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was there a big hooha when they broke of into backs, mids and forwards group? Was there rumblings that they should be trained individually rather than in discriminatory groups ?

I have read through all of this and I cannot believe what I am reading, quite frankly. Some people here should be dead set ashamed of themselves. There is no more evidence of Aaron Davey being involved than there was when Thomas inappropriately implicated Neeld. Aaron Davey has denied involvement, and in fact has come out to say he was not involved, and has actively defended the coach to at least Caro. Now some of you are saying that he forgave Mifsud too quickly, or that other media types (who, until this flared up, had said nothing) are more reliable than the man himself. Aaron is an MFC player, and he has been to my knowledge a loyal servant for many years. More years than most of you have had your jobs. He does not deserve to be called a liar, double crosser, underminer and conspirator by hysterical morons hiding behind a computer screen. What is clear is that Mifsud is an unsophisticated, agenda driven person who cannot be trusted. To go public to Thomas of all people based on hearsay is unable to be justified. However, those of you who quickly bag Demetriou are also falling for populist and reactionary crap. You need to assume he knows a lot more about this than you do. Of course his decisions can be scrutinised, but let's put it this way, he is more likely to make a sensible decision than those who are happy to defame Davey on this site. I think people need to settle down.

Bland? Sorry Jack Watts hasn't got dreads, Dennis. Sorry Sylvia broke his back in a marking contest and Jurrah has a few issues keeping him out. What we have is a bunch of high draft picks that once again haven't been trained properly. They're unfit, unskilled and uneducated. If you think Neeld can change that in a few months then you're as stupid as your bland jokes, Den. I didn't hear Dennis saying we're bland when him and Bruce had a fest when we flogged Sydney by 78 points.

Jackie let me tell you a liitle story A long long time ago when i started my first job i was sent to sydney for an intensive 13 week training course We were each assigned a counsellor The only time I had contact with him was for a weekly review session He was a useless drip and the first 8 meetings went asthis - him: well how are things going? - me: yeah fine, no problems.- him: ok see you next week. I started to feel I should at least contribute something to our meetings so on the next meeting - me: yeah fine but the course is getting tougher now. - him: really? well hang in there. see you next week. The remaining meetings went as the first ones At the end of the course he wrote a report which said that I "struggled at times". Well I hit the roof and refused to sign off and got the report rewritten when he admitted it was because of that one comment. I believe it is possible Aaron may have similarly made some innocuous comment about the training being a huge change in intensity (no surprise there) etc etc which mifsud has misconstrued/misconstructed. It may be as simple as that As for the group meetings stuff, again that could have been misconstrued. Its quite possible that someone had a discussion with the indigenous guys about what was going on with the jurrah situation when everything was unclear. heck they may have approached mgmt themselves and had an adhoc discussion. Again this could have been misconstrued esp if a certain person has an agenda. Things are rarely as they seem if you look at things through preconceived attitudes

Right, I'm already loving this bloke. Finally someone with the cojones to point fingers, rattle cages and get to the bottom of how and why a football team can lose to another by 186 points. Did we really think there'd be no-one with their nose put out of joint by this brave and radical new tack? Be prepared for more heavy losses and stinging news articles because its slash-and-burn time at the MFC and only the strong of mind will survive. Mark Neeld is on the right track and should have our full support.

I'm not at a barricade, i'm in the mud struggling. But I will continue to struggle not because I am assured that we will make our way out, but because a way out exists. This club doesn't owe me much, but it owes itself a great deal. I put this in another thread but it is best put here: I just think, and this can be considered ill-considered, that if we drop Davey it will look like we are saying "You are right, AFL. Sorry, Mr.Mifsud. Sorry our player gave you false information to run away to the press and the AFL Executive with." It is galling. I want us to have a meeting with Mifsud, Demetriou, Thomas, Neeld and Schwab and, assuming Davey is righteous, walk in at the start and say "Grant - we are suing you, Jason - we want you to resign, and Andrew - accept the resignation, offer us an unreserved apology, and we might accept it." What does the MFC stand for, Andrew? You're about to effing find out.

There are three separate issues in this 1 - It's alleged that a MFC player is not happy and spoke to someone at the AFL about his feelings 2 - An AFL employee leaked confidential information to the media 3 - Someone in the media reported information without checking all the facts Issue 1 - If true, a player at the club is not happy, big deal. It would be great to work it out, but it is not unexpected to have a player unhappy at a club, happens at every club for a variety of reasons. This to me is a non issue, but has been turned into the major issue by a smart AFL and Media. Issue 2 - This is the big one. I do not care if it was true, mixed up or a straight out lie. How can this bloke still have a job after admitting to disclosing confidential information? He and the AFL smartly changed the focus onto if the story was true, not the fact that he has admitted telling the media confidential player information. Issue 3 - Third rate media personality writes another stupid article, and is shown to be incompetent, Thomas has had his reputation torn to pieces with this, as he should. I’d leave it at that, I think there will be a bit more self regulation now. I notice the media are also focusing on if the leak is true, rather than how and why it was leaked. The last thing that the media want is to discourage leaks, so they will focus on who is lying, rather than the real issue of betraying the confidentiality of the conversation. If Melbourne do want to pursue this, pursue it as a breach of trust of the indigenous players by the AFL. It’s the real story here, and the media will lap it up.

Melbourne to be galvanised and come out strongly and throw their body's around like maniacs, matching West Coast's stronger bodied and more skilled line up in front a parochial crowd with pure heart and soul they have for the club and jumper. Lead swaps continually through the game before Melbourne kick 3 on the trot in the last to win by 14 points. In reality, lead blows out early, and the same old players drop their heads, and begin going through the motions. West Coast cruise home and start showboating with dominance and arrogance late in the game to win by 86 points. Brad Green then fronts the media to talk about how he isn't sure what happened, and that they are looking forward to a big week on the track and a chance to redeem themselves at the G next week.

The AFL stands by Mifsud. The MFC stands by Davey. Who lied? They obviously talked about the new regime at the footy club. Did Aaron embellish or use dramatic licence in that meeting? Or did Mifsud during the subsequent meeting of the executive? Did he want to impress the higher ups with his inside knowledge of The State of Indigenous Life in the AFL? Now this is not new for me - but I am going to believe the MFC. One of our players is under attack because our coach was thrown under a bus at a recent AFL Executive meeting. The MFC is under attack. I believe in Aaron.

How could you slander one of your own - I still reckon Scully is staying

NEWS FLASH Neeld has gathered all the redheads at training today to tell them to put sunscreen on as the sun is out. Outrage at the Herald Sun over blatant discrimination....

The talk of sacking him is ridiculous. If I had a problem at work and went and spoke to HR in confidence about not liking my manager, they then told the manager, who then sacked me, it would be a massive breach of confidentiality and unfair dismissal. If Davey did have a whinge to someone big deal. I’m sure everyone has complained about their workplace at some time, especially with a change of management. Judge him on what he does on the field and around the club, not on private conversations. Pick him on merit. If his form does not warrant selection, he is not putting in at training, or he is a bad influence around the club, drop him. .

I take that as Mifsud lying if he did not accurately report the context of discussions. Given the most generous assessment you can make on it, there is nothing that does save Mifsud or the AFL from a lot egg on the face and huge doube standards.

Or neither, which I think is most likely. Alleged insider mildly disgruntled, in the context of personal circumstances and a new regime. Mifsud interprets favourably to his overarching mindset/agenda, and embellishes or inappropriately uses info he receives for other ends. There is no interpretation that saves Mifsud IMO from impropriety.

Listened to presser. 1. Surprised there was no back up ....McLardy? Schwab? Aren't we supposed to be a club/team and stick? 2. MN believes it's done and dusted is a worry. The press will not leave this alone from here. It will just grow and fester until they get the full story, especially the who (source). Hope MN and the whole MFC, including every player, are ready to bunker down if he's sticking with that decision. 3. The AFL may have put the heavy on some of the brass at the MFC.... and sadly we've rolled over like a dog in poo

What sort of linguistical nightmare is the name Mifsud? Am I right? Change your name ya clown.

There are some facts to this issue and some unproven allegations. On the facts as they stand, I find galling the Demetriou could support Mifsud in any way shape or form. - Demetriou has stated that Mifsud does not leak to the media -WTF ? Facts - 1/ a private conversation was had between someone and Mifsud in his official AFL capacity 2/ He has revealed details of this conversation to a party outside the issue - a breach of confidentiality - sackable offence right there 3/ The person Mifsud breached the confidentiality to is a media commentator - sackable offence number two Whether the person lied,didnt lie, change his story, was misunderstood is immaterial. Mifsud has taken an official conversation and revealed it a party outside the AFL - a media commentator no less. These are facts and the facts are indefensible. As to who said what to Misfud - I have not the vaguest idea and will not condemn on speculation. The 'reports" have said a senior MFC indigenous player and we only have one of those. But we are relying on journalists and media commentators say so that Aaron Davey has said anything so this is allegations not fact. My only issue is my faith took a massive hit on believing a press conference from a kid in March last year and it turned out to be hokum. Unfortunately that is the way I am built so once again, in the absense of any proof I will believe the statements Aaron has made. On a different note - I separate this from the playing issue and I walked out of the G on Saturday convinced he should be the first player from the seniors named at Casey this week and what has transpired over the last 24 hours does not change my view.

How is Jack Watts escaping blame for all this?

I'm starting to think that all the senior players earmarked for the chop might play this week including Davey. These senior players have reached the point of no return and no rock is big enough for them to hide under anymore. Some sort of arrangement has happened with the Davey issue and now Neeld is not interested or cares who made the allegations as he was on Monday. One last chance to see if the penny has dropped at what is arguably the house of pain for us. If there still is resistance to Neeld's ways this game will show once and for all who will sink or swim. If they rise to the challenge we might be a slim chance.

I've read some of your posts that seemed quite sensible. I must have caught you on a good day. So Fyfe who's shone from day one has been unbelievably 'developed' by Freo ? Rockliff, who was a star at junior level, but had to wait until the pre-season draft because the knock on him was that he was slow has been a revelation because of the coaches at Brisbane ? Dustin Martin who has played like a veteran since his first game has been developed by the Tiges even though he's surrounded by spuds ? So Joel Selwood has only been a revelation because of the players around him at Geelong even though a top 5 pick in Kane Tenace surrounded by the same players couldn't make it ? So former top five draft picks in Goddard, Murphy, Judd, Hodge, Franklin, Pendlebury, Thomas, Riewoldt, Pavlich, became A graders purely because of development ? Most professionals in footy clubs consider the head recruiter as the most important person at the club. Clearly player development is crucial, but anyone that says that talent identification isn't as important as player development, and most likely more so, is a gene short of a moron.

are we all having fun posting this stuff? how many goals are you tipping it will take to win the 2012 Coleman? long time supporters will remember the years when we went in hope and now can't actually remember the final scores of the games we went to. Mostly we went to see the incomparable Robbie, and all the other guys we loved... There's more than winning, and loyalty is part of being a supporter. Football is in a way an analogy for life.

The result logically should be a comfortable win to the eagles. Im More interested in seeing which players show -: spirit, heart, commitment, aggression, desire. And for how long over the course of the game. I want to know which players are going to walk the walk.

Thanks for the training update. Its a welcome relief from the other stuff.

I really feel for Aaron Davey. I don't actually care whether or not he was the one who said things to Jason Mifsud, that's not the point. It may have been true at the time he said them but issues may have been addressed by the time Caro got hold of it - that's why media personalities (true journos OR commentators) must check the facts at the time the story goes to print. People should be entitled to have private conversations without them ending up in the media. People should also be entitled to change their minds. Two things are undeniable. If Thomas had done his homework, this never would have become an issue. Likewise if Mifsud had kept quiet. I have no problem with Aaron airing grievances in a private forum, it's healthy to get stuff off your chest sometimes. I'm also comfortable with him changing his story as the facts change. He is being hung out to dry by others simply trying to big note themselves for personal gain which I think is horrifically unfair. What good could Mifsud have possibly thought would come of telling Thomas? It is tand reach of confidence and lack of discretion that is the issue for me, not what was originally said then perhaps ultimately changed.

It doesn't matter if the insider lied. Mifdus broke a confidence to a gossip...and furthermore, this rumor had been doing the rounds for weeks. Mifsud again? So, it is likely that he broke trust several times. It doesn't matter if he was told that Neeld was doing outrageous nonsense: if the informant spoke in confidence and mifsud betrayed it (as he has claimed he did) then he violated that most basic tennet of his job. He should resign.

You have to go about your business and trust those in your corner. If we trust Davey, we should say so, push it back on the AFL. The fallout shouldn't be ours, let's not accept it.

except his boss..........

The only way to take the focus away from this is to show up at Subi and play a tough game of footy that unites the club. Another hiding will be hugely demoralising following on from this saga. If the coach and club are prepared to let this go, then we must start performing or otherwise it will fester out of control. I know I just stated the obvious.

Irrespective of what (if anything) was said by a Melb player to Mifsud. Mifsud has damaged his reputation and broken the trust he may have built up with players (especially indigenous ones) by leaking to the media. The losers in this are the indigenous players the AFL is trying to support. They now have one fewer trusted channel by which to discuss and explore the issues they may be struggling with. And that is a shame.

Great time to rag on him. Dr. Who started a completely misguided and roundabout thread about 'buy-in' but maybe defending a senior player from a public lynching from the footy public so the AFL can save its own arse is what he was alluding to.

"one of us has a gun..the other has a spade...Now Dig.." Clint Eastwood.

Why is this club always in the headlines for all the wrong reasons? Boy what a great start to 2012 we have had!

Vlad has said the Mifsud has never spoken to the media about confidential information. How can he get away with that statement. Thomas is employed by Channel 9 and he writes a blog for ninenmsn. If that does not put him in the media I do not know what does. I now know why Caroline Wilson treats Thomas with such distain

I have a large objection to your comment nutbean. He is not a journalist, they check there stories eg. Caroline Wilson. At the very best he is a commentator. That is the problem with the media today it is full of commentators with little if any training. IMO generally the Journalists do a good job, it is all these x footballers pretending to be something they are not that cause most of the problems.

Caro is the only hero in this story. She heard the rumour and called us up, called Davey up and asked - WTF? She's the only journalist in this story.

We all slam Eddie at every chance but the fact is the guy doesnt pull any punches. If anybody wants to $* with him or collingwood they know they better come lawyered up. I know it could be a distraction at this pivotal time for the MFC but gee a fair part of me would love to see Neeld grab Thomas and Mifsud by the ears and drag them through the courts. A big loud statement that says " Dont F*#* with the MFC .that games over.

I'm amazed that nobody else has put the pieces together. If it is true that the leak was a former player at the club, then really there is only one possible candidate. Who else has publicly slandered the club, lied to the media and proven his lack of integrity? Tom Scully!

This is just plain wrong. Firstly, to those claiming a rat - how do we know? Some are saying 'senior indigenous player', some are saying 'former indigenous player', some have said 'Aaron Davey' which he has denied. Mifsud clearly cannot be trusted, so to trust him with getting this from a 'source' is barely possible. Even if he did get this from a so-called source, funnily enough, do you know when this came up? Caroline Wilson and Patrick Smith both said they got this from Mifsud (will come back to this) a couple of weeks ago. Same time as Rendell blew up. They both, independently, did their due diligence by calling MN and AD and found that it was a crock, and left it at that. Thomas didn't do such a thing and published. The more this comes out, the more it sounds like Mifsud was just throwing stuff out to big-note himself. Now, as I said, both Wilson and Smith said they got this. Now, how the hell can it be a private conversation that came out if BOTH Caroline Wilson and Patrick Smith, as well as Grant Thomas, know about it?! Not only that, but Mark Stevens mentioned the rumours on Twitter. Clearly multiple journalists as well as footballing personalities know about this - the opposite of Rendell, where only Mifsud and Farhour knew. This whole thing stinks, and it's coming from AFL House, not the MFC.

Don't totally understand your question/point here.... No one "chooses" unity, it's cultivated. I'll say again, I really like Neeld, but what I didn't like was him separating himself from the weekend's performance and pointing the fingers at others. To me it felt like he was saying "it's all their fault, don't blame me" where he should have been saying "it's OUR fault, we are all to blame" and then gone about the business of placing some blame behind closed doors.

well done

I'd be more concerned with a few perhaps "buying out" ! Might be a Sellars market . Cheers

I have a feeling the Dr is leading us up the garden path here. I reckon he posted this thread in the hope we would cover his "short position"! Has no doubt already sold his membership (and his mates have gotten wind and probably done same) and old Demon scarves on e-bay today at top dollar and is now flying off to join up with Kevin and crew at GWS!! I'm basing this on the definition i just found on "Buy In".... ........ Buy In definition : To cover, offset, or close out a short position.

Because the complaint was about the supposed treatment of the Indig boys at our club. So these boys are the most likely to Know about it, or who said it. It is they're club too, and as such I'd believe they'd have a steak in the interest of the health of their club. If they really care about the club enough. I hope they do. This is more about a culture, where it seems some players think their more important than the club is. Not about indigenous, thats just the focus of this issue now. I'm talking about taking this issue now and using the Impetus, to straighten the poor ME culture from this point here now, & going forward. This person has gone against the club & what its trying to do. For me the first issue is to sort the cultural wrongs (Melbournes poor culture over decades, especially the last 15 Years).. Deal with this first. To me this has absolutely Nothing to do with Aboriginal Issues, but is all about whats going on with the lack of respect within the footy club, for the MFC... It just so happens that its focused around that sensitive issue. I want to see the footy club stand up for itself... I love nothing more than Indigenous Australia, the Flora, Fauna, the Peoples and their cultures & History. To me, this is Not about them, or any of that, but a footy matter.

So is that Mifsud...or Misfired ??

They should hit Mifsud with something he would never expect....... "Fetch the cushions!" "Fetch the comfy chair!" On seconds thoughts, maybe they already have!

I'm no genius but if the source is a senior indigneous players at Melbourne then that narrows the suspects down to one.

No way Thomas is a paid Journo, it is his job to dig and report, if someone is stupid enough to make comments to a someone in the media they deserve the what they get. There is no such thing as off the record the media is just as competitive as playing AFL the more you can unearth the longer you keep your job

A couple years ago when both Schwab & Connolly were at their chirpiest they constantly spoke as if success was just around the corner . We were peeking at lists of a future premiership side that had kids names (Blease , Strauss , Trengove , Scully , Tapscott etc) on them we hadn't even yet seen play. All we had to do was get games into them and watch like proud fathers as they blossomed. Great salesman they are , we gobbled it up.

Not any more.

As Mark Neeld said on Saturday, I'm not going to be putting blind faith in the club, I've done that for three decades, I want to see results.