rpfc

Get the group together and go for it. This is the disconnect that a few of you are falling into - you need a group to force the issue (hopefully after the season if its needed at all). A board must be challenged to be removed. That is why I said that how they move forward from this year will define them. Make the wrong decision on Neeld and it a group may form swiftly - or it may not come at all - there are many Demons who don't simply want the faces that were there pre-Stynes. They would want fresh Demons - and they may be hard to find and even harder to convince. So of you have to realise that removal of the board is difficult and fraught (to state the bleeding obvious).

They are spiritless and are not bold and they look like they do not enjoy their job. That has got to be on the head coach. He has time but he has a long way back because yesterday wasn't a step back - it was an uppercut that put us on our arse. Get them to like footy again. Play like Sam plays.

You know what my answer will be. If it were up to me - we would have burnt all and sundry after that day at Mordor, but we are where we are and there is no group waiting in the wings - who is going to take over? The board is here to stay until they are challenged. The CEO has a contract. The coach has had a year and everything that coaches past have not had. He is the one under the pump here. Him and about 15 players. There are threads talking about yesterday being an Extinction Level Event and that is just crap. But it will be given more credence if we react the way you would like them to react. I say this to a few on here - get a group together and you have 8 months to organise yourself. We cannot afford mid-season spills and massive payouts of CEO's. It would be ruining us trying to save us. The End of 2013 is the big time for the board. 2013 is the big time for Neeld.

You think it would be a deliberate move? Neeld has not got them to play with any spirit or boldness. His future is at stake here BTW, the board will see their work under scrutiny at the end of the year with decisions that are made but don't tell me that McLardy getting THAT tanking verdict is the reason we were beaten by PA in a lifeless display. That is just crap. A gleeful exercise in using this awful start to the season for one's own ends. Neeld has been given all he needs to get more than he got on Sunday. 2013 is a defining year for a number of players and the head coach - the defining moment for the board will be if they pull the trigger, when they pull it, and who they go to. There are no board elections (and no-one who wants to replace them) until the end of 2013.

I want to see Terlich and Jetta come in. I also don't get the Jordie nonsense - he embodies the commitment and fight that about 15 Demons could get nowhere near yesterday. But the biggest change for the next while is for Neeld to get the boys to forget the tension of screwing up and the embarrassment of being terrible - they have to take the game on. They didn't do that at all yesterday. Neeld's job will rest on his ability to get them to look like they enjoy playing footy.

GFU tonatopia. We didn't bring this on ourselves. We have a bad team with a terrible midfield that is enterpriseless and passive. Don't you put this evil on me, Ricky Bobby.

I'd agree with that. Magner should be playing. They should have shelved a rookie with severe hayfever or something - why even bother with him if he is just playing at Casey? He isn't going to get better, he is what he is and if all he is is help for Jones then get him in there. Watts, Dunn, Garland and Frawley were all so unsure of themselves. I know they can do better. The forwardline was non-existent at times but they showed they can provide a target and get to the fall of the ball (Byrnes was serviceable). The midfield was worse than I thought they could be and I don't know whether they are capable at all. Viney, Mckenzie, Grimes, Sylvia, and the Jones' were good but they had no enterprise ( save for JV) and no help. Terlich, Jetta, Kent, Davey, and Magner don't fill me with a feeling similar to confidence. We are not that bad. We just cannot be THAT bad.

Not much we can do. Hope it is an aberration? Because what I saw out there was inspirationless, boring, timid, and terrible footy from all but 2, 7, 12(!), 13, 45, and 31. They have had the life sucked out of them and you can't win footy games if you don't hunt the footy and take on your opponent - if all you are worried about is beating the bloke next to you - then he has already beaten you. Neeld has his work cut out from what I can see.

Jesus, Trengove is starting to get some crap on here.

I don't know why I bother... We should win this game. There is no progress from a win, there is only embarrassment from a loss. Your intimation that this game will be a coming of age of sorts is misguided and naive. 'Its Time'? Not yet.

WGAF?

Just watched Beamer look slow and one dinensional and Martin look lost. I am sure both will get better but who cares really. This wasn't a good day for all those people who think that the NAB Cup should be taken seriously. The Lions were dismantled as NAB Premiers. They also sold half as much hope for that title as they burnt today.

What excuses? I seriously just wanted to know what you were talking about because I just don't know sometimes. We should beat Port tomorrow out o a matter of course - it's a nothing game. You want to see progress? Beat a decent team, or even play well against a decent team. Then it will be The Time ©, not beating a poor interstate team.

Great, 30 players that can put the jumper on. I'm happy. But this year is about who our top 6 or 7 players are and what they can do.

It's Time? For what? Winning against a poor interstate team at home?

I don't like losses. Personally I try to avoid them. But don't tell me that all wins and losses are created equal. This group is coming from so far back that if we take a small step forward (or a large one) but we happen to lose that it becomes an irrelevance simply because we did not win. I want us to fight hard for four quarters for a change, and if that happens and we still get beat. I will lament another loss but I will take something from that and you should to. You want a good culture? Realise where we are coming from and notice the positives when they arrive. Reinforce them. Don't spurn them on the result. That's it. That's my spiel. You don't have to like it, but you can be sure that that is the ethos Neeld and Craig will be pushing in our journey back to relevance so you may aswell accept it.

Why argue? WGAF.

He's as ready as he will ever be.Edit: hammy delay, right...

I think that is unfair. I never saw him as an Ablett or Judd. In my view, he is to be a Lenny Hayes type accumulator while tough in the clinches. He is still tracking toward that.

What's the problem with Dawes? You don't want a ready-to-go 100kg FF?

With most of what DA said, except for the Jamar criticism. If we could get better in the midfield this year, we will come on on leaps and bounds with Jamar's tap skills. I am tired of prognosticating about kids. I want them to show me something (Viney, Toumpas, Matt Jones, Kent, et al.) and I want those that have shown something to have consistent seasons (Trengove, Blease, McKenzie) to join Grimes and Jones as reliable midfielders of a high quality. Baby steps: we can't talk about being elite until we can play four quarters of footy at a decent level with a midfield that can win some hard footy. Maybe we will see some glimpses o that this year...

We are going to have to put in a season chock-full of 4 qtr efforts. But that is just for me to be happy. WGAF about what McFarlane, Robinson, and the rest of the herd think?

B: Watts, Dunn, Nicholson, Garland, Frawley, and Gillies. F: Clark, Byrnes, Davey, Sellar, and Pedersen (BUR) C: Jones, Grimes, Viney, McKenzie, Toumpas, Matt Jones, Rodan, Sylvia, and Blease (SUB). R: Jamar Emer: Terlich, Spencer, Tapscott That is how I see they set-up. That midfield would fill me with confidence IFF Sylvia pulled his finger out, Matt Jones was the next Barlow, Viney and Toumpas play as if they were 21, Rodan's knees hold up, and McKenzie does a Junior and gets the most out of a limited skill-set. Let's see how we go.

You can't seem to grasp that we could have elevated him at the drop of a hat with Gawn on the LTI. The fact that we haven't lends itself to two conclusions, and they are not mutually exclusive: 1. That Magner is not seen that highly by the FD. 2. That Gawn is close to returning to playing and an elevation of Magner for one week would be pointless. I think mostly 2, but I can't escape 1 being slightly true.

You guys are giving me a De Bono...