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Robbie, while not in my 60's, I am not that far away. Like you, I have seen 50 years of re-build after so-called re-build, with some bright periods along the way, that have kept me coming back for more, without reaching the golden prize. But the difference with today's football world is that is a cut throat business now. Unlike the late '60's, '70's and 80's, you cannot survive any longer on prolonged mediocrity. The sponsors won't buy it, the media won't buy it, supporters feel more and more disenfranchised and perhaps more importantly our AFL masters won't tolerate it. That is why Jackson is trying to steer the good ship MFC back on course. His main problem is, he has to get it back on an even keel first. Any one of us on here can hypothesise about the game plan or lack thereof, as much as we like. The facts are, our results are abysmal and the current footy world is losing patience with us. Something has to be done and its got to be sooner rather than later.

His first two days looked something like this i believe:

Good Evans! Watts Clark Kent Dunn to the Flash? He's Gawn! Blease help him!

If it wasn't for AD's view on where the game needed to go MFC would be dead as we've survived on AFL guarantees for survival. He's built the sport into almost bullet proof strength and because of the TV rights he has negotiated there are developments at ground like Arden St, Seaford, Richmond, Western Oval and footy clubs are now on a much more equal footing in terms of training facilities. Without a strong AFL we'd be dead, no MFC. Yes he's made mistakes, of course someone who has been in that position for 10 years will make mistakes, but if the AFL were a publicly listed company the shareholders would be very happy. We find ourselves in our mess because of our actions. Essendon are similar. It amazes me that people continually want to blame someone for something rather than looking in the mirror. On balance AD has done a great job.

Hoges is back in WA for the weekend, apparently he should be good to play next week.

Jeremy Howe-69 marks Max Gawn-1 mark

Brian Royal sent packing and a midfield coach with very good credenials to come in

"that's footy"?? No it's not. How long do you expect supporters /members to witness what we have to put up with. For the last time, we can accept the realities of talent or the lack of it that we have and the losses that will inevitably bring. What we won't accept is the manner in which we lose and and the magnitude of those losses. Nor bloody well should we. Let's get in the real world shall we.

Neeld has a fairly full list to choose from a defensive point of view - sure we're missing our forward keys Clark and Dawes and that will affect our ability to score and the way we enter forward 50 - both of which have some flow on defensive impact - but the core of our defensive set-up is in place. Jamar is missing but I think he's well covered by Spencer. Defensive forwards - Tapscott, Bail, Byrnes. A full midfield complement. Only Watts and Jetta missing from the backline - but we've got a lot of players competing for spots back there. First choice key backs Frawley, McDonald and Garland are in place. Our midfied is ordinary but I agree with posters here that it's not as terrible as results have suggested. N.Jones, Grimes, McKenzie, Trengove and Viney should be able to provide clearances, defensive structure and running. Then in addition we've got Sylvia, Howe, M.Jones and Evans who can all run hard and play. That 9 decent rotations through the middle. Neeld has all resources at his disposal in team defence that he could reasonably expect to have and has had 5 weeks to refine who he wants where and what they should be doing and eliminate who is a team defence liability. We will struggle to kick a winning score. But if we get sliced open like a fat sausage a hot plate again this week there's really no excuse.

Basically you will find the reports stop when the season is on, as there is nothing really to report, the MFC and Casey games are on and reported/watched/televised etc If I go I try and chat to as many as I can, I then report the conversations And because it is me, this may be regarded as not impartial, but the story that Neeld has lost the players. is one thing, [censored]

Heart agrees, and does so every week. Brain thinks we should stop letting those bloody chest muscles do the thinking.

Yes there's the whingers who think it's about them and post about how the team is affecting their life - get over it. But your complaints about lack of substance in the criticisms of the coach and our results seem hypocritical - you just provide platitudes of support. We're not going anywhere near expections of supporters and far importantly expectations of the club and its officers who are directly responsible for our performance. How about explaining why this is happening?

I WAS BEING SARCASTIC..... OMG, people need to remove the logs from their rectums.

give it 5 minutes before the negatives tear this to shreds and turn it into a sack neeld thread hope the page stays positive, it makes for a better day we need a positive thread to be started every monday

That's absolute rubbish, there is not one supporter/poster on here that wants to see the club lose, there would be major grovelling if he won the next 6 games and apologies coming out of the woodwork; but we know that won't happen. I have nothing against Neeld but I don't want him to destroy the club I love and if this continues and he loses game after game by huge margins then we are in trouble. As for this crap, you are one of the most prolific posters on the site and seem to have a love affair with all thing Melbourne, so don't criticise others for the same thing. BTW that's not how you spell quickly, so perhaps you should proof read your edits as well.

BB, you have articulated my thoughts. I've been a member of this club for 58 years and, although having publicly stated 'never again', I know that I'll continue to sign up until we - or I - die. I truly don't know which will be the sooner. If things continue the way they are, I doubt even our name will save us. I have suffered from depression since one of my twin daughters died - and following this football club was an escape for me, and a journey of hope. That ceased earlier this year. I now expect the worst, and find my hope elsewhere. The president has been shown to be a hollow man. The coach is inept. The players, with few exceptions, appear to not give a stuff. The club's only hope seems to be a bloke who's signed on for the short haul. Sad - bathos and pathos rolled into one.

Van Demons............

James McDonald in, Brian Royal out.

What, you want Col to let them kick more goals??!!??

Commentators everywhere will have a field day if Clark ever takes a hanger on Kent's shoulders. "A Clark Kent special! Is he a bird or a plane?!" etc.

Garland has been awesome the last few weeks. Feels like he has taken over the gap in our defence that was left by Rivers.

Afl site says we are number 1 for contested marks in the league with 70 as well.

This is Exactly what I've been thinking, & what i observed from the replay of the Lions game. players slowly learning to play this style, after a total Melbourne culture of Non Accountability. or a very basic see man tackle man. this learning is showing & the blowouts appear so far to have gone as we have brought more experienced players back into the lineup. the Carlton midfield is a worry, & will test us, no doubt... Are we expecting ourselves to win this game? or what is acceptable in our progress, as far as this game is concerned? I see nothing of our players resenting the coach, but I hear Plenty of the 'Bygone Players', having issues with the Coach & the Professional requirements he wanted from them...

Without using stats I'm just listing observations and opinions, so I'll preface that by saying this is all just my thoughts: -We look lost out there. I didn't like our boundary game plan last year, but this year there doesn't really seem to be a game plan. -The zone either isn't working or the players have no idea where they're supposed to be and what they're supposed to do (ie- when to chase etc) -There seems to be a distinct lack of spirit and effort. That's not something you can find a stat for, but there doesn't seem to be any enthusiastic unity. -The list seems very "vanilla" to me. You always need depth players, but we seem to have nearly a whole list of them. (Pedo, Sellar, Gillies, Rodan etc) -The defeatist attitude, ie- losing by 5 goals interstate is apparently a decent effort. We (well Neeld at least) seems happy with picking out one stat, or one quarter etc just like Bailey used to. -Last year we braced ourselves for pain early on because we understood it was a time to find out about players and get used to a new coach and his way of doing things, this year I think most of us expected some improvement, if only a minimal amount. -More experienced players are out of form under Neeld this year. We will lose a few this offseason, which is usual, but we will seemingly lose more players who previously had been good to very good players for us. Just my thoughts. The stats are what I tend to look at more, we're ranked last or near last in every important major category, but the lack of hope and general resignation is what I find the most deflating this year.

While I can't support public urination, that line is one of the funniest things I've ever read on Demonland.

I didn't go this week but I went last week. Surprised there wasn't a thread because the turnout was pretty good being ANZAC day. Anyway last week was probably the worst training session I've ever seen. So far below AFL level. They started with a switching from the backline drill that resulted in several balls being kicked clear over players heads. Just when they fixed it and kicked one actually to Strauss at the insistence of Nath Jones to get Straussy the ball he did one of the worst shanks of all time. They then did a fast moving spread drill that was again pretty poor. Sam Blease actually lit it up with some runs through the middle. Jack Grimes then brought the group in to tell them to lift. After that it was on to smaller drills with handball practice mainly. Brian Royal invented an absolutely pointless drill where players would handball to and fro to a guy in the middle whilst another team stood in a circle around them. He'd blow the whistle and then the handballing team would work the ball around and kick a goal. Due to the structure of the drill the defending team had no chance which made it pointless. Neil Craig oversaw most of the training. Apparently Mark Neeld was there but he just isn't active in training enough for a senior coach. He needs to be out there supervising, getting his hand on the ball with players, grabbing blokes and pulling them aside. Pretty much asserting himself. It's a small thing but if he doesn't do it the players won't play for him. They won't listen or respect him on match day. Mitch Clisby didn't train - we now know he was shin sore. And Clarky came out to watch 10 minutes before jumping in the back of the golf cart. With their trusty public toilet now too far away the players have taken to pissing on the old Collingwood advertising boards down near the punt road freeway exit end behind the goals. There's my retrospective training report for ANZAC day.

any chance of a thread that isnt calling for somone to be sacked? We're turning into Jr Carro's!

You know, re the ambience`, the coach when at Ocean Grove, must have had the players playing for him over some years, to win the Flags. ... @ collingwood, they're Midfield seemed excellent, under his guidance & was one of the best.... since he came to Melbourne, the Pies lost the Grand Final, & IMO, they have gone backwards around their midfield? they are Not dominant like they were. & the Pies team has a 'feel', of being easier to score against them. I have not seen anything to suggest that the players are not getting along with Neeld, except the Mifsud affair, which was debunked,,, & this year Davey looks sharper than the last couple of years, but older. ... many of our players have gotten better under Neeld, including Jones, Grimes, Gawn, Fitzy's flying @ Casey, Evans, Spencer, Clark when he's foots OK, Dunn's improved, Garland looks to be stepping up over the last 2 weeks, HOWE is flying under Neeld & has signed a 3 Yr contract I believe, Davis is playing top footy by reports down @ Casey as a Key defender, & to me Tapscott & Jetta both look threatening to break through, .... thats a fair list of improvements for mine, & Did I say, Casey are so far UnBeaten,, on the top of the ladder... this is always the way a club undergoing fundamental changes, shows its improving.... from the bottom Up. Just as it did under Barassi & Jordan. ... the rotten wood has only just been removed, & the new Growth is just starting to appear. the new wood is very green but supple.

Nice article. Unfortunately I suspect it's a little more complex than that though. Simple messages always appeal more to the masses though - I get that. Doesn't mean they're right. Or wrong for that matter. They're just compelling, albeit on a superficial level - such is 'journalism' today. People were saying much the same thing about Sanderson last year - however his name's not in lights thus far this year. Why not? Has he become a different man/coach in the past few months? Probably not - I suspect it's all to do with the win and loss ratio of the Crows. That Hinkley's doing well is not a surprise to many - he's always enjoyed an extremely good reputation, but the cattle he's working with aren't irrelevant. For instance, I don't expect he could coach the Scotch College Firsts to beat WCE. And the very people who used to bag me for arguing that the worst thing the club did was to cut Junior McDonald prematurely (ie, b/c of his soft tissue injuries, good young mids coming through etc) are the very same people who are now saying that Neeld doesn't have sufficient respect for the senior players. And there might be some truth to this - the appointment of the two young Captains and his apparent treatment of Moloney, Rivers and Davey did concern me at the time - but the chorus of complaint wasn't as unified then as it's become recently. Bloody unbelievable really. More blowing in the breeze. Some here seem to think Napolean or Spartacus, great people leaders, could just walk into the MFC and start winning AFL games. Neeld may or may not be a great communicator to the players - I don't know - but I think our issues were far greater than this, and the systems and structures that are now being introduced needed to happen. I suspect he lacks EQ, but I also think he understands football in a technical sense. IMO we didn't have a list in 2011 that any great communicator could simply come in and consistently extract top four performances out of. To the contrary, it seemed to me that some fundamental changes needed to be made. In that, perhaps some poor decisions were made - although, in a macro sense, I think the methodology has been sound. The football department struck me as entirely amateur prior to Nov 2011. Not irrelevant to this debate.

Had an interesting conversation with a coterie member last night. According to him Neeld has the backing, support and friendship of the players. However he is quite dictatorial and is steadfast in implementing a gameplan he believes will succeed in the long term. The players are struggling with this at times and seem to get caught flat footed during games as they work out where they should be on the ground, in relation to the ball, their man, their teammates and the opposition as a whole. He says the crap about "lost the players" is simply that, crap. Neeld argued with several of the old brigade including a stoush with Davey. All normal stuff when a new coach arrives.He's content in sitting tight as like me believes our total lack of quality midfielders is the main impediment to our success. Maybe like him we should back our coach for a little longer By the way, this guy is a friend of a friend who I met for the first time last night. Seemed a have genuine love of the club and I've no reason to doubt what he said.

I serously doubt anyone is taking joy in this Paul. I would gladly take back every single word of doubt I've said about Neeld if we could put in COMPETITIVE efforts on the field. Right now we have the opposite of that in a basically unwatchable team. An expectation for supporters to sit on their hands and wait til the end of the season is completely unrealistic. Placate anger, in some cases possibly, but this has nothing to do with "big noting". What the hell is achieved from big noting online? No-one wants to see the team performing as poorly as it is, nor the individuals responsible (which they are) failing so dismally. This is OUR club that is in the shitter, and frankly supporters have every right to question what the hell is going on when these insipid performances not only continue, but actually get worse since last year, all with a basically injury free list (until this week) that is Neeld's construct. The basic point here is the lack of EFFORT on display. Not a lack of skill (even if that does point to development issues), but effort. I'm personally not going to wait until Round 22 to question the notable absence of EFFORT because that says there is something fundamentally wrong.

I second that!Sadly, the game is not on ABC again! You would think that a really good VFL team would have had a televised game by now. Imagine all the demon fans who are starved of success and would turn to Casey - the ABC's broadcasting numbers would shoot through the roof.

Didn't know where to put this but this thread seems appropriate ....... Went to a dinner last night for a catch up of my local clubs under 18's premiership side (A very long time ago)..In which I played.. Spoke to a good friend who is a long time MFC member. He was rung up by the MFC volunteers enquiring why he had not renewed ...He stated that he was fed up with the club...Hated the coach and the way things were going.....After speaking to the volunteer he renewed his membership for this year....... I just want to thank the volunteers for all the great work that they are doing and it shows that this club is not dead yet..... I know that this is the most frustrating time for our footy club......But these blokes are bloody marvellous......

Spot on. Paul Roos said that the Sydney market couldn't stand the Swans bottoming out and that they had to stay competitive. Mark Neeld and this administration has brought us to the same spot. Unless there is immediate improvement and going to watch MFC play becomes enjoyable we risk losing what little support we have and our status in the game. Just at the moment I couldn't give a flying toss about Premierships, I want my club to survive in Melbourne in an independent form. I simply don't believe that this administration approved a plan that said that 18 months after Neeld took over we'd have an average losing margin against non development clubs of 87 points and the coach would be saying we are where GWS are. That was NOT the plan. Neeld has taken us to the brink, hopefully Jackson saves our hide.

Spot on..VG Post.

i think the lack of training reports reflects the general jaded nature of supporters. The lads can train the hosue down all they like, but now we're into the season propper it would be nice to see them play well on match day, not just train well. Neeld's press conferences also seem jaded. Saying things like "a 5 goal loss on the road is a small win for us" and "brisbane are a very good side" is basically the words of a broken man who doesnt believe we can win

I have two things to say about this squad. 1- Pedersen should be thanking any deity he can think of for the injuries that are keeping him in the side right now. 2- Best of luck to Dean Kent. He's worked hard and earned a call-up. I really hope he does well.

im ever the optimist as we much be but Cotchin was the face and Martin the X factor but really Richmond midfield improved due to weight of numbers. Tuck got good, grigg, Jackson and other lesser names contributed as much.But on weight of numbers I really see Trengove, Evans, Viney, Blease, Toumpas, Matt Jones and Mckenzie getting better next year than the interrupted starts to this year. I don't see them getting worse. Find a bargain somewhere else and we might have enough just to compete in the midfield. We compete in the midfield and the fortunes of this team change I really believe it. We've got too much talent forward and back to not be a decent team.

The three fundamentals of team football Neeld's side fails each of them. When in possession, in dispute or without the ball his side is poor & the stats & losses don't lie. He's moved the football department forward in terms of setup, but on game day his side is a joke. He can't even enforce his players to run goal side of their direct opponent. Some of the failings of his team have nothing to do with ability but mostly to do with discipline or motivation. His side is currently the easiest to coach against. His public stance has gone from being the hardest to coach against to rebuild & no experience. The same shite Bailey peddled. Most of the teams current issues are in regards to the midfield or lack there of. Neeld has failed to address this issue & unless his plan was to bottom out for draft picks, his bags are already packed.

Unlike many I don't see the value in speculating on things I don't know such as the results for the remainder of this season, the relationship between our coach and his players, etc... And I question those who do speculate, as they are generally doing it to placate their anger or big note themselves at the expense of others. Hence, my growing repulsion for the bunch of armchair experts on this thread claiming to know more about coaching and developing of our footy team than those appointed, with years of experience and training, to do it.

Best wishes to Bobby Skilton, a legend of Aussie Rules... get well bobby!

Neeld is not a Magner fan, that is why he played 17 games in 2012. And it wasn't like Neeld to add a defensive side to his game.

Out: Rodan Thank god.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2013-05-02/kent-ready-for-heat-in-the-kitchen- Good to see a bloke genuinely excited to play for Melbourne Football Club, well done to the young man!

If one stands back and looks at what is happening, then I fully understand this post and probably agree with it. I am all for giving a guy a fair go, but that would depend totally on whether he still has the support of the players. I fear he hasn't. I don't care what they say publicly, I just wish I knew what they say and think privately. The way we are playing you could mount a strong case to say he has lost them. I have supported the Coach until now but I am getting fearful of what might come next. You don't need talent to do the 1%'s, you need effort. We are not giving any. To me it looks like some players have had enough of the coach and they are just going through the motions. What would we give to see the effort of Puopolo chasing down 3 players in one sustained effort like he did last week. Won't happen with us. He is deperate and we are not. He is selfless and we are not. He would run through a brick wall for his coach and team mates, how many of our players would get close to that mindset. Lucky for me this won't be my decision, but I think our new CEO will have to act soon, or I fear we will be in tatters, with our our few good players wanting to leave. They are certainly playing like that. I would love to be proved wrong but I don't think it will happen. PS. Look at how the Port players are responding to Hinkley. Many of them were there under the previous Coach. What is different, the Coach.

What ? We're in the bottom couple for tackles, contested footy, and uncontested footy. Tackles = we're not trying nearly hard enough, because the opposition nearly always has the ball. We have the least disposals in the league. They can at least show effort and that is gauged by your tackle count. Contested footy = not having a crack nearly often enough. Uncontested footy = means they're lazy, not making themselves options and they're not gut running. There's no courage to run. If you think that they're playing to their ability you're delusional. The whackjob has drained every ounce of effort from their beings. They may not be great, but you can sheet their lack of effort firmly back to the coach. This is one dispirited lot. A coach is their to maximise a groups talents. Mark Neeld is having the complete opposite effect.

Football is a long-term strategy game. Every club goes through cycles. We are at the bottom. This will take a while and there is no quick fix or quick results. With Bailey we had an aging list, not alot of tallent coming through and I was struggling to see any type of strategy. At least with Neeld he has got rid of the dead weight, getting some young tallent through, new leadership team, new captains and drafted some experienced, premership winning players What isnt sustainable is going through coaches ever second year. Long-term results > short-term results

neeld was heard to say last year before round 1 . the players are exhausted and havent played a game yet. he and the committee knew this would be a problem with the 3 year program the same this year with the program what fitness program port had in place before hinkley , would most likely be the key . our supporters are frustrated by these comparisons, but dont understand what transpired beforehand. looking at wins /loses is not the answer. its where the list ends up after 2014 i wish fans would stop looking at silly statistics to explain or complain about every issue if you had a chance to question the fd , i am sure they would explain it better than i

That's That's funny!! A team called Melbourne playing out of Tasmania. I think Melbourne will continue playing out of Melbourne. Just a thought mind you.

Neeld will become a poster boy of what not to do when you are appointed as an AFL senior coach. Instead of trying to encourage the young Demons group from the beginning, he was all ‘stick’– criticising the players in the media, belittling the former leadership group and denigrating the way they used to play and train. Moreover, Neeld introduced an ultra-defensive and complicated game plan. Clearly this was always going to take time to learn, but it should have been brought in gradually rather than trying to completely reinvent the wheel after Bailey. (As an aside, I believe having such a dogmatic view as to how best play the game is absurd given the way in which modern AFL football changes so quickly. And our game plan has looked obsolete from the get go.) The loss of confidence we are seeing on the ground today still stems from the impact of Neeld’s initial days, particularly the first game loss against Brisbane. A few of us saw this problem early on but we were hosed down by the Demonland mob. I think it best to cut Neeld immediately. We need to give hope to our best young talent coming out of contract in the next two years and it would give one of our young assistants the chance to prove their worth. Ideally we would find the next Paul Roos or Terry Wallace. As for whom takes over as senior coach thereafter, we should cast a wider net this time and not just pick an assistant from one of the top clubs. Coaching a poor club like Melbourne requires greater levels of innovation than coaching one of the top clubs, as the MFC needs to be much smarter about our use of resources. Experience as a senior coach would be preferred, but we shouldn’t discount anyone, particularly a smart, hard working assistant with an ordinary playing record from a poor club. On the surface, my preferred option would be Mark Williams. Moreover, we shouldn’t overpay the coach. We would be better off spending more money boosting the recruiting department.