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Moneider96 has summed it up nicely. I keep a low profile around here these days, although I read several times a day. Mark Neeld is a quality person who gave senior AFL coaching his best shot but it didn't come off at the Dees. He was held responsible for the failings of many because the buck stops with the cocker. However, the insane hatred expressed by several present on these boards has been unwarranted. His rise part way from the depths (that he must have visited) is a tribute to his resilience and spirit. I hope he experiences great success in his new role at the Bombers. I respect him and, even at this late stage, thank him for what he tried to achieve at our club. I don't see myself as a supporter of all things Neeld; I just see myself as a more reasonable and educated football fan than those who burden us with their warped brand of scapegoatism.

Give me a break guys, talk about looking in the rear-vision mirror and hitting the tree. I can tell you from a personal level, Neeld was out of his depth 1 month in at this club - he personally told me. If you think that the win/loss impact of Roos (who according to the associated avatars on this forum has more nous than any coach going around) was $equivalently different from what Mark Neeld delivered, then shoot me down. The guy had his reputation, his career and his income smashed in the experience at MFC and just for your info, he was on pretty low $. Maybe that's all he deserved I hear you saying.....get a life, move on and leave the poor bloke alone. If you want to blast me, maybe focus the replies on Lyon and co who decided he was the man for the job. I'm out, you guys are a pack of rabid drifters - and if you need to learn the definition of a drifter, read some Napoleon Hill

Hope he loses his first game.

Hi Mark!

What many here fail to realize is that it was the MFC's failure when Neeld was appointed, not Mark's. Neeld had applied and failed to get many senior coaching positions (Richmond, PA, Adelaide) but got ours because we failed to conduct a proper interview process which would have exposed his weaknesses. But we wanted to avoid "death by powerpoint". Mark did nothing wrong and merely wanted to test himself at the highest level. And he didn't have the greatest administration backing him up and was surrounded by newbie assistant coaches in the main. I didn't like Neeld from the beginning, never struck me as a leader of men, but I wish him all the best at Essendon and beyond.

An element to all of these recent appointments I admire is firstly how the club identified who they wanted( or very short list ) then went about the procurement of the intended. We hardly saw any thing leaked. The media had no chance to fabricate a storm of sensationalist rubbish that might paint us as this or that, no we just got the job done and came up smiling. Compare this to all the hullabaloo last year. The uncertainty , the desperation that was attributed to the club. It may have helped having our northern suburban lot attracting so much attention but then I can only imagine their fanboys would be keen as mustard to find something on another club they could sink their hooks into and yet we sailed along stealthily. Takes no Rhode Scholar to understand development doesn't seem to have been something we've mastered of late. So much attributed to our poor standing is attributed to the inability to extract the best out of our list ( we'll leave alone the idea that the selection of said list left much to e desired also, for the moment ) , that much development has gone begging but for the want of decent, well, developers. Brendan McCartney appears that last piece to a puzzle,but a very important piece. This bloke has had a lot of success in bringing the kids on, getting them to step up and into the game as bonefide players. Together with this years likely influx we will have a fair number of lads who can benefit from the Macca influence. There are the noobs but a couple of young 20's lads might benefit also. We can only hope. Macca has that happy knack of getting players to respond and lift. Those entrenched in their ways are a different ilk but fortunately we have others in charge whose position allows them to help purge the club of such impediment. This is really quite an inspired appointment and I applaud Brendan for seeing the opportunity as it is, to help create a very good team. Shame he doesn't start til Feb but looking at it longer picture wise I sense we'll benefit greatly from the McCartney influence. It'll be great....yeahh !!!

Mark Neeld plus Essendon is a recipe for a very dangerous Demonland thread.

Well that's good, now having seen his highlights I reckon we should take Brayshaw with 2 and if available Petracca, McCartin, Lever and Laverde with pick 3. Can we take 4 players with one pick?

Either was our last recruiting manager.

The day of the ballarat game my wife is due to have our second child so might have to tie her legs shut

I'm no draft expert but one thing I have learned from my time in football is to always go for the bulls. Macartin and brayshaw tick that box. No skinny frame kids please go for the big strong guys. Pick 2&3 are a must get right this draft

I'll be really disappointed if we don't use 40 and 53. It's easy to get a fresh injection of hope around this time of year with trades and early draft picks, but the fact is the list is very ordinary and the midfield is still a massive hole. A 31 year old Western Bulldogs discard led our B&F after 8 rounds and probably would have won it but for a broken leg. We look like adding a talented kid into the middle in Brayshaw but he can't be expected to do much in there next year. The other early pick looks like it will be a key forward, Lamumba and Garlett will only provide brief cameos around the contests, and Billy Stretch could get a ride this week at Flemington so I doubt we'll see him in 2015. We must give McCartney and Roos two more talented, young genuine midfielders with 40 and 53. Taylor is a highly regarded recruiter brought across on what I imagine would be pretty decent money - he should be able to find a couple of decent prospects with these picks. IMO Tapscott has to go, and given that McKenzie seems to be an extremely popular clubman and really hardworker, it's Evans who has to be paid out for mine.

Letr's hope Sylvia has a full pre-season then...

Am I the only one that's hoping Essendon's next announcement will be welcoming Barry Prendergast to their recruitment team?

Surely this is all the evidence ASADA needs to prove that Essendon uses drugs...

I heard from an ex AFL scout who still mixes in football circles that we'll take Laverde at 3. I have no idea as to the credibility of his sources as he has never provided intel before. However, I thought I would share it for those like minded 'Landers' who enjoy hearing this stuff. He said the top 5 will go like this; 1: Petracca (Saints) 2: Brayshaw (Dees) 3. Laverde (Dees) 4. Wright (GWS) 5. McCartin (Pies) Who knows, we shall wait and see.

Leaving aside the 'junior footy experts' who are entirely fallible and the 18 months quip (6 of which are off season) the reason you have for not picking a bloke like Laverde is a singularity of stupidity, a blackhole of rational thought; every year there is someone taken in the picks you claim not good enough for the top 3 that are better than the top 3!Wines, Aish, Selwood. The fact that you are alluding to the MFC not 'being allowed' to take a player because of 'phantom ranks' is, unfortunately, backing up one of my personal dislikes about those that talk about this teenage lottery draft that we have; being railroaded into a few choices while having the most to choose from. It stinks.

This appears to be the 'Roos Trademark'. He includes families. The first thing he did when appointed coach was jumped on a plane to visit Jessie's family. Also Salem(?) before drafting. Stretch and Brayshaw more recently? He gets family comfortable with their son coming to the Dees (no we won't stuff his career Mr & Mrs ...) and understands the players home life etc... I think we will see very few 'want-to-go-home' and more 'committed to AFL level footy' players at the Dees. Over 3-4 drafts Roos will have selected about 30 new players. Therein lies the culture change!! Roos goes up in my estimation every day.

Not arguably, he was a great player.

Thanks for your insights m'kaaay, especially about the negativity he encountered at the club which goes a long way to explaining his eventual demise as a coach. I'm happy for Neeld that he's getting another opportunity elsewhere but he has again taken on a tough gig being with Essendon at this time in its history. We also tend to forget that he was credited with playing a pivotal role in developing the game plan employed by Collingwood in its premiership year which is something nobody can take away from him.

Great post and I respect you for coming on here and defending the guy. At the end of the day its good from a human nature point of view that he has a job in the AFL again. He really was a very highly rated assistant coach at Collingwood just ask Scott Pendlebury. He tried what what he thought was best for the footy club and he did install proper AFL training standard. Its not like he got appointed to try and fail this club im sure he tried his best just like we all do when we head into a new working environment. All the best Neeldy.

Frankly, there are a litany of people, Demons even, that do not deserve the cheap derision that are directed at them on this site.

He does look impressive. I don't know junior footy, but I do see players in the AFL, that I have been told were flankers at TAC Cup level, turn into very good midfielders. These players are invariably taken later than their talent otherwise should because of the fact that they are not played in a position of importance. Is Laverde one of those players?

That isn't what I am saying at all - I am saying that your utter rejection of players a 'phantom' picked 2 WHOLE PLACES LOWER is utterly ridiculous and maddening. The MFC gets to choose any player bar whoever is taken at Pick 1 and we are not confined to the 2 or 3 players these Phantoms say we should select.

Already did it. Ticket master site a bit cumbersome but light years ahead of what it used to be. $60 - and I won't have to buy the AFL one again, and it goes to the Dees. All good.

Outside i heard a bird chirp 3 times, which my dog barked at once. The bird then responded with 2 more chirps, which were met with 2 further barks from my dog. From this i can deduce that either Pe-tra-cca or Mc-Car-tin will go at pick 1. Bray-shaw will go at pick 2. There were no further draft whispers between the bird and my dog, so i am unable to decipher who we will pick at #3.

HH must love WERRIDEE. He looks balanced and moderate in comparison.

As a car they make a good tractor....actually as a tractor they make a good anchor !!!

Interview was done but for some peculiar reason got taken down after about half an hour???? Fear not because I saved it. Enjoy! http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdy_Fjdox4w

Spot on Macca. I also put a lot onto the club for their failure to have any form of development but they seem to be recognising this with the appointment of McCartney.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't - we can also go against conventional wisdom and be sadly disappointed. The truth is we're stuck with a flawed system and whilst we've got this flawed system, not much will change. By the way, the "experts" aren't really experts. They are just slightly better qualified speculators. The more knowledge one can have about all the potential draftees, the more confusing the whole thing can become. Most people like to have a dash at the next big thing or make an overly negative prediction. Me, I can't be bothered trying to make sense of a largely nonsensical system. We'll pick who we pick and hopefully they'll all turn into good players (we might even fluke a star or 2) If not, there will be no recriminations from my part. We can point the finger at the club for a number of unforced errors in the past but when it comes to "top end" draft picks, I blame the system when those top end draft picks don't turn up trumps. The Americans have numerous "busts" with all the drafts across their 4 major sports and often, the draftees are 21-23 years old. We evaluate a lot of our potential draftees when they're only 17 years old - it's any wonder the strike rate is as low as it is.

Along with the Hawks and perhaps Port, we now have the best coaching team in the league.

your not old until you can remember Tassie Johnson kicking out mongrel drop kicks from fullback.

Who knows lads. Kreuzer was clearly streets ahead of Cotchin at the 2 year mark. even then its too early to call. Wines has had a cracking start but reckon if we start winning the clearances, jimmy will come into his own. Where was Robbie Gray 2 years ago? were people all over to trade for him? some work it out at different stages. He doesn't look like a bust to me.

Nice for us Dees in the West, Fish and Chips at Fishing boat harbour and a couple of beers in Freo before watching the Dees

And here is the interview caught on video...

People are forgetting that Dank admitted giving thymosin beta 4 in the age interview the science of steven dank . Dank also gave the details of the injection schedule and requsted it not be published . Dank was also told by the journalist beta. 4 is banned catching Danks reaction . That interview is part of asada evidence . Gone .

I didn't see that coming.

Really good post M'kaaay. As soon as I read the title for this thread, I felt pleased. For Mark Neeld. Neeld was clearly out of his depth at this club. I agree, this was not entirely his fault - although he did seem to contribute to it. Pretty actively. That said, I think he did what he felt was best for the club whilst he was here, and he should be respected for that. I too wish him good luck with the next gig. Endorse these sentiments absolutely. Stoked that our coaching panel now consists of Roos, Goodwin and McCartney though.

It is what it is.

Mocking Essendon is a 24 hour 7 days a week public service. Keep up the good work WJ.

I wish Mark Neeld well. He was clearly a very successful assistant coach at Collingwood. While it might seem to be an unusual place to go, it may actually be a tactical master stroke. Of all the clubs in the AFL, Essendon might become the one that needs the most assistance in development of new players if the ASADA problems force a higher than average turnover of players (either by enforced suspensions or because players "do a Ryder" and walk out of the club). And there is a certain irony on Demonland that on the one hand posters laud MFC's appointment of Brandan McCartney - a successful assistant coach who failed (for whatever reason) at the top job - and then seem to think Essendon has failed by doing exactly the same thing.

Good luck Mark I hope you find a spot in footy or whatever career you have moving forward. People need to let it go fark he is a human being and has a family. He put his nuts on the line and was found wanting at least he gave it a go.

Neeld is a text-book example of the Peter Principle. Within any hierarchy, competent people will tend to rise until they reach their level of incompetence. He's a fine assistant coach.

Much much better kick. Moves better. More filled out athletic body than Gawn's wiry frame at the same age. Slightly shorter. No previous ACLs. Red hair. No beard. The plan would be for Gawn to ruck 70-80%, play forward 5-15%. Wright to ruck 20-30%, play forward 60-70%. We'd be drafting Wright as a forward (I'd hope) who can be less athletic but bigger and stronger than Joe Daniher. Or eventually become something like Kurt Tippett. Gawny has shown an above average ability forward for a ruckman, but he really is a ruckman and so has to be in that position for half a game to have an impact.

I think this is a good appointment. Yes he failed as senior coach but was a good assistant and there's no reason he can't go back to being one. He was out of his depth in our mess and it's taken a couple of years and still counting for us to unravel it. He was hit by more than the reality bus when he was at Melbourne. Good luck to him.

If StKilda are tossing up between Petracca and McCartin at pick one, surely we will pick him up at three if they don't. If they take him, it'll be Petracca and Brayshaw......all big bodied,which is what we really need,because we can't afford to wait 3 or 4 years for someone skinny with talent to develop.

thanks to those who had faith in my words. Great get for our club.

LEADERSHIP Follow me boys!

My hope is Spencer. He just tries so hard I want him to succeed.