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The disrespect shown for the Board and for Cameron Schwab by many on this website is disgusting. Off the field we are stronger than we have ever been. People forget that in 2008 we almost closed our doors. Undoubtedly Jimmy drove this transformation, but the Board and the CEO were his key appointments and were vitally important in everything we have achieved. For the media to overlook these achievements is one thing, but for supporters to do the same is utterly scandalous. Yes, we all wish the team was doing better. But how the team is going is a secondary concern for the Board and CEO. The financial viability of the club is their first job. And you can't argue with their performance in that respect. The team will get better. I'm thankful that I have a team to watch at all and one day I'll take my kids and grandkids to watch them play as well. I will always be thankful for Jimmy, the Board and Cameron Schwab for saving my club.

I love how people outside the club think they know how to fix it. Reality is, anyone on the outside has no idea what internal systems are in place to mend the issues. Cameron Schwab - How does the media know he deserves to be replaced? The only criteria we, as outsiders, could possibly judge him on has been his reaction to the energy watch scandal. He managed to secure us 2 major sponsors in a relatively short period of time. Thats is a tick for me. Appoint the best recruiter - Wasn't it mentioned here that we were chasing Collingwood's number 2? Looks like we've got that covered, thanks for the input Mike. Beef up the coaching panel with more successful people - let's have a look: Mark Neeld: Premiership assistant coach Neil Craig: Forged Adelaide into a consistently competitive team with regular finals appearances. Very highly regarded in the industry. Dave Misson: Head of fitness and conditioning at both a premiership winning sydney team and grand final appearing st. kilda team Leigh Brown: Premiership winning player, and played in a granny last year! (Should not be overlooked how invaluable experience is from a player who retired so recently) I'm not sure how you could beef that coaching panel up with any more success. Lastly, big changes to the list at seasons end - blind freddy could have seen that one coming! Geez Mike, how do you get such valuable insight for your articles? The point I'm trying to make is that our football club is full of professionals who know what they are doing. Media types need to keep their 2 cents for a rainy day. Have some faith and patience, we will get there.

It is interesting how people view a football club. Stone broke but doing well on the field, to many that is great. Getting strong financially, securing the future of the club, but struggling on the field, many see that as a total failure. I see it as follows, we have gone from a basket case off the field to a strong club, with assets, a new state of the art training base, a satellite training ground in a growing community, debt free, revamped football and coaching department and stable board. On the ground under a new Coach we are struggling with an overrated list that is being asked to play and train a new way. The light at the end of the tunnel is a strong drafting position at years end, ability to chase a player, certainty of one good new player JV, ability to do some trading and overall revamp the list and another hard pre season to get the list fitter. Players who are not good enough will be gone, that appears certain. Ok off the ground and poor on it with the chance to completely turn it around. Not a fantastic position but could be far worse and still room for optimism for the future. I won't be slashing my wrists for a while yet. I will give Neeld and Craig time to turn it around.

You're right. It wasn't that we weren't fit enough, it's just that we didn't want to win. Yeah. I could really tell by the boys body language as they walked off the field that they were pretty relieved that they didn't win.

Bollocks. We didn't win our "fair share" with Bailey. 8.5 was the high water mark was it not. The players knew his game plan and were committed to it - and why not it suited front runners and lazy players (it relied on speed of ball movement not players having to run hard to cover space). It was an attacking free wheeling style that was bound to come off at some point, partic against sides who were not on their game or who tried to play attacking footy aginst us. But we simply could not get any where near a side who played hard contested footy, flooded or ran both ways, still can't because we simply are not fit enough. Full stop. You can't seriously suggest we could have beaten Carlton purely on mental strength. Apparently our GPS data is showing we are running much further in games this year and this obviously takes it toll. We continued to put in but just ran out of legs. Blind Freddy could have seen it

I bumped into Nev Senior at an amateurs game last Saturday (another son Rodney was playing). He told me Nev was on the improve and he expected him to be back at Casey in 3 - 4 weeks if all goes well. It's been really tough on him because I really had a feeling that he might do well under Neeld's coaching if only he could get his body right.

Does anyone else find this picture a little disturbing?

No, just a sizable number who don't buy into the conspiracy theories and groundless criticism. Since 186, the club has undertaken the most comprehensive change of personnel of any club - that I've ever known of anyway. Additionally, there have been comprehensive changes in how those personnel have been configured within the structure - which has also completely changed. This covers most of the FD, including the entire fitness staff, pretty well the entire coaching staff, and a number of other positions in the FD - people like BP and Ian Flack have gone, Mahoney and Connolly to different (and new) positions etc. etc. Let's not even forget that Bailey didn't have anyone as "overseer" - whereas we now have an experienced and respected football person in that role in Neil Craig - nor that the assistants didn't have their own assistants, not to mention their own IT people. etc. etc. If we'd just sat on our hands, or tinkered round the edges after 186 I could perhaps accept some of what you, Hardtack etc. etc. say. But all I see off-field is a proactive CEO and board, prepared to do whatever it takes to move the club forward and to take big steps to address our off-field shortcomings, especially in the FD. Football is a sport, but at an elite level, it's technical, sophisticated, complicated even. Tiny advantages in, for example, recovery can make a huge (and I mean huge) difference on-field. And they do, and they will, and that's what we're seeing now. The rebuild of players started a few years back. But the rebuild of the FD and all that goes with it, has only just started. We could never have been successful with the FD we had, it's as simple as that.

no, seriously wtf is wrong with some people? I dont mean to have a go but come on, why would you want him back? look to the future not to the past

I remember the eagles were criticised about fitness a few years back too. They were the kings of the 2nd half fade out. I think learning a press can be tiring as you find people do more running than they really need to. Pressing (or Zoning) requries alot of running, yes, but even more so if your're not smart about it or dont quite understand it. As the guys understand their positions and the press they'll be able to be more efficient in their defensive running.

Not sure who is a part of the Casey Demons Supporter group. but for those of you who are not. This is an email we received from them today. I for one was extremely happy with the lip service. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Last night I had the great privilege of attending a meeting with Don McLardy and the coaches of the Melbourne Football Club. There were roughly 50 people in attendance at AAMI Park and we were treated to two hours of valuable information and question time. Don McLardy chaired the meeting in his normal welcoming and enthusiastic manner and we heard from Cameron Schwab, Neil Craig and Mark Neeld. The greatest thing I got from the meeting was a renewed enthusiasm and a great confidence in the Melbourne Football Club, its administration, board and coaches. Mark’s greatest demand for the players is that they give 100% each and every quarter and each and every week. There are certain key elements which demonstrate this ferociousness and determination and things like chasing and tackling are awarded a point. Every player must achieve 6 points each quarter to satisfy the coach and to remain in the team. Mark is completely confident that his coaching methods will succeed and so am I. Our team cannot be rebuilt overnight and Mark asks for us to understand this even if it’s painful in the short term. Having said that, Mark goes into every match with the belief that we can win and hopefully the players will be able to reward his belief in them very soon. Neil Craig was full of praise for the Melbourne Football Club and mentioned that he would not have uprooted his family and moved from Adelaide on a whim. He praised the club’s handling of the Liam Jurrah incident, the fiasco with our sponsor and the dignified manner in which Jim’s life was celebrated and his death mourned. He praised the board and Cameron Schwab, our CEO, who has been treated atrociously by the media. Cameron’s leadership was praised and we were assured that the club has the utmost respect for him and complete faith in how he is performing his role. I came away from the meeting feeling excited because I know that the foundations are being laid for us to become a Premiership team.

I like Jared Rivers. May not be in the leadership group, but has done his best to stand up in a backline under siege all season. Quality bloke and quality player.................look after him MFC!

maybe prescriptive text is predictive text with fuzzy logic? sort of like the mfc team

Melbourne Storm say hi

I was lucky enough to attend a bit of pre-season training over the summer, what stood out it what we are seeing now,we only have a couple of midfielders with the running capacity to compete over 4 quarters. Jones was our most consistant runner through pre-season, he didn't miss a beat and this is showing in his performance, to me he is our only midfielder at the moment with the engine to remain in the game for 4 quarters. The other three have a bit to prove ability wise but Nicho, Morton and Bate are the only other players that consistantly ran in the top 2-3 groups. Trengove will be there in 2013, he is one that doesn't look to be coping with the current training loads. We must give credit to Sam Blease, pre-season he struggled in the last group looked bad, over the past two weeks he seems to be everywhere, still a long way to go with him.

Has any1 in here tried to kick a footy when they are dead off there feet from not being fit enough, it aint easy. Legs are like cement and sometimes like jelly

The lack of skill could also be a function of the fitness and confidence, old dee. There are only a handful in the vicinity of our current side who I'd consider to be genuinely poorly skilled (Bail, Nicholson and Bartram), the rest I reckon will look better as the side starts going better. I guess what annoys me about the other posts I've challenged (not yours) in this thread is when people resort to unmeasurable intangible vagaries like "killer instinct" after dismissing the more obvious and logical reason.

I agree with this to an extent, it has been an issue that has long plagued us. However there is no doubt fatigue impacts on skill and decision making abilities (at least it does for me!). If we have an issue with skill, which i agree we do, fatigue will make it even more an issue, particularly if the skill problems are related to poor technique and perhaps even more so if the skill problems are related to decision making.

Firstly, thanks for vindicating my original post simma. Every club no doubt has players that are at odds with their coach as that no doubt comes with the territory as far as being dropped for not performing or for breaking the leadership group's self imposed rules etc goes. However, not every team is coming from ground zero with an almost entirely new coaching group, new game plan (did we even have one before) and more distractions than anyone could imagine (even other coaches and media pundits have been saying Neeld has had the initiation from hell). Perhaps we are performing poorly simply because we aren't good enough yet.

Yes this is true. Interesting article a couple of weeks ago about the approach by the Bombers new fitness dude (the machine, the animal, the warrior - or some such nonsense) who said this idea underpinned his approach and consequently they have really focused on building body mass and strength to ensure player can better with stand (and not fatigue as much) the battering that modern footy demands. Also interesting that Bomber Thompson pushed for this guy (and his approach) as this strength has been as important to Geelongs sustained success as their corridor focused, attacking game plan and highly skilled players capable of pulling it off. In terms of the last couple of lines i also agree. I think the point is that Melbourne at present are not elite athletes and probably won't be until at least start of next season and yes it is dead obvious they are absolutely exhausted, hence that sense in the second half of quarters and games you always have the feeling they are about to be run over.

The gameplan Bailey implemented would not take us to ultimate glory The training was clearly light under Bailey, therefore the players were "fresher" for games However the fitness levels also would not take us to ultimate glory The style under Bailey was very much an outside game Neeld's game is a much harder more contested style - this is more physically taxing than simply running The players need bodies that can withstand physical battering - right now they do not have that Hence the reason (as Misson himself said) they are still being flogged on the training track during the week. He also said that come next year, the real hard stuff / running at training should be done and dusted by the time the season proper starts They are clearly not running out games at the moment Despite people think that they're elite sportsmen and should be able to stand up to this, this is simply not the case It is clear the players are physically tired during the game, this will change in coming years

I agree rpfc if you did that Grimes would never be the captain

He is definitely injured and with my novice medical opinion I would bet on OP which is why he is continuing to play. Check his run a minute or so before 3/4 time on Sunday when Jones kicked him the footy into space and he just couldn't run. Compare this to his previous seasons and it is obvious he is not running freely. It's like he can't raise his knee above a certain point to get the acceleration. Having said that I would rest him and manage him through the year to get him right for the pre-season and 2013.

Whether he is toeing the company line or not doesn't matter. Whether he privately can't stand the coach or not doesn't matter. What matters is that he's buying in to the coach's way of doing things. The only way is forward. Go Demons!

Of course, it's frustrating but it is not the fault of Neeld that we were stalling under Bailey, nor is it the fault of Craig and Misson that we have never invested any money in developing players to get the most out of themselves. I feel like the new FD is dragging the whole club into the modern era and while it is painful and embarrassing - it is necessary, and it was never meant to be easy. We had debt, we had poor facilities, we had zero development resources, and we had a frontrunning mindset. It kept us down and we have worked through a couple of these debilitating issues and we have a couple to go. I believe that the people we have now are the best in the business to attack those last two issues.

I.m with Jarred. I believe Neeld, Mission, Graig etc know exactly what they are doing. And as hard as it is to watch, the sudden improvement we are going to see soon will shock the lot of you. Well some of you.

He's even managed to reach out to the noses of the clap happy 8.5 wins-a-season brigade who wanted more of the same.

I have actually restrained myself from posting in any of the topics from the last couple of days, some of which I find very hard to believe, and I don't want to be banned Saturday, in Mountain View pub, surrounded by supporters of both Essendon and Richmond, myself and my partner left at half time, our choice, but will be back at the G this Sunday to support our team, we always will If you have had enough of supporting Melbourne, THEN DON'T, it is that simple, it is a game of footy, nobody dies, some of the posters really do need to take a look at themselves and at what they have posted, some of the personal attacks have been rude, obnoxious, libelous, defammatory etc etc But of course you can hide behind a 'nickname', safe in the knowledge that you will not be confronted by a highly embaressed, [censored] off, angry player who is looking for somebody to hit to take out the frustration they feel, if I was one Jack Watts this is what I would be looking to do I have no idea what is wrong with the team at the moment, but we have a Board, Administration and Footy Dept who will give it their best shot to get it right, everything changes. It may be the players, coaching staff etc, only those involved have any real idea, I have an opinion but I will not thrust it down everybody's throats as the truth which is what happens on this board I love this 'impeccable source', if you are a player/administrator etc of MFC, come out from behind your nickname and say so, if you don't it is rumour, innuendo or hearsay......the only impeccable source we have on this board is Cam Schwab when he comes on here to kill off some other ridiculour rumour, check the posts you will find them I actually support Everton in the EPL, every year we have an horrendous start, but eventually get it together, we have not actually won anything major for a while, but you can see that is changing....and we will .and the Club has had the balls to stand by Manager David Moyes through everything coz they can see the future, but they have done it with integrity and not sold out Stick with MFC, we will get there

The natural extension to this simma02 is if everyone is with the coach we have an even worse playing list than I thought. If we are all happy then the results are even worse. Imagine the results if there was no harmony!

He's injured, PMan. Even missed some of the NAB Cup with it. It would be much more difficult to play injured than to play with a leadership position. I will say that doing both is tougher... But you can't decide the captaincy on who is likely to be injury free...

Thats OK, it's a steep learning curve for the boy. He's the type you'd put in a leadership role in the army, on the front line. Made of good stuff. He'll bounce back bigger & stronger...

I actually found it to be a refreshing article

Be thankful you aren't a Doggies supporter :-)

My concern is we don't seem to be able to make the right appointments at any level of our club from the coaches, the recruiters, the players we choose. Bailey was a mistake. Our last two recruiters haven't been much chop obviously. Neeld, well who knows? The draft picks we have chosen have been well documented so lets not go there.

No, I think he can be clearly judged on the failure of the clubs rebuild and if that's not enough on his record of 30 years in the game being involved in finals football only 4 times. By the way he got us into the Energy Watch scandal in the first place, not hindsight but many on here were not comfortable with that sponsor in the first place. The replacement sponsors, well to use an old quote I think a drovers dog could have got them.

Too many have their heads in the sand round here. Where we are is unacceptable, heads will roll. I have no problem with the AFL coming in and appointing a CEO as we clearly have no idea what we are doing. All the good work Jim did will quickly come undone if we spend another 3 years on the bottom. This club is Jim's legacy. Let's not stuff it up.

You don't accept that fitness levels can affect a professional sports teams performance? Righteo.

I'd also like to see that player brought back (in his prime, of course)

Agreed, I've been of this opinion since the day he was drafted. For those calling for him to be dropped, take a look at the stats, and make a list of the players who didn't go hard enough. If you have Watts near the top of your list to be omitted then you're mad. His kick ins from full back (excluding the terrible one in the last quarter) were the best we've seen outside of Frawley's work over the past few years, and for the most part, he worked very hard...like most of our guys he lacks the fitness to run out 4 quarters and slowed down in the last. But that will come with another pre-season of working at the required intensity under the new coaching regime.

I don't think you read my post clearly, I am less worried about Royal's feelings than I am with the thought patterns of Melbourne supporters: Melbourne + Brian Royal = Melbourne's Midfield is Terrible Melbourne - Brian Royal = "Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, Everything that's wonderful is what I feel when we're together"

Ridiculously ignorant post. Hang your head in shame for writing this tripe, and if you actually believe it then it's even worse.

FFS. Stop picking apart 1 awkward moment by a guy who's barely 21 in an otherwise pretty good game from him. Some of the weakest efforts I've ever seen from 'Land in this thread.

Whats an Aggi truck doing rocking up at Real Madrid's HQ??

You've got me pegged, then. I had far too much faith in Bailey, and the club. I'm more critical now, but I'm content in that we've got the coach I wanted, the mentor I wanted, and I'm seeing the results I wanted. Make no mistake, this is where I wanted to be after 186. Maybe a few more wins would be nice, but they are an end result born of the processes and structures we are currently working on. I don't see the future as bleak as some, but I do agree at the importance of the next draft, in spite of what I said in an earlier post.

Yeah, sorry. Had a bloody concrete truck turn up on site that wasn't meant to be here til the end of the week. Dramas.

I would expect that to happen but it wont happen here. I am expecting alot of clubs will see him that way hence pushing up his trade value.As long as we are adequately compensated it could likely be a win-win for both clubs.

How about last week, when he went back with the flight of the ball, stood his ground, copped a fist in the back of the head and took the mark..? The mysterious anti-oracle... The one who will tell you truth by saying the exact opposite... The man, the myth, the legend... The Freak.

Judd, Ablett, Lenny Hayes are all guns, but Bartel by a mile for mine. He is so deceiving: he looks slow, small, has a friendly face, and most of his kicks barely reavel 40m. But whenever the game needs to be won there he is outmarking bigger blokes, crunching packs, tacling, kicking goals from outside 50 etc... Absolute match winner and rarely plays poorly.

Bartel. when the chips are down he is sensational

The mighty Hammers just got promoted!!!