can be judged solely on silverware.

I'm not decided on what we should do at the end of the year, but if he gets the chop, which he probably will, I'll thank him for always putting the club's best interests before any selfish ambition to keep earning a paycheck some coaches have.

[Bay Riffin 1,454]

Here are my thoughts on Danihers ten years at the club.

Daniher is a good coach at developing attacking players with an attractive brand of football. I think he is also a pretty good tactician on game day despite what people say.

His big glaring weakness I have seen over the ten years is his acceptance of playing unacountable football when we really need it (like this year) and players not developing enough defensive skills, especially in mid field players. It's not just bloke like Travis but new blokes are roaming around with a free reign to float wherever they want which looks ok when you are on a roll but becomes horribly unstuck when the tide turns against you.

Yesterday is a good example, which was coached quite differently by Daniher. The doggies flooded the backline knowing their pace could run it out and hopefully pinpoint a target up field. Daniher actually decided to man up, flooding our forward line but making all players accountable. It was effective against a side which would have beaten most yesterday at Telstra Dome.

West coast and Sydney play this way and they learn week in week out how to play contested footy, a wonderful blueprint for the young players.

My point is this - Daniher normally would not pick up the extra players like yesterday, therefore having a few players on each side unnaccountable and its a case of who can play 'keepings off' the best. Worsfold rarely does this, even when on top of the ladder.

For us to succesful, we need to have young midfielders like Maloney, Sylvia, Jones learn how to pick up their men and have a defensive string to their bow when required.

I fear another few years of Daniher will be accepting bad habits and unprofessionalism in players just like he has accepted it from Travis Johnstone and Jeff White during his tenure.

For those who argue the amount of final appearances, I would also add our finals performances at time have been insipid, lacking character and timid at times. Added to that, in big games like the Adelaide game last year leading into the finals, we fell apart like a wet paper bag and it was utterly embarrasing to watch.

I would also say the decision to let Daniher go should be dependant on having someone good enough to replace him.

I do not want a coach to show us the 'doggies' fast flowing style of play, I want to model West Coasts and Sydneys utter (albeit on field) professionalism. Watch this week to see how West Coast will buffer, support, shepherd for their teammates when it counts. You don't have to be Chris Judd to do that, and we only reach that level when we are 'flying' and looking a million bucks.

Dean Laidley gets far more intensity from an inferior list.

Hopefully Pratt sacks a still hungry Pagan at seasons end, or I say track down Gary Ayres who people have written off for some unknown reason.

we should thank Daniher and move on.