Leaderboard

Ok BTDemon, I would love you to complete a task for me. Can you please write a list of all Melbourne players and give a comment, only has to be brief, indicating those that aren't playing for the coach, those that aren't playing for each other, and which players haven't bought in? If you're not willing to do it, your last post is Barrett-like. And to be honest champ, me putting you in the same category as Barrett is one of the worst personal inuslts you can get, and would actually border on me breaking CoC rules. TIA.

First time long time. Have felt compelled to write my thoughts as I am stunned the amount of vitriol directed at neeld whilst the board seem to be getting off very lightly. This board was given a free kick to begin with and started with no debt courtesy of stynes. Now losing millions a year. Crowds, membership and hope are well down. They have overseen a football department structure which has been openly canned by new CEO. Copped $500k fine for tanking. Lied to afl about dank. Gave former CEO 3 yr contract extension before sacking him 6 months later. Got us to the point where it is widely recognized that we need afl intervention so as not to implode. I could go on. Meanwhile, neeld walked into a fractured playing group who hadn't been within a bulls roar of finals in 5 years because they didn't work hard enough. It is no secret we had a toxic culture and he went about trying to change it. He has been canned for alienating the leaders when he came in. These leaders had got us nowhere in the past 5 years and were the epitome of the lack of work ethic which got us to where we are in the first place. It is not like he walked into Geelong and proceeded to get all the leaders off side. Last year our so called senior footballers in green, davey, sylvia and moloney responded to being made accountable by dropping their bundle and spending time at Casey. I would think this is more of a reflection on the character of these players than it is of neeld. Moloney spends the off season urinating in nightclubs and then sooks for a year when he isn't made captain. Again, reflects more on moloney than it does neeld. Because of this neeld has copped flak for getting some noses out of joint after being given carte blanche to fix the culture at the club. Note that blokes like jones, Howe, grimes, dawes, clarke etc. who are actually prepared to work hard don't seem to have a problem with the neeld's regime. I think the development problems we have had can be attributed to the work ethic of the bulk of our players who are 26 and over. Few if any would get games at a decent club. In the absence of a decent senior group neeld was forced to throw two blokes into the captaincy who ideally wouldn't be captain yet. Again, says more about the quality of senior players we had at the club prior to neeld's arrival than it does about neeld. The other thing neeld gets canned for is his 'moneyball' recruiting policy. This is absolute garbage, i think his recruiting has been excellent. Let's look at last year: In Hogan - pick 3, gun Toumpas - pick 4, hasn't started well but has obvious talent Viney - pick 26, gun Dawes - pick 20, good acquisition Barry - steak knives with hogan deal, going ok at Casey Rodan - effectively traded for Morton (pick 88). Was excellent on the weekend and from all reports is a good influence on the group Byrnes - free agent, has played a couple of good games Kent - pick 48, forced his way into side, wait and see M jones - pick 52, great pickup Terlich - pick 68, great pickup Gilles - awful Pedersen - traded for gysberts who has spent 2 years in vfl How can the above be deemed to be bad recruiting? Neeld shouldn't have to deal with players not putting in. These problems go back further than neeld and are problems which grew under the board. I think neeld has gone about trying to fix things up the right way and I hope he stays to see out his rebuild with a competent board in place providing some stability instead of the current circus

We may have been beaten by 95 points, but I agree with RM, the result doesn't reflect the effort of the players. We were competitive in each contest. We were beaten by class, bigger bodies, and greater experience. Remember Hawthorn are the premiership favourites. We fell down with our disposal into the forward fifty and our much maligned Neeld recruits, like Rodan and Dawes stood up big time. Kent, Terlich and Jones again showed up and have proven to be good draft picks by Neeld and Co. Even Pederson played well in the back half, and it looks like maybe he will stick down there, allowing Watts to play that lead up forward role he's a natural at. I came away from watching that game and actually felt more positive about the clubs situation. I actually enjoyed watching the game, because I could appreciate the effort we were putting in, and the genuine class of the Hawthorn outfit who are just a bloody impressive football club. If that level of effort can continue, and we can inject Clark, Grimes, McDonald, Sylvia, and even Viney back into the lineup, and I think we will be much better off, to the point where I believe we could beat St Kilda and the Bulldogs, and even Port on recent form. We are finally getting the effort that we were lacking at the start of the season and against GC. That is a positive step.

What player exodus??? Oh you mean the media lead rumor of a player exodus? The same media that said McLardy was standing down yesterday and Neeld was sacked and Rawlings was in as caretaker? Forgive me if I disregard your post......

I reckon.... I see yesterday as the Board getting together to do something (that they did not understand and would avoid responsibility for) and Jackson heading them off at the pass. He is not ready to sack people because he is not ready to appoint people. So we wait. When Jackson is ready the FD will change. Neeld will be sacked. Maybe Craig too. Maybe Mahoney as well. We'll keep Todd but give him a real job. We'll get one senior coach. Poor Neeld dangles on now because Jackson is not good to go yet. I feel for the bloke. Given the hardest job in footy, without knowing how to do it, and has drowned. I hope the board spend their time figuring out how to never meddle in issues that they don't understand. I hold them responsible for this bloody disaster. Came in with Jimmy on a mandate to "fix the club" and they've buggered it to within an inch of its life.

About Time One of our greats

Sylvia prob stay then........

Guys, you need to settle down. Express disappoinment, discuss how you think hee wasn't up to it. But name calling and abuse isn't appropriate. Regardless of how he performed as CEO, Schwab has been a big Melbourne person over the past 30 years, holding various roles. He is a true Melbourne person, like us, and while he may not have done well, I'm sure he did what he thought was right. His poor management wasn't malicious and want for personal gain, it was because rightly or wrongly he thought he was doing what was best. The same goes for Don McC, Stynes, Garry Lyon, Paul Gardener, Joe Gutnik and the others who have tried to help this club but failed. Discuss their failures but don't attack them personally. We don't need the club to be fractured, we need it to be united. We don't have so many supporters that we can choose to kick out some of them because of their mistakes or performance. NB I an not defending his performance.

I have not passed judgement on cam's time as ceo yet. I didn't really feel comfortable with it, given Ive got no personal knowledge of what goes on. However, after last night, its pretty clear that this is all his mess. a new CEO comes in and says we cant sack the coach because the footy department is too messed up, we don't even know if he can actually coach or not. the same new CEO says he cant believe that the 4 different facets of the footy department report to him. its clear that Cameron was trying to run the footy department and clear that he wasn't doing it very well. personally, im stoked that we didn't sack anyone last night. and that the clear message to the blood thirsty media was that "its just another board meeting". let peter Jackson sort out the footy department by hiring a gun as head of department, give neeld the rest of his contract and judge him at the end of next year.

It's said that those who win wars write their history and this is a clear example of that saying. Cameron Schwab was forced to resign as a result of our abysmal on field performance which most of us around here have identified as being due to a number of factors ranging back some time and encompassing different boards, different ceo's, different coaches and playing groups. He might well be responsible for many of the failings that we now see and he certainly took the responsibility when he accepted the inevitable and resigned but now he is the scapegoat and the bunny responsible for everything. Peter Jackson expressed the view that Schwab's system of having four people report to him was problematic from his viewpoint but that's his way of doing things. It doesn't make what Schwab was doing necessarily bad or evil as some are suggesting. No doubt many systems put into place by Jackson at Essendon are still being used by whoever is in charge there and we've seen how perfectly things are working with the Bombers. Similarly, with some Freo fans allegedly saying bad things about Schwab. Others still recognise that he took them from being a financial basket case and a non entity on the field into a finals side and I doubt they would be the strength they are now without his input at the time. Schwab's gone now. The exercise of reinventing history to satisfy one's bloodlust is truly futile.

You can build a whole team around a superstar; Ablett, LeBron, Buddy, Lionel. Last full moon I sacrificed a goat to the great war god Odin, and whispered the name "Jesse" to the breeze.

Which senior players are you referring to? The two that left via Free Agency - Moloney and Rivers? Brad Green, who actually made comments on the radio and in presser's that players need to get on board what was happening at the club? If all the rumors about Moloney are correct, re his attitude and moping because of not getting the captaincy, do you think he would be a positive influence on the junior players? Rivers is the only one I was disappointed about losing, but really, who wouldn't want to go and play at Geelong if they had the chance? A lot of rumors have circulated about the shabby treatment of players, but now we have a player who is come from a successful premiership club in Dawes who is quite clearly saying that the problem lies with the players. Is it that Neeld treated the players poorly, or is it that the culture of the club was so bad, that senior players that could cruise along in the past could no longer do so, and they were unhappy because of it? That's what happens when professional standards are set. The unprofessional ones get found out.

If Neeld goes, McLardy and some other board members must go with him. I have no doubt about it, and if it didn't happen, there should be mutiny.

At the risk of opening a can of worms... What right do we have in bagging the blazer? Why do we as supporters think that we know best in regards to having or not having these things? Ask the players, if they all think it's a big [censored], then fine, get rid of them. Personally, I think you will find that a majority of the players enjoy receiving the blazer and are respectful of our history. As we all agree, a players career is quite short, some a lot shorter than others, so if they appreciate a small token (in the forms of a blazer) from their brief time at the MFC, then let's leave it. FWIW - did the players not train in their grass-roots club jumpers prior to the Freo game? You always keep (steal) a momento from any club you have played for, it's just part of keeping memories.

I would hope the message to Neeld was along the lines of: "We understand that you are sticking to a process which is focused on the long-term, but clearly it isn't working. Here is a chance with a better football department structure to show us what you are capable of if you change things now."

If the ships turns around over the next few weeks I will be very happy to be wrong in my speculation.

its working wonderfully! 100pt losses, membership down,low crowds,2mill blowout, player exodus all going to plan!

I finally made up my mind about three weeks ago that Neeld was not a senior coach and I see nothing so far to change my point of view. But I am stoked to see the MFC responding like this. McLardy might not be the most passionate, visionary man but I love his stoic, straight bat style. And he replies first to us, the members and supporters, rather than the media. I really rate the respect involved in doing this when it would be easier to feed the ravenous media pack. Peter Jackson to the end of 2014 - tick. Mark Neeld given time and space to respond and improve rather than become the new Richmond, and sack everything is sight every time there is failure- tick. The media pack speculation proven - again - to be "blindfold-dart-at-a-balloon" journalism. tick. Solidarity and Unity conveyed - tick. Promise of more changes to come - tick. Well done MFC

Just stating facts with regards to Blease. Fifth year and he's playing regular seconds footy. Simple facts. And he was mentioned by Neeld as a player that had improved. Funny, I know. And no, no-one improves under this clown. Frawley was AA before he arrived, Grimes played good footy before you knew Neeld's name, Jones has improved - as he always should have at his age, Garland is doing no more than what I expect, Howe is an amazing talent and I give no credit to the clown for that, and Terlich, who's a battler and Matt Jones weren't even here before him, so how could they have improved ? Worst performances by a club in 30 years and you're gloating about player improvements ? You're either related to the clown or a border-line nutter yourself.

but mainly the Freys

The job might not have been to win 15 games, but at the same time the job didn't entail coaching a team that performs so badly that it is being compared by many (in terms of current performance) to Fitzroy. For Neeld to not admit that he would do at least one thing differently is laughable. Humans make mistakes yet here we have a rookie senior coach who is infallible. My only question is does he really think he hasn't made a mistake or is he just in self-preservation mode? Unleash Hell - there is a flaw in your argument that the board made a decision and now they need to stick to it. If they subsequently discover that the decision was the wrong one then they need to act on it. It would be catastrophic to not act because you want to stick to the long term plan. I accept that you can't just chop and change all the time but if a time comes when it is clear you have made a mistake or the wrong decision, then you should act on it. Stability is important, but bad stability is a potential disaster.

The fact that you listed Bluey winner tells me plenty. This is a typical case of trying to find the best Melbourne candidate instead of the best candidate.

I suggest that you should stop listening to the media. There is a lot of undignified crap out there. PJ spoke to the leadership group after the game on Sunday. I would suggest there is a lot more support for Neeld amongst the playing group than the media realise - not that they would want to know or report because its not good copy. Support for the coach hasn't resulted in wins but certainly the lack of effort which was glaringly absent previously is returning.

Yeah but he shouldn't sell it as though he was right all along and that his understanding of where we're at hasn't changed. We can see through it, we are smart enough to know that and I just think it's the wrong approach to try to sell the message as though everything is on track and is going as expected. He recently told Damian Barrett that he wouldn't change a thing he has done. Surely that can't be the case. He is either fearful of making himself look bad (the most likely reason) or he is so stubborn that he can't admit or even see the mistakes that have been made.

Haha, yeah. What a catastrophe it would be if we started winning.

I remember 1987 RM when it just happened from nowhere and I would love to share your optimism, but can't see it at this stage. I agree there have been some positives but IMO he went hard early with his plan and our boys have struggled, gradual change in the way we play would have been better

As I keep saying, that was the best 95 point loss I've ever seen. The score really wasn't an indication of how we played. Neeld is on the right track and when it clicks there are going to be some red faces. We are so close to getting this right, and all we need is for the board to back him up, or even keep sitting on the fence like they are, so that they can keep working. It's close to coming together.

Yeah it's the tightening of the defensive aspects that is probably counting against him more than anything. Our defensive side is atrocious and even worse than it was when Bailey was there. There is so much wrong with the way our club is being coached right now. For example, who in the fricking hell is responsible for our structure in defending opposition kick ins? Aren't they seeing what we're seeing from the stands each week (I.e. the oppo having at least one completely open player at each kick in and subsequently cruising from defense to attack like a training drill). Seriously, I could live with watching the insipid offensive style we've employed if we were at least stopping the oppo from scoring in any way shape or form...but we're not. Having said that, I don't mind what has happened today. make it clear to the coaches that things need to change as of right now...so go out there and find a way to get our list competing...or you leave us with no choice.

Come on, a dozen journalists sitting outside the MFC boardroom for 5 hours only to go home empty handed counts as something doesn't it? I got cheap amusement from it anyway.

The decision of the MFC Board not to dismiss MN at this stage is intriguing and could have a number of meanings. It could be that the Board has given MN one more week to coach against his previous club and then announce his resignation as coach of MFC after another bad loss, which would be a typical gentlemans' club reaction. It could be that the Board intend him to continue, thus ignoring the groundswell of opinion, which would also be typical of a gentlemans' club reaction (and a disaster IMO). It would also confirm many people's view that the MFC Board is lacking the ability to take tough decisions and that this is the top-down problem for the lack of a winning culture at MFC. It could be that the Board is buying a few more weeks to obtain a suitable replacement, but with each week they risk losing more players at the end of the season. One thing that is clear is that the question of MN's sacking is not media driven - supporters have apparently been far more critical of MN than the media who took some time to realise MN's flaws and who also are reluctant to turn on coaches until it is clear they are gone - the 'self-preservation' culture - there would be some media who would be surprised by today's decision and will now be trying to cover their backs, until the next time! It is also clear that players are not the cause of MN's current position - he has brought in players he wanted and the results have not improved. He has also lost players that he should have been able to develop if he was a genuine senior coach. Where to from here? My guess is that after the Queen's Birthday game, there will be some action. The situation will only deteriorate if the Board do not act soon.

What an absolute joke. The dogs of war came out and howled for blood. They crowded around, waiting for any morsel. And they were proven to be complete fools. The sports media in this country are appalling. If there is no story, they create it. They build up innuendo and here say to a level of frenzy. That simply make stuff up. Shame, all of you, shame. I'm glad you were left today with egg on your face (or is it Caros nuts on your chin?). Who are you going to turn on next? Hint for next time: you report the stories, you don't make them up, and you are not the story. See you Next Tuesday, all of you.

Damien Barrett is a [censored] bag of he highest order. Needs to be held accountable for his gossip column speculation.

Come on Demonlanders. We are in a win-win situation here. Neeld is on notice. On-field performance needs to improve or else whooshka, gone. If things improve by the end of the season, we win. If things don't improve by the end of the season, Neeld through the turnstile and Worsfold through the other side, we win.

This post, along with your last post btdemon, are perfect examples of the stream of speculative presumption that spews out from the media these days, and in particular about what's going on at the MFC. You make grand and and absolutist statements about Mark Neeld's personality, his relationship with the players, the players reactions, feelings and attitudes. All of which you have absolutely no direct evidence or justification for. You see on field results, and then invent a scenario that tries to make sense of it. Of course we all do that, because we desperately want to find reasons and solutions. You however, are making judgements as if they are fact, and because you don't actually know, it is in fact the rubbish that other posters have called you on. For the sake of reason and in the spirit of support for your club, reconsider before you post damaging guesswork like this again.

I'm sick of hearing about the "poor" players and how it's obviously the coach because not all are on board. I think it's complete rubbish. They are suppose to be professional footballers. Most of our boys can't even hit a target on game day, causing turn overs that you see in Under 18's football. The day we have more than 25% of our players on that field playing like professional AFL footballers. Will be the day we turn this club around. It is completely true when most on here say our best 22 would struggle to get a game for a club like Hawthorn, Geelong etc. It's absolutely true. Neeld took on a poor list and can only do what he can do with what he has. Looks to me like the talented more experienced players do not have a problem with Neeld (Clark, Dawes, Garland, N.Jones etc) , it's just all the sooks we have had at the club for years now who refuse to work hard. Let em go and let's get players who actually want to work hard effort after effort after effort. Matty Jones and Dean Terlich are certainly not A grade footballers. But they just keep continually working hard. Hence why they get all the disposals and the others don't.

At least swooper could coach, them the days.

No way, I do all my watching on TV and can honestly say I have absolutely no idea what is going on most of the time, thanks to the cameras being zoomed in far too close to the play. I can't see when players haven't worked hard enough to contest (or when they have made an extra special effort to do so), I can't see how the team is set up forward of the ball, and I can't see what options a player has when using the ball. Sitting in an elevated position at the ground is definitely better from the perspective of knowing what is going on.

Anyone else think that Lyon was talking rubbish last night...he thinks the board is playing a dangerous game, "what happens if the club starts winning games" he says. Well good Gary, that's the whole idea.

The media think they run football.

To Peter Jackson I say sometimes the obvious answer is the right one. We suck worse than any time in the history of the club. We didn't 18 months ago. The coach has to go. At board level also we need to clear house after such a spectacular failure. Those who have read many of my posts will know I blame most of this on Cameron Schwab's meddling. The Prez/board threw all their weight behind the wrong guy when following Schwab down the tanking vortex. Schwab's vision won the day. He buried the Leading Teams report, instilled tanking, cut a coach that had us 8-9. Hiring Neeld, a disastrously naive and slow-learning coach, was a horrible accident. Player disenchantment and walkouts followed and we find ourselves just above VFL standard onfield. Peter Jackson talking about the FD restructure is a swipe at meddling Schwab who had 4 people reporting to him after he was supposed to be staying out of things. People might say that this is all in the past but, even with Schwab cut a few weeks ago, his regime is the current structure PJ has walked into. Restructuring requires a close look and I can understand why he is taking his time. But the way forward is inevitable and that is to find new people to help this club out of this mess. New president (Freeman), new board members (Shwarzta etc), new coaches (Eade&Jnr Mac), new footy director (?), new players (draft kids and throw money at 1 or 2 FA guns not 5 old hacks). It's a big clear out but needs to happen and we could be up and about again in no time.

yup, we're 15 goals off losing by under a goal!

Good post. My take? I agree he will go after the maggies game - for several reasons. First i reckon the club would have been loathe to feed the media vutures who were unseemly in their desire to see some blood. Waiting allows them to control then when, how etc and ensures they can do things on their own terms. Media management 101 and i suspect that is Jackson's influence. Secondly this approach also allows a much more dignified exit for Neeld than would have been the case if they announced it today. For starters they can make sure Nelld knows the axe is coming so he can prepare himself and get his support systems in place. Thirdly it means that in the likely event a care taker is appointed it means they won't start with a higt profile hammering against a top side. The next game we play fter the bye is the Saints at the G and whilst we will still likely lose it is a much easier game. Finally the bye comes at a good time and perhaps means they have a little bit of time to go through a half decent process if they don't want to go with a caretaker. Though i guess they will be constrained in how publicly they can target or talk to someone like Eade or Williams (who will be watched closely by the media and the twiterati). I would assume they will have already started that planning process asnd perhaps even had some private chats.

If we appoint Knights then we will back here in two years discussing who our next coach will be!

rather than getting so excited with the new kid on the block, how about we just say sit back and see what he actually does before we cry hallelujah

Knights game plan was identical to Baileys in many ways. But he did help build the list that James is now exploiting. But we need a much better all-round coach. if we give Neeld the boot then I would expect at a minimum a Leigh Matthews or Choco Williams style coach. Ratten would be an ok option if they aren't available and Ayres has good attributes. matty Knights for me would be a massive step backwards. hasn't had success at AFL level and had a questionable game plan.

Didn't stevens say Neeld would be sacked today?? Why do people listen to this [censored]? Jackson won't be solely appointing anyone

Hawthorn sacked Schwab and Ken Judge. Collingwood sacked Tony Shaw and put in Malthouse. Sydney sacked Eade mid-year and put in Roos. And if we sack the clown it won't be due to media pressure. It will be to save what is left of the brand and his non-competitive efforts. Plenty of strong clubs sack coaches - some mid year and some not. Whether you like it or not footy is a results business. If Neeld sees the year out so be it, but he sure as hell won't be coaching in 2014. The worst on-field performances in 30 years kind of see to that. Funny, I know.

What equally makes me sick is that so called supporters wish the downfall of a club employee and rejoce That is what makes our club a joke to the competition - not the fact Neeld will get fired in due coarse but the fact supporters wish for it Talk about supporting 60 years of crap and counting

To me Jamar neutralizes the centre bounce and with our midfield is actually a positive, for mine retains his place.