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Are you serious about what damage? It's been discussed ad bloody nauseum, do we really need to go over it? The complete disenchantment of senior players from the moment he walked in? Resulting in a couple of them walking due to what they have stated as issues with Neeld himself, and an overhaul of leadership with a captaincy appointment that has been a spectacular fail. List management and positional choices that have resulted in a brand of footy that brings an average of 100 less possessions a week, and where a loss of under 40 points to Richmond is hailed to such an extent that you'd be forgiven for thinking we had won. Now we are staring down the barrel of losing our three most talented players, and you ask what damage? Take your pick. Ultimately, I care about on-field performance. Really, what other proof do you need outside of that? Since he's been here, it's been nothing short of catastrophic. I've watched a team thrown into reverse in the most dramatic fashion, and you'll forgive me if one week where we were, at times, at least recognisable as an AFL side, against pretty ordinary opposition who should've made it at least a 10 goal difference if they had their shooting boots on, doesn't convince me that a corner has been turned. As a fan, he gives me absolutely zero confidence when he speaks. The switch in messaging from the beginning of the season to now has been sizeable, and it is abundantly clear that Neeld now has a couple of priorities at the forefront of his mind - the team, and keeping his job. Which one comes first, hard to say, but I'm sick to death of his justifications of abysmal football, both before and after the match, and frankly, I'm sick of him. I want him out. It will take a dramatic change in fortune to convince me that he is a capable senior coach.

i'm glad you saw Sydney's form as an opportunity to slag off your own club there's not enough club-bashing going on here, well done

I take your point, however i would never discount the chances of someone with his record of man management doing more damage.

It is absolutely the context he used it in, and "you really do exhibit the early signs of paranoia" really beggars belief as a response. Edit: Re topic: I don't think it would work in the form suggested. Perhaps quarterly reports from a generalised account?

What's your point jackuab?

That's great by Ross to say these things about the team. Maybe he can spare a half hour in our rooms before the bounce?

Yes, him. He was pretty handy at evading bans, and as mods we hardly had the energy to keep up with him. I took a fairly heavy handed approach last time which has either worked, or he's just laying very, very low now. Given his propencity for not just dying gracefully in the past, I'm guessing the latter.

If I'm being honest with myself, Davey is still my favourite player. Logic would dictate that it would be Jones, or Clark, or one of that select group of regular contributors, but my heart still says Flash. So naturally I lthought the article was great and hope that his form from last week carries through the rest of the season.

The more I read and learn about Demetriou and his connections to influential Essendon people, the more I sense a conflict of interest here. Now Demetriou comes out praising Robson and hinting there may be opportunities for Robson in the AFL. Now Robson is being portrayed as some type of Essendon hero. FFS! The AFL CEO should stay impartial at this point in time but instead he continues to overtly barrack for the bombers. This behaviour just continues to fuel the arrogance displayed by this club and in particular Hird. It is everyone else's fault except Essendon. I note Demetriou did not utter a word of support for CS when he resigned. Maybe because CS never played a part in promoting Demetriou through the ranks to AFL CEO unlike influential bombers people have.

No one can deny Watts has been appallingly managed since he came to the club. There has been a lack of mentoring to such an extent he has needed to go outside the club for a mentor (Multhouse), he has been used as a scape goat by Neeld, he has been publically humiliated on several occasions. As such his development and confidence has suffered. Add this disgusting behaviour towards him by Melbourne supporters and consistent losses. Who would be surprised if he wants to leave?

If you need a way to fill the hours getting a job would be more productive instead of just racking up thousands of posts on here every day trying to do your best impersonation of the Iraqi defence minister.

The players at this level should be putting in effort for 4 quarters as a basic requisite. It is farcical to suggest the Richmond game was anything special for an AFL club insofar as effort is concerned. Mark Neeld may be determined and resilient, however his team is no better than at the same time 12 months ago. They know it, we see it and the club is wearing it.

Well...if you're saying that since the Essendon game last year this one is the next best performance then that alone doesnt give me a great deal of confidence rpfc. Thats a long time between drinks.... and we still lost to team ranked somewhere between 6 and 11 by 6 goals where they had almost twice the number of scoring shots. I agree it looked better but thats partly because of how bad its been Getting rid of Neeld may not make us suddenly win but Im struggling to imagine how it could possibly make us any worse.

The Board have more pressing issues than join an Internet forum site. I would have thought that attendance at functions like the recent Trident function would be a more sensible and productive avenue for supporter interaction than some of the toxic soup that served up anonymously on this site. A huge NO for me.

I know it's super early in the season but we may as well start looking now so we can watch these guys through the season. We desperately need to add some players to our list in these positions. Patrick Karnezis (BRIS) - High half forward flanker/wing man 190cm 88kg Pick 25 2010 draft Would be recruited to play on a wing with added height a bonus. Finds the footy and ball use can be great or a bit so so depending on the day Currently spending a lot of time as an emergency ROLE: Upgrade on current half forwards like Byrnes/Tapscott and time on a wing in competition with Matt Jones/Evans/Toumpas VALUE: Mid to late second round pick Ben Sinclair (COLL) - Defensive forward, untried in midfield 181cm 80kg PICK 62 2009 draft Very good defensive work rate and hunger for the contest Skills are reasonable over short distances can be very clean ROLE: Upgrade on Rohan Bail as defensive forward, midfield potential VALUE: 3rd round pick Viv Michie (FREO) - Versatile Flanker/wingman 185cm 85kg PICK 44 2010 draft Currently named to extended bench for game against us this week 2 injury ravaged seasons (navicular stress fracture) at Freo But can seriously play, clean skills and calls ROLE: Similar to Karnezis as a half forward/wing prospect VALUE: 3rd round pick, possibly higher depending on injury/form for rest of the year Tom Curren (STK) - midfielder 178cm 78kg PICK 24 2010 ROOKIE draft Spending his third year on StK rookie list Obviously a loyal kid given he won Sandy's b+f last year and still wasn't upgraded Can win the ball inside and out ROLE: Midfielder competition with the likes of Evans, M. Jones etc VALUE: Late 3rd round pick and would need contract incentive to draw away from Saints Jesse Stringer (GEEL) - Midfielder 182cm 82kg PICK 61 2010 Rookie draft Obviously fails the character test with his poor behaviour previously Currently recovering from hamstring injury Skills a bit iffy but displayed a good knack for a goal and hard running in his brief AFL career ROLE: Midfield competition, can play half forward as well VALUE: 3rd round pick Liam Anthony (NM) - Mature Outside midfielder 189cm 88kg 2009 Rookie draft Will be 26 by the end of the year and in and out of North's side so is a bit of the Pedersen's about this guy but he has a career average of 23 disposals and always finds the ball. Ball use isn't perfect and I believe he gets dropped from North for better and younger defensive guys with more positional versatility But considering we went aft Farren Ray last year this guy is very similar ROLE: Upgrade on the wing position increasing midfield competition VALUE: Late 3rd/4th round pick only Todd Banfield (BRIS) - Small forward 183cm 83kg PICK 41 2008 AFL draft Out of favour small forward who was the next big thing but is now rarely sighted When he burst on to the scene he looked good defensive and could hit the scoreboard ? Concerns over fitness ROLE: Small forward VALUE: With such lack of game time at Brisbane I get the feeling he's headed for the scrap heap, rookie pick up Aidan Riley (ADEL) - inside midfielder 182cm 86kg Former NSW scholarship rookie Hard at it clearance midfielder 22 touches, 8 clearances on the weekend in the SANFL Just 10 AFL games and yet to break into crows team this year ROLE: Hard at it inside midfielder VALUE: 3rd round pick

there's no such thing as reverse racism? Racism is racism? rasicist come from all directions and it's down right embarassing! Racism is a primitive view... And should be dropped back in the past were it comes from....

How's that coaching handover working out for you, Eddie?

And ignorant racist halfwits don't grow on trees either. Her mother is as much to blame for her behaviour. Nice education you give your kids, letting them blossom into filthy scumbags.

I guess the short version of what I'm saying is I'd like to see Watts play between wing and half forward.

Yeah look, I don't disagree with you, I just think it's time he was moved forward. We struggle so badly between 70-40m out, would love to see his disposal utilized around that area of the ground for us.

Byrnes is, right this minute, comfortably in our best 22.

Friday night games frustrate me also. They continually serve to show how far away from being a decent team we are. It's like we are in Bizzaro world and the real teams are in an entirely different reality. I could accept this if I genuinely thought we were on the way up. But frankly we are so far short of these teams that......................

I wouldn't be surprised if PJ stayed on as our CEO. He states that at the moment the greatest challenge in the AFL is the MFC. Then he said I love a challenge. Lets just hope he falls in love with the place, has all the power again. There would be a golden handshake from Andy if he did turn us around!!.

Strauss dropped. Got to be effing kidding me. Im at a lost as to what Neeld is doing.

Support publicly, critique privately it's fairly simple. The coach should be shielding the players from the media's rubbish not adding to it.

Several occasions? Used as a scapegoat? That anti-neeld vendetta blinding your judgement again old buddy? What about at the start of the preseason when neeld said jack had all the tools to be one of the most versatile players in the league akin to Brendan Goddard? How about in may last year when he said the previous administration set jack up to fail by claiming he was the poster boy of the future? And again when he said jack's standing as a number one pick didn't matter as he was now on a list, but jack showed all the tools to be a very successful afl player? You just keep posting your sickening propaganda, never with anything constructive, just the same vitriolic spiel.

It's an area that gets right at the heart of where we are as a club. The best tackling game I've seen in years from us was the preseason game at Renwick, not surprisingly we fielded a team missing a lot of our senior players. I'm sick to death of the token efforts by our guys and of the excuses about younger bodies etc. what a let out. Watching preseason training we were being taught to go low in the tackle, watching the games most of our guys still go high and more often than not with no conviction. This is how we are playing our football, not learning lessons and no conviction. Now, I just noticed above the mention of technique and strength. The most important thing in laying a good tackle is desire, the want to do it. If you have that and develop the right technique then strength comes a distant 3rd. Even if you are a lightweight you can at least hang on to even the strongest player, you might not bring him to ground but you will slow him down. Players being brushed off are being brushed off because they have no conviction and they haven't taken their lessons on board. As for hard ball gets over tackling, all things are important. The way the game is the opposition are going to have the ball for a fair period of time and tackling is an important component to getting it back and putting pressure on.

Its not technique, its mindset. The players have even admitted it.

I think it's asking the same question in a different way and acknowledge that the golden boy status of Hird is providing him with a level of immunity that would not be given to mere mortals.If Robson's was sacked for not knowing what was going on with a disastrous and damaging drug/supplement program what is the disposition of the person who did know and as you pointed out took full responsibility? It's a valid and serious question. And if it was not Hird then the coach in this position should go at the same time. If ASADA do bring adverse findings against Essendon re the drugs program I can't see how Hird can avoid guilt and sacking. And I wonder how Robson, Robertson and others who will fall for this appalling matter will feel if they have been scapegoated to protect the golden boy. It does not exonerate their culpability but it highlights a serious hypocrisy if Hird escapes without sanction or penalty.

Most interesting bit of the article for me was the mentioning of Daniher. Half-way across the country, working for a different club, and he still has what it takes to get our players up when our current coaching panel can't. People on here always hate on the Daniher era but it was a good time to be a Melbourne supporter, if only for more consistent wins and an exciting brand of football to watch. I miss those days with The Reverend at the helm!

What a lovely photo of Aaron and his family. Lets hope he can continue with the form he showed on Sunday versus the Tiges. He was so exciting in his early years with the Dees.

regardless of what anyone WANTS to happen or WHEN they think it should happen, I think the point is moot. I get a very uneasy feeling that any week, particularly the tough ones (of course) could see another 25-30 goal loss occur and that will be the trigger. All it would take is a mob to rip us to pieces and be 8-10 goals up at quarter time, heads drop, and it's all over. You can't help but feel it's just a matter of weeks til this happens

i'm not necessarily disagreeing with you entirely.. but I wish people would stop mentioning this as if it somehow adds weight to this Watts situation.. If anything it SUBTRACTS from it, for 2 reasons: 1) it is completely irrelevant as a reflection of our club, everybody in Australia knows he was offered and accepted an obscene amount of money and that's all it was about. Whoever had the number 1 pick that year would have lost Tom Scully to GWS 2 years later. Surely that is not up for debate. 2. We ended up being major beneficiaries out of that situation for a number of reasons. I thought this was generally understood around here? As many others have said, there is no reason to suggest that the departure of Watts, if it happens, won't end up being a positive event in the end. Don't get me wrong, I very much want to keep him, but attaching Scully to the situation in order to make it seem worse is poor play IMO

Grow up.

Possibly the harshest treated player by the selection committee in the last couple of years, but ever a vital guy at our club

Getting rid of Neeld want suddenly make us win, but with the right appointment it can at least can set us on a path that provides hope to players and supporters alike. Everyone associated with this club is miserable right now. Weekly thrashings until August, and the three players in question will already have their suitcases packed. Really, it is only a big reversal in fortunes, or Neeld leaving, that will keep them here, in my view. Watts in particular can not POSSIBLY be happy with his current predicament as the team yoyo, and Chip has become so used to losing that surely no-one would blame him for wanting a taste of some form of success. If we do lose all three, you can forget 5 year plans. Try 10. For mine, Neeld should essentially be on weekly notice. It's at that stage now.

What a magnificent way of saying nothing

I liked how Neeld had him over for dinner. That, along with recent comments by Col Garland makes me think he finally trying to balance the school principal style of managing players he went in with last year.

Say what you like about Davey but when his playing days are over he'll be remembered as the pioneer of forward pressure and a great of the club

The board and FD don't need any more problems. I just hope the players don't read it after they get thumped. We are the intellectual equivalent of a pack of wild dogs ripping up a rabbit. On a good day.

Prove that. The Richmond game was the best four quarter effort of the season, maybe since the Essendon game last year. Other than specious reports about players leaving - what proof is there that Neeld is damaging the club. He will go if he can't replicate the sort of effort we saw on the weekend but if losing is damaging...well, getting rid of Neeld won't suddenly make us win. What damage and what proof?

Because playing under an interim coach and a stand-in CEO will give them a clear picture of where we headed and fill them with security.

And after all that Gillies gets the nod. I'm at a loss as to how Gillies deserves a spot ahead of Pedersen.

You have to be joking. He has had no line of sight over the most important aspect of a club....player welfare. His failings (along with others to be named) has resulted in a disaster for the Club, a calamity for the AFL and has placed the careers of young players in jeopardy. At this stage it's still not known if they will escape ASADA sanctions. And you're dreaming if you think he is even the remotest chance at a Club that had no idea of what was happening with is own supplements program. I can see the PR coup for AFL put a disgraced CEO in charge of a Club that has done enough bring shame on itself.

I resent that.

This galah keeps posting the same incoherent jazz day in day out mate. Yesterday it was neelds fault that Stef Martin left for that reason. you remember stef martin, the dominating bigman on our list for several years? Tomorrow I'm thinking David Schwarz's knee injuries will also be neelds fault.

Yet your contributions (personal attacks on everyone who doesn't think we are cruising along on the road to glory) are fantastic contributions. Keep up the good work champ!

We all know your views.........You do not have to rant on and on and on about it...........You highjack every thread with your anti Neeld sentiments..........I don't think you have posted in any thread where you have not called for slash and burn of Neeld......Geezzz...

Why? You have players who aren't contrubuting any effort, leadership or experience and want to leave the club, but you want to get rid of one of the only players who contributes this and wants to be here? His fitness isn't the best, but clearly showing improvement... which can't be said for some of our list.

The AFL need us to be competitive and have stated it several times. They have their man fixing us up. I somehow don 't think they will allow us to be plundered which would destroy any chance of us getting better.