Herry Prowse

He looks injured.

Maybe he should throw the beans out the window, wait til morning, climb the stalk and recruit the guy up there to take on Sandilands next time we play the Dockers.

You forgot Freo.

I will be pretty annoyed if the basis for his decisions are contained in these forums!

I can see what you mean, but he spent the preseason in a moonboot. He is only just getting a level of match fitness and he has the intensity in defence that most of the rest of them lack. Will be a vey good onballer and admired by MFC followers (if there are any) in the future. 100% agree on the premature appointment, gives him no chance to learn without the spotlight being on him.

Trengove has not been fit for two years. He is a reliable, hardworking kid who the club has given too many responsibilities. He could easily be as good as Brock McLean who after being considered too slow etc has completely remade himself. Get some good people around him and he will win the ball, defend, take marks and buy into a winning game plan and team. If we start giving up on quality people like him then we become part of the problem as well.

I think they said four out of the last six.

I'm guessing Robbo would be a mile off.

This part is 100% correct and essential to any improvement. In a way this is part of what is most important, making the people you have better and making them believe they will be better. This is the job of anyone whose obligation is to get people to change, getting your existing people to imagine and act out a better future. 31 games in that is where Neeld has really failed and that is what we all mean when we say he has lost the players.

I think it is part of our problem, a lack of vision. We chased Bailey to get a Port Adelaide game plan just as they were fading, we went for Watts to get a Reiwoldt style forward and now everyone wants the Cloke type, we chased Neeld to get a Collingwood game style just as Hawthorn were becoming the ideal team. It is no surprise we are talking about stats that were relevant five years ago. We have no vision. We look to the past and outside our club rather than to the present and inside. Neeld basically said we are rubbish and need to wait 5 years, the implication being he will clear out Melbourne people and get players from elsewhere. Compare this to Port who got Hinkley to instill belief in the existing list. They might not win another game this year, but he has brought heart to that club because it seems like he has his own plan for them. We just threw away everyone.

I think this a really interesting observation and I think it does relate to the MFC. We talk about clearances, the contested ball, the importace of defence, but other teams who are really successful do not worry about some of these at all. What we need to to is look at the relationship between the stats and the score, ie can you lose the contested ball and still win? (Answer is yes) Can you lose the clearances and still win?(Definitely) Can you win if you kick the ball to the opposition in uncontested situations? (this seems to be called run and spread) Unlikely. Can you win if the opposition takes more marks inside 50? (Unlikely) Maybe we are all looking at the wrong things, or looking at things that might have got us in the 8 in 2009 but will not even get us close now.

Tomorrow is when I would do it. Get the players to rethink their futures now, because at the moment I would guess their managers have already decided that their value is just plummeting at this outfit. And if we are worried about the cost, we will have plenty of money if we keep him because we won't have to pay Frawley, Sylvia et al.

It seems fairly clear that the job of a caretaker coach is to rebuild relationships between the playing list and the coaching staff. Neeld has lost the list. He will go either now or at the end of the season. If it is after round 23 we may lose Frawley, Watts, Sylvia and who knows who else. If we are in a rebuilding phase now it will be worse if that happens. Removing the coach now gives the list some breathing time, keeping him on ensures its continued disruption, even destruction.