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Hugging Setanta? Did Jordan give him that first free kick? I kid, I kid. But did he? I'm in a wheelchair myself, have been since I was 18 (34 now), I got pretty sick last year, actually I went straight to hospital from the Richmond game in April, I had pneumonia, couldn't breathe on the way home. Ended up code blue, pretty much died, before being saved, had another code blue a couple of days later, spent 2 weeks in ICU. Watching your friends and family go through that [censored] is worse than going through it. I would have given up but I didn't want them to go through all that for nothing. I still haven't fully recovered, been in and out of the Austin since, they are brilliant, apart from all this I've never spent time in hospital, but I assume there's not much better care you can get. So Rick is in good hands. I now live about 10 minutes from Kilmore too, so I guess I felt I relate to this story and had to spill my guts. I hate horses though.

I think this^^^^^^show your complete lack of understanding about where this footy club is and where its going.......We hired Neeld to construct a football side that can play the modern game......We hired a football dept to completely rebuild and change a terrible culture which had presided for the past 6 years. These things do not happen overnight......I appreciate that supporters want instant success but I think we are at last heading in the right direction......To sack Neeld now would be irresponsible and dangerous

Thanks for the story DA. Funny how you can get "familiar" with a poster through years of forum interaction and feel like you know them - as I have with you - then they post something pretty fundamental about their life and you realise that you know absolutely sweet FA about this person. I don't even know your name.

Thanks Alotta ... like you I enjoy strident debate and I'll always speak my mind on a subject without worrying about those who throw barbs. I know most people realise I do so because of my loyalty to the club. Happy to have a drink (diet coke only*) with you or any of the blokes but will bring along my son bodyguard Blistering just in case the going gets rough (only joking). Anyhow, this is not about me so thanks to the mod who closed the thread a few minutes ago. Let's concentrate on the footy ... * I have a bet going which, if the Dees get up against Brisbane, will see me with a plentiful supply of diet coke to share around.

Stuie - you are using too many gifs. I don't want to see gif fatigue on here as I do post the odd one. Regards rpfc

Could be worse Robbie. Could've been GWS.

Can you explain that in English Jazza, no understood.

Gieschen put the person ahead of the game. It's a bloody tough call either way; but I reckon it would have been very rough to stand Bannister down. I wouldn't have done so had I been the boss; managers have a responsibility to their subordinates as well as their organisation. What a sad story. I fought back tears reading it.

Anyone else thinking of pushing for a 10 contract for Neeld just to spite tonatopia's inanely gleeful ramblings about a bloke losing his job? He has an uphill climb so just shut up already and hope he pulls it out of the fire, because if he does then your Demons are doing well.

For what it's worth, hilarious mofo that loves footy and music was the picture I had and it hasn't changed :-)

I'm happy with Mark Neeld right now. More changes will destabilize us even more. These guys have to have a chance to form longer term relationships and trust with their coaches and each other.

Its not much different to the forwardline that kicked 12 in the last. Statistically you could say its our best ever

Went from our best midfielder in 2011 (20 Charlie votes) to playing for Casey by mid 2012. A massive cross to Neeld on this subject.

Who could blame him for feeling disillusioned at the moment? GWS match notwithstading the team is really struggling, and has been for quite some time, and he's constantly under the pump. I'd almost expect his morale to be shot under the current conditions. That doesn't mean though that he will still feel that way when the time to action it comes. My expectation is that even if this is true, at some point over the balance of his contract he'll find a moment of clarity and work out that he wants to stay where his mates are. There's been exceptions, but that's mostly the conclusion footballers come to and I don't think Frawley will be any different. I also think the club will put a lot of pressure on him to stay. I always laugh when I read these threads though. There's always the odd person who moves straight to "WELL IF HE DOESN'T WANT TO STAY I DON'T WANT HIM ANYWAY!!!11", even on the back of a rumour that has all the credibility of an AFL tanking investigation. These people need to recalibrate their self-defence reflex. I can't believe that anyone who follows the MFC genuinely believes that the club would be better off without James Frawley; some are just lying to themselves to soften the blow if he does leave.

Riper bloke, spoke to him for quite a time at Casey last year preseason and one of the few "up to standards" on our list. Some of his battles with Jack Riewoldt have been fantastic so its not surprising the 'white ants' might be about. But this bloke can play, has been AA, has been one of our best players since he started with us, was a high draft pick, has continuously carried a higher burden down back due to our inept midfield and I would be very disappointed if our club allows a player of his ilk to depart. Other clubs would be queuing up to get a bloke like this. Big strong and fast. Just a joke to think we would even remotely consider this happening when we consider some the recent extended signings that have made many of us scratch our heads. Who gives a stuff about high draft picks in exchange. We need Hogan and Frawley done for an extended period .Must retains to build the club around. I would expect the club to hurry up to get both of these things done . Anything less would be unthinkable and unacceptable. We pay people at the club to retain the good ones.

Many here would be aware that Whispering Jack is the founder and owner of Demonland. His son Demonland bears the majority of the burden of administering the site. Our ability to enjoy and participate in Demonland is entirely due to the time, money and effort Jack and his family have invested in the site. I have noticed a disturbing trend recently, namely dissing Jack. Now he is more than capable of defending himself and he has many supporters like Pink Freud, Great Pretender and Sid Vicious willing to jump to his defence. Jack would no doubt be embarrassed by this post saying rightly that he can look after himself. I for one would certainly not be critical of Demonland shutting down all threads where the attacks on Jack and his integrity go over the top. This is the owner's prerogative. I think it a shame that that should prove necessary. I'm all for robust debate and diverse opinion but I just ask posters to show heightened respect and consideration for the man who has made Demonland possible.

To be honest i wish he would stop saying stuff like this. I'm no psychologist but surely the team could do without messages that basically suggest they are going to lose matches against more experienced sides. I get he is trying to temper expectations but he needn't worry about that the performances in rounds 1-3 have achieved that aim.

One of the signs I look for in terms of where Melb is at, is the performance of our Casey team. Are they winning? are our boys getting the right workout at Casey? are the MFC Casey players putting real pressure on the first 22? So it's good to see us undefeated, with a good contingent of MFC player pushing for spots. Liked that the Casey Coach is aligned with Neeld and is implementing at Casey the game plan Neeld wants the boys to play when they come up to the firsts. Indicates that there is a clear plan on how to build depth and develop our younger players. Just another one of the foundations that Neeld has put in place, that will bear fruit in time.

Despite a rather pithy effort by some on the New CEO thread to divert attention away from the real issue, Dr. Gonzo, the "faceless men" alluded to there are not current board members but rather, people previously involved with the club who couldn't leave well enough alone and have gone beyond being critics to something far less savoury. They caused damage to the club. On the subject of "smears" the worst of these is the one put forward against me when it was falsely alleged that I hadn't fulfilled a promise to reveal information about these so called "faceless men". On the contrary, back in February on the Caroline Wilson thread I set out a summary of what I had been told. In it I also covered some aspects of the discussion which have been completely (deliberately?) misconstrued by my critics. This has been confirmed to me by a number of others and in particular, by another poster in the same thread. This is what Hoopla wrote on 28 February @ 9.38 My critics who are too lazy to check their facts can go to that thread. Those who have demanded that I provide names and more detail would be aware that I specified I had "to respect some confidentiality" over the information provided to me. The weasels among us might suggest I should breach confidences but I won't. My post of 27 February 10:35 am gives a fair bit to go on and for further information, I suggest that you ask Bagdad Bob, who seems to be the Caroline Wilson guru around here, to fill you in on what he knows about what Caroline Wilson and the AFL were told, by who and when. Those who want to delve further into the subject might want to ponder about how the Mifsud/Davey story ever saw the light of day. How did Mifsud and Caroline Wilson come by the fabricated story about Mark Neeld's relationship with our indigenous players? Did that lie materialise out of thin air or was there someone with a grudge against the club who wanted badly to hurt the club and was that person assisted by others? I know the exercise of rereading the media articles at the time can be long winded but it's worth it to see what you can uncover about what I now view as a pretty sordid attempt to undermine a young coach. Whatever you might think about his performance in the role, he didn't deserve to be the butt of that filthy campaign. And just maybe, there could be a connection between all of that and the vault story. Go figure? During the course of that discussion on the Caroline Wilson thread, I said I would "tell the full story in my own good time". That means it's up to me (and one other) to determine when that information is divulged and nobody else.

I don't even... what... just no. Terrible call. Mitch Clark being out is never not a bad thing. Mitch Clark being out reduced the quality of our team by roughly 50%-60% Brisbane by 40+ Call me an optimist.

Nothing has changed just because we smashed GWS in one quarter. Neeld knows this. We have to turn up on Sunday, otherwise it will have all been for nought.

I have been reading a lot about the Demons lately - as most of us probably are - and have been trying to formulate my own unbiased opinion about which way the club is headed: up or down. Personally I think we are headed up - and have come a long way - it's just that we started from so far down, to the rest of the world we still look disorganised, uncontrolled, demotivated and below standard... But in the back of my head I recall an interview with Woosha about the rise of the West Coast in 2011. (For some background information, West Coast's end of season positions since 2006 have been 1st, 3rd, 15th, 11th, 16th, 4th, 5th.) I cannot remember where I saw the interview, and if anyone can find it that would be great, but I think it was probably during On The Couch or something similar because I recall hearing the question as well as the answer (why can't reporters be mic'd at press conferences???)... The question went along the lines of: "For the last three years you have been pretty terrible - last year you even won the wooden spoon. Now you are in the top four. What have you done different? What changes have you made?" The answer: "Nothing. We have been working on this training plan and gameplan for a few years, and the players have finally caught up with how we want them to play." I think this is exactly where the Demons are at. 12 goals in one quarter is an accomplishment - even considering the opposition. In our 150+ year history, this surely isn't the first new team we have played against. A lot of people seem to be sick of the rebuild of the rebuild of the rebuild. I concur. But not for the same reasons.I don't see this as a rebuild at all. Quite simply, its a build. Build our club; build our momentum; build our supporter base; build our profitability; build our professionalism; build our player list. But build it right. Stuff the media - it's their job to whinge and whine - but be nice to them, they cant help it, they are like politicians - all about "What's in it for me?" The attitude you get from selfish people that have no concept of bonding teamwork. And stuff the critics. They are probably all Collingwood supporters anyway and who wants to listen to them? I have been supporting the Demons for as long as I can remember. My father is English and supports Liverpool and my mother can recognise the Demons Guernsey and knows if we are doing well or not, so not so sure how I got this passionate for them - but the one thing that being a Demons supporter has absolutely taught me is loyalty. Whether we win 1 game in a year, or every game in a year, I will still wear my Demons guernseys/shirts/jumpers/sweaters at every opportunity and I will always look forward to the next match. I do hope that the Demons win a premiership* - hell, I hope they win them all - but just like I wouldn't kick my kids out for underperforming, I will never turn my back on the Demons because I believe that, just like Neeld, Craigy and the entire club keeps saying, the players are doing what is required of them and just like Woosha said, at some point everything will fall into place, and the Demons will return to the top of the ladder where they will see the success we are all waiting for. * I would prefer the Demons premiership winning run to wait until I can afford annual trips down from Brisbane to the MCG with my family of five... but understand if they aren't willing to wait that long.

It's a very poor list, I would swap it for every other list in the AFL. As bad as Fitroy in their final years. A lot of people are talking things up after last weekend, but remember they were three goals down and looking terrible until GWS came to a stand still.

haha DA I used to think of you as this tough dude who like the dees and music I was correct

I can see Davey becoming our super sub and playing this role on close to a permanent basis.

And left the list in a shambles which the club is still recovering and rebuilding from.

when is the final side out? For the first time in a while I actually give a toss about it

Not sure why you bother PaulRB

Hey Tonatopia, can you explain to me how sacking the coach, bringing in a new one... won't also take another couple of years? Surely the "New coach" would also have to implement a new game plan, bring in and develop new talent. It's all too easy to pull other peoples work down when you don't have to build anything yourself. You say "Whatever it takes" yet refuse to accept that we may well be in the "whatever it takes" moment right now, and that sticking with the current Coach, FD and plans is "whatever it takes" to improve the club.

Very hard read, yes... I hope it reminds those who seemingly get a kick out of showering the umpires with abuse, that these guys are human just like the rest of us. Wish him and his family all the best in getting through what are obviously going to be tough times ahead.

No you're not... you're an impatient "supporter" who is lacking in any kind of foresight and who seemingly has no qualms about destroying what little confidence remains following years of a lack of direction at the club. The players that were delisted, in most cases had been given ample time to show something (Cook, Morton, Bennell, Martin etc) and those that walked, either walked because they did not like the fact that they were suddenly required to make an effort (Beamer) or because they were in the twilight of their career and were hoping to taste some sort of success sooner rather than later (Rivers).

Yeah, but does it also mean that you only kick 5% of their score?

I thought Jones was decent last week, and he has been one of our best in the opening month. He is one of the last players on our team that needs "a week for reflection in the VFL".

He kicked 2 goals and one was a down feild free kick straight infront wasn't it? We had quite a few forward entries - if anything Gawn might have not been getting to the right places. I wonder if Neeld will use him more tactacly this week - tell him to stay just outside the goals square and maybe have a crumber (Davey/Blease) and Howe around him so when we bomb it to the hots spot Gawn or Howe will mark and if they don't Davey will crumb. I don't see Gawn as much of a leading forward - he may as well use his height advantage and I don't want him kicking from anyfurther than 20m out! I think Spencer would be one tall to many and he would be at the expence of a midfielder - we need run and carry

Volunteer results to 24th April are: -Total volunteer memberships sold 448 -Total revenue from calls made by volunteers = $61,453.27 -4,983 calls have been made over 14 nights -30 Volunteers have come in over this time. I am target oriented & ask myself what can we achieve by the 2nd week in June cut off: 1000 memberships .... probably too hard by early June, but ?? $100.000 revenue ........we should slip past that within May. Maybe $130.000 10.000 calls ................. would require the max of 15 volunteers each night. Possible??

Would have thought coaching experience at AFL level might also be a factor, just saying. To credit someone like Neil Craig who coached quite successfully at AFL level (and who incidentally also had a very long SANFL career) with 0 games is very misleading. Looks like a bit of a data mining exercise to me...

I love seeing Sylvia listed as smack bang in the middle. I hope they start him there and play him there for as much time as his tank allows. I would love it if Neeld made it publicly clear that Jones and Sylvia are our mid field leaders. I have expressed my concerns for Neelds approach and whilst i have not advocated for him to be sacked i am on record as saying that results will determine his future. Critical to results is whether his players play for him as once a coach has lost his players he's gone. At 3/4 time the whole team would have realized if they came out and turned their toes up there was every chance Neeld was gone. They didn't - quite the opposite. Say what you like about the strength of the opposition but we were terrific in the last quarter last week and i saw a team finally showing support for their coach and for each other for that matter. There was a spirit there that was not there previously. I reckon demondames comments about the drug stuff playing on the team were spot on and in my mind would have been a big factor in the funk they were in. But also i suspect the Sorrento trip may have been an opportunity to get some things out and dealt with. Also i wonder if Neeld has realized that his approach has needed some adjustments and perhaps he's making them Which leads me back to Sylvia. A great coach will get the most out of all players, including the less focused one - not just lift the overall standard of the group. Finding the key to someone like Sylvia is a challenge i suspect but if Neeld can it could be critical given how poor our mid field is. One avenue to explore is go against the normal wisdom and give Sylvia more responsibility not less. I would have loved to see him being put into the leadership group this year for this reason. Tell him he is one of the leaders - jeez promote him to the lg now. We had a glimpse last week of how influential Sylvia can be. If Neeld can support Sylvia to show that sort of leadership week in week out we will do much, much better and Neeld might save his coaching career.

I really don't think we will be dropping Matt Jones. He has been a shining light for us this year and actually knows how to find the footy going at 21 disposals a game. He has had a clanger here or there but I reckon he uses the ball well for the most part.

...and that's the truth of it. It was a pretty filthy effort from those involved. So long as they are on the outer and have no influence that's all that matters now, names can come whenever, if ever. If they start to peddle rubbish and create trouble again then the names must come out. Not sure what you are getting at here???

For me, there are two parallel narratives: 1. Disgruntled former employees telling 'stories' to hurt the club. Like 'Neeld is racist' and 'CC threatened us with Zulus.' 2. A club with many people estranged from it that used to heavily involved in it. IMO, the former is more of an annoyance, but the latter is holding us back at a time when we need everyone on board. We don't have Gardner-ites at the club, we don't have those involved with Gutnick or Szondy. These are all Demons who tried to do what is in the best interests of the club. Everyone needs to realise that, swallow some pride and come back to a welcoming club.

Goddamnit, stuie. I post about this fractured club from time to time and I know that Jimmy brought a great number of people back who hadn't been at the club. There are still those who refuse to talk to, or acknowledge, those involved in the merger. That was 17 years ago. We also don't have the luxury to scorch the earth here with our disenchanted sons and daughters. We have to talk to them, convince them to help the club, and reform them to stay in the tent facing out - if you know what I mean. Apart from that - try to run the club well and start winning. And a note to those doing the running, if not the winning - take criticism well. It's for the good of the club.

Journalists? Hello? Do any of you want to find answers for our f__ing questions or do you want to continue reporting on how a coach was 'prickly' about a question on beards?

Shows how hardly we mark him. He absolutely smashed Jeremy Cameron on the weekend and the first 3 weeks had to try and combat an avalanche of footy coming inside the opponents 50 cos our midfield was inept as usual.

I've been waiting for this. It's actually my biggest MFC footy fear at the moment. We must retain him. He's the only genuine A grade defender I've seen at Melbourne in 25 years. Offer him a four year deal, a five year deal if it'll get him over the line.

Agree with every word here. Frawley, whilst well down on his best this year, is still our best defender by a fair margin. As for Sylvia, sure he's great when on, but that is very rare. If he goes at the end of the year, a large percentage of our salary cap will be free (even more so with the retirement of Davey).

It would be an indictment on the club if we are unable to retain Frawley. He's contracted for another year, back ourselves in to prove to him that he should stay over the next 2 seasons rather than just resign ourselves that he is gone.

If Frawley goes it will be a disaster for us. While I can understand the crud he has had to play through I dont want to lose him. As for Colin Sylvia I would not rush to have him resigned at this point. And a leader he most certainly isnt.

I read but do not post on this site.....however the extreme arrogance of this thread takes one's breath away. Do you ever stop to think that just maybe your perception of the coach & his relationship with the playing group is just that ....perception. There are 40 odd players on a list & you will never keep everyone completely happy but in my "perception" I think the players in general have absolutely no problems with the coach or what he is trying to achieve. That is ....turn this club into a professional afl club &the players professional afl players. He will get there....no doubt about it & maybe you should respect the 18 months or so that he has been in the job....support the exciting changes he will bring.....watch the development of our younger players.......don't expect stars after a couple of pre-seasons....& get around the players. I am not forgiving of those losses any more than any other supporter but I won't be a keyboard coward & take the soft option.....bag the coach & players. If after his tenure it has obviously not worked .....then we move on......but I have extreme confidence this will not be the case. We were behind the league in terms of fitness, work ethic etc... Fact not blaming bailey etc ....just fact. Respect neeld, Craig, mission, a pretty astute & experienced coaching team & don't be so arrogant as to suggest that your opinions are fact .......you couldn't be further from the truth. Just support your team positively for once

Anyone see ch10 sport tonight. neeld was asked some questions then someone asked him about Watts shaving off his beard. Neeld just shook his head in disbelief and wasnt happy with the question. "Fair dinkum, sometimes you feel like saying 'I don't really want to dignify that with an answer'," he said. "If we're going to sit around and talk about the fact that some players have beards and some don't, come on guys. "I'm happy to talk about the game, but for me as a senior coach, come on."

The Demons this season have 48.29 on the board whereas The Loins only 39.58. They have their own problems.