The way we were - 2013 preseason. Annus horribilis

[Six6Six 1,507]

December 2012, For the first time Six and his camera decided that it would be good to head down to training at the mighty Demons. Back then we were the ultimate nomads, no home base (what's changed) we didn't even have Gosch's paddock which was the domain of the Magpies. We trained on the rugby fields assigned to the Storm and even headed down to Linton Street Moorabbin which had already been abandoned by the Saints. Eleven games into that season Neeld was sacked with one win and an average losing margin of 77 points. The demons went down to the Saints in round 3 of the Nab cup at Casey Fields 2.7.6 (66) to 2.10.13 (91). The quality of the footage is not as good as I no longer have the original shots, but it should be OK if viewed on a phone or tablet. 

The only men standing from back then appear to be Jack, T.Mac and the skipper.

Please enjoy ==> https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-h9VFff/i-SNMX97x/A

Edited January 13 by Six6Six
Amend

[Sir Why You Little 36,670]

8 minutes ago, Six6Six said:

December 2012, For the first time Six and his camera decided that it would be good to head down to training at the mighty Demons. Back then we were the ultimate nomads, no home base (what's changed) we didn't even have Gosch's paddock which was the domain of the Magpies. We trained on the rugby fields assigned to the Storm and even headed down to Linton Street Moorabbin which had already been abandoned by the Saints. Eleven games into that season Neeld was sacked with one win and an average losing margin of 77 points. The demons went down to the Saints in round 3 of the Nab cup at Casey Fields 2.7.6 (66) to 2.10.13 (91). The quality of the footage is not as good as I no longer have the original shots, but it should be OK if viewed on a phone or tablet. 

The only men standing from back then appear to be Jack, T.Mac and the skipper.

Please enjoy ==> https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-h9VFff/i-SNMX97x/A

The all look so small and under developed. 
such a dark time 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,389]

That season was so bad that a 25 point loss to St Kilda at Casey Fields (who were woeful themselves that year) would have been considered a meritorious victory.

I hope we never have to deal with a season like that again.

[DeeZone 8,998]

There were a lot of good players on the list but we didn’t see the best of them for another 3-4 years.

[layzie 33,022]

That pre season was apparently amazing though and 'poles apart' from what we put up in the first few rounds according to Neil Craig.

[Mazer Rackham 14,971]

In any match that year, if at quarter time the score wasn't something like 8 goals to 1 at quarter time (for the oppo, obvs), you'd say to yourself "we might have a chance to lose by less than 10 goals. We're in this!"

[BLWNBA 744]

Just looking at that slide show is depressing. Truly, that side was one of the poorest squads ever assembled in the VFL/AFL. 

[Nascent 8,652]

Ah yes, the premiership got away from us that year. Like, super far away.

[Macca 16,645]

24 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

Just looking at that slide show is depressing. Truly, that side was one of the poorest squads ever assembled in the VFL/AFL. 

I'd say worse than Fitzroy in their death rows.  We paid up everyone and had lots of moolah where as the Lions were broke

There was no 7 cents in the dollar payouts or anything like that.  Everyone got their money including the coach getting a $1.3Million payout (nice work if you can get it) 

Dark times and an example of how far you can fall if not switched on

There were very few redeeming features until PJ saved us

10 years later and we're cooking with gas with a very healthy bottom line, good coaching and good admin and an excellent list of players

And 70,000 members?  What a loyal bunch of supporters we have putting up with all those crud years

And we aren't going to win every flag each time we're in contention so we need to be patient and hope that luck is with us (as it was in 2021 when we had an injury free season

[Monbon 1,787]

Not sure about 'the worst list'. There were some rather talented players there:

Viney, Gawn, Dunn, Howe, Frawley, Watts, I'm sure  I spied a very young Hogan, Davey, Jetta, Trengove, Pedersen, Clark, Sylvia, The Russian, Spencer, Dawes, Barry, Kent, Jones, Terlich,Joel and Tom McDonald, Garland, Davey, Rodan. T'would seem to me the problems might have had more to do with the Coach...

[Macca 16,645]

35 minutes ago, Monbon said:

Not sure about 'the worst list'. There were some rather talented players there:

Viney, Gawn, Dunn, Howe, Frawley, Watts, I'm sure  I spied a very young Hogan, Davey, Jetta, Trengove, Pedersen, Clark, Sylvia, The Russian, Spencer, Dawes, Barry, Kent, Jones, Terlich,Joel and Tom McDonald, Garland, Davey, Rodan. T'would seem to me the problems might have had more to do with the Coach...

Yes but with much the same list we lost 18 games in 2014.  And Roos cleared out over 30 players over 3 off-seasons

I can't argue with you about the coach but we had some deep problems throughout the club which led to the CEO going and a  board reshuffle

Some were saying that the AFL bailed us out but the AFL intervention was required

Looking back, we were a real mess especially when you look at the club now

[Monbon 1,787]

Metinks I might have inferred that, because, like I wrote, there were some bloody good players in that group. But, yes, you're so right about the depth of the mess we were in.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,590]

8 hours ago, layzie said:

That pre season was apparently amazing though and 'poles apart' from what we put up in the first few rounds according to Neil Craig.

The ultimate "best campaigne" builder Neil Craig.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,590]

6 hours ago, BLWNBA said:

Just looking at that slide show is depressing. Truly, that side was one of the poorest squads ever assembled in the VFL/AFL. 

Once i saw the Toump pop up on one of the pics that was enough for me!

[Macca 16,645]

3 hours ago, Monbon said:

Metinks I might have inferred that, because, like I wrote, there were some bloody good players in that group. But, yes, you're so right about the depth of the mess we were in.

Yeah, it's fair to say we ruined more than the odd career back then

I remember when Neeld said that the players would take 2 or 3 years to get AFL fit and I thought he was just making an excuse in advance

As it turned out, we were a long way behind and Neeld was almost certainly right (in that instance)

[picket fence 16,702]

On 14/01/2024 at 20:30, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

Once i saw the Toump pop up on one of the pics that was enough for me!

I had ALMOST forgotten about him, why did you have to bring him up?😵

[Six6Six 1,507]

Good news. I managed to find all of the original full resolution shots rather than relying on the down scaled copies that I had up in the cloud. I also found some footage of an intra club out at Casey which I have added in.  This can now adequately be viewed on a desktop.

For those of you who can manage the pain of reliving this time, it's worth having another look.

If you dare, enjoy ==> https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-MhQnCP/i-bWkHdxp/A 

 

Mods feel free to replace the ling in the original post.

Edited January 15 by Six6Six
Grammar

[DeeZone 8,998]

Thanks 6six6 that is great footage nice to see some footage of young players such as Gawn, McDonals, Watts, Jones, Jetta and Davies running around we expected so much and received so little, we certainly were hampered by serious injuries and inept player management.!

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,653]

I'm not sure who had the more disastrous time - the MFC or Opel.

[Sir Why You Little 36,670]

Did we ever find out what Neil Craig’s Job was at MFC?

[BDA 22,306]

It was a horrible annus alright.

[DubDee 24,455]

To be honest we were lucky to survive this period without being relegated or dissolved as would happen in other sports. 

I am very happy to support a quality successful club now