rpfc

What if you were 'hitting the books' during the day? What if it's draining and self-defeating to constantly rehash and regurgitate all that has gone wrong? They can watch the Rugby.

How's that? A few are alluding to this impending disaster - one poor hapless fellow think we will immediately merge with North Melbourne. What is this doomsday scenario? And how does it play into these facts: 1. The AFL wants 9 games a week which means 18 teams. 2. They have already pumped, and are pumping, money into 2 new markets so there is little chance for a third exercise. 3. Tassie is tapped by two clubs. 4. Canberra is not big enough. And would be costly regardless. 5. Our financial position is as strong as it has ever been. The AFL wants us alive, we are fighting fit from a commercial standpoint, and there is nowhere to go if we were to be relocated. Stop being so maudlin about the existence of the club.

I am glad you read it that way. Some will not read it that way and think they don't care as they are living it up at the Rugby (if one could ever do such a thing). They are fighting for their careers and in no way does it help for them to be stressing over every little thing they have done wrong over the past two weeks. They need confidence in themselves and each other.

There you go again - trying to divide this place. We are all filthy, RR. If we continue the way we are there has to be changes but at a time that suits us and our future. Caretaker coach? Looking likely. Caretaker CEO? You better know your sponsors are ok with that much upheaval. Caretaker President? The final plank in the reaction of a Mickey Mouse organisation. We are a joke at the moment, don't rub it in by spilling all those positions before September. You are the one making posters who think like me as the enemy of the future of the club. I do not appreciate it at all and I have been incredibly patient of late.

We keep throwing these boys in when they are not ready. We console ourselves by saying that 'the kids couldn't do any worse!' and we may be right but what does it do (what has it done) to the development of kids to play before they should and be involved in the soul destroying losses that we have seen these past two weeks. Toumpas should not have been exposed to the AFL like this. From reports on the MFC website - he has taken it awfully badly. We just don't learn. Stop throwing the kids to the wolves when they are not ready and make sure that they earn their call up.

You have your view of Byrnes and that is fine. What I saw in Rd 1 was a FP who tackled well and did as much as he could do with such poor, and infrequent, delivery. We have our views on Byrnes and the decision to bring in Rodan, Byrnes, Pedersen, Gillies, Jones, and Terlich. It is not their fault that we are in this mess, nor can they be blamed for it. We are flailing as a club and we need to stop trying to find and destroy the easy kill. It runs deeper than that.

My Kingdom for an easy answer. I wish it were so...

Well, I am not 'contributing to the demise of the club' by not asking for my $300 back. And I hate that you think of us as such patsies. I am as filthy as you, and I intend to keep my voting rights.

Yes, we are all George Clooney in The Perfect Storm...

Simma - you come on here and give your intentions to the community. What do you want me to say? Empathise with you? I can. Understand where you are coming from? I did. Endorse it? That is not your right to demand that. I gave my views on what you proffered yourself. You have decided to make a decision to ask for your money back - you can do that, but what do you expect me to say? You should expect what I said, and be damn thankful that we are all passionate enough to be chewing each other out right now.

That hurts the club. So thanks for that... Honestly, what emotion do you want from us? wyl's 'I hope you are back when we are good' spiel? We need all the people we can get helping the club. And mistakes don't matter, having the courage to try sometimes leads to failure. That is not why we are at where we are at - our players don't try. Our players are so afraid of failure they don't do anything other than try and beat 'their' bloke, and when 15 blokes go into a game with that mindset - you have already lost.

It was hard to watch. Everyone looked like they had just lost by 10 goals. I understand that it wasn't THE last thing that was said before the game - this was a pre-game meeting. But that is not the mood you need to foster confidence. It was solemn, defeated, and it was just Neeld. If I were addressing that group, I would have them all in as close as possible with instructions to all leaders to reinforce points. I would also build to some sort of a crescendo - attempt to get some sort of emotional response of confidence, however feigned, from the players. Every talk at that club needs to be about instilling or encouraging some confidence. They look like they do not like footy.

You are so naive. The AFL is going to hand back a ninth of their money just to spite us? They want 18 teams. And Tassie is gone - they will never have a team while Hawthorn is sucking on their teet. Canberra and Darwin are not big enough (and GWS is trying to make themselves Canberra's team - with some success), Nort Qld is the hope in 40 years time - the AFL have enough money tied up in GC and GWS, and as for Perth - I think that Freo back on its feet and that market being adequately tapped means there is little desire for another team there.

I am not worried about that. It's simply an embarrassment and not necessary. Once again - the AFL is happy for the Hawks to bleed Tassie. They will never get a club now that they have made the deal with the Glenferrie Devil. Darwin is nowhere near big enough to have a team, nor is Canberra. We are in Melbourne until we can't sustain our existence and then we will cease to be. It won't come to that for a while (decades). The AFL wants 9 games a week and they are not equipped for any more ventures into untapped markets. They are bankrolling two at the moment. We are here for the long haul - let's just try and get our house in order quickly shall we? Not for the sake of the club's existence - for the sake of our own...

I doubt he could spell the word.

The ball bleeds out of the forward line too. And our 'game plan' is non-existent and is allowing weasy passage through the middle. That is on Neeld.

Angry sighs for rpfc if the AFL step in. They can advise and quietly pull some strings but let us deal with this ourselves. Admin We can get some independent advice and headhunt some good people at the end of the season. Board & President We have a good base of people from all reports. We can get a suitable leader at some point - this will take some time. Coach Where is the Caretaker going to come from? We can do this ourselves if we have to. Rohan Connolly can GAGF - we don't need the AFL to take over.

I would prefer this to the AFL stepping in. God damn it - we can't even implode without help from The Bloated One... I don't like the way McLardy is trying to save his administration. When you say "we are all in this together" - then it surely lends itself to the view that "We are ALL in this together." Failure on a grand scale can't be swept away with vaguaries, a promise to do better, and a defence of the Administration side of the club. We are here to play football and if the club is playing 70 points worse than their talent suggests - we have a systemic issue. However, I stand by the timing issue - I don't want anyone from the current board to be President. They can all stay on the board - the more the merrier. But we need more football people on there, and the President needs to have some value from a unifying figure standpoint (we all know the example of that...) or a commercial standpoint (Eddie). This will require time. As will figuring out a way to remove ourselves from the contracts of those in the Administration. I don't kow how deep we want the change to go here. Ideally, you bring in a CEO and he gets to choose his team... As for the Caretaker - that's just money out the door, and can be done at any time. Preferably later but I realise it may come to a head sooner. We are all Demons here, but if this keeps up to the extent it has - those selfless individuals who have given their time to this club have to moved aside or asked to step aside.

Yeah, that was when our problems started. The Curse of the Red Bulldog. The losses are our terrible midfield list, the magnitude of those losses is on Neeld, and Royal can take some of the blame of the stoppage work but that's where it ends.

Might be time for rpfc...

He has already changed his mind, guys...

What a delicate balance McLardy is trying to ride: 'we are all in this together, we need unity, but the admin is not to blame and is doing fine.' Rohan Connolly can GAGF when he says we need to be run by the AFL - but he is right when he says that you win and fail as a collective. If it comes to that OD then McLardy has to promise to step aside (allowing some time for a football person or commericial personality to pop up), and the Admin has to cleaned out as much as possible. We are failing abysmally and we are doing that as a club.

She would know as much as your mum knows about your footy team. Obviously, Lynden has had some issues in the past and communicated that to his mum as she is looking to deflect blame from the players who her son is one. As much as we would all love to read into this - I don't think we can look past the fact that a mum is trying to defend her son and his peers.

Are we really comparing rotten apples with rotten oranges? I don't care whether Bailey was 10 times the coach of Neeld - he wasn't taking us anywhere but where we are now. If Neeld continues like this we will need to move toward an accomplished coach. That debate is not aided by comapring the Bailey and Neeld eras (or errors).

What do you think will happen if there is another 3 or 4 months of this? The AFL will take away our licence? A caretaker will be installed, a challenge will be made to the board in September (this things take a while to organise), and new leadership will be brought in then. If we spill it all now we will have a Acting President who isn't ready for it, a CEO from inside the club who isn't up to it, and four months of a caretaker coach - which is a lifetime. You think we will be considered a joke if we continue like we have, I am telling you that the joke will be confirmed if we spill everyone right now. Instability and disunity midseason with costly firings. That isn't funny.