demoniac

I am pretty sure that Greg Denham still thinks that Mitch Clark is stuck at Brisbane airport trying to get a flight to Perth to join the Dockers. A mediocre journalist with a strange set against the Melbourne Football Club. Consistently refuses to acknowledge the giant strides this club has made over the past 4 years and will always twist the facts to suit his own biased perspective as has been outlined above. At least he writes for the OZ which few people read but his SEN appearances give him a wider audience.

On a positive note I'd much rather beat a full strength Geelong this week!

No.

Is this the sort of stunning amazing Hun content that is supposed to be driving us to subscribe so we can get the great content behind the paywall?

We've got to spread to be able to play on more. Baby steps. We're going from Dean Bailey's outdated flood to the forward and defensive press.

WWJBD?

The difference is that Neeld, Viney, Misson and Co are far harder men than Bailey ever was. When they talk about demanding elite performance they mean it. Bailey only ever spoke about it.

We lack ELITE LEVEL AFL FITNESS. To play the press and the spread you have to be at elite AFL fitness levels. Playing the press and the spread is not optional in 2012. To understand how poor the fitness standards of the Dees players were compared to the elite AFL level think about this. In one pre season Dave Misson could not get our players to that level. He is renowned for his work at the Swans and the Saints, two teams who were conditioned to play tough hard structured footy from the first bounce to the final siren every game.

Neeld and Misson know the fitness levels of the Pies and Saints in 2011. They quickly learned when they arrived at the Dees that our players were not in the same ballpark. We have to learn and implement the forward/defensive press and the spread because they are the foundations of a durable game plan in 2012 and beyond. To do this for a whole game requires a much higher level of fitness than Bailey's superceded flood era game plan of 2011 required. Its an inditement on our 2011 Footy Department that our players fitness was so far off the pace that Dave Misson was not able to bridge the fitness gap in one pre season. Its also relevant when looking at 2012 v 2011 that our 3 leading goalkickers in 2011 were Jurrah with 40 goals, Green with 37 and Sylvia with 25. Jurrah and Sylvia are yet to play a game and Green has been dropped due to poor form. Neeld and Misson have my full support. They have to drag us from 2007 into 2012 tactically and fitness wise. They have to turn Bailey's boys into men. They have to teach us the press and the spread and get us fit enough to sustain it for 4 quarters. They have to teach many of the players the basics of playing the percentages, of being hardened smart professional AFL players. Thats what the game in 2012 demands for success and so thats what Neeld and Misson must demand of the players and I think they are demanding that.

Does anyone have Mick Malthouse's phone number? Mick was a pretty handy coach in his day and could be interested in replacing Buckley at Collingwood.

Finally some good news. Now back of jumper sponsor please.

Thommo will be totally devo.

Neeld said in this week's chat with Robbo that Davey was taken to Perth to do conditioning work to get him fit enough to play 85% game time. We've got to accept that 1 David Misson pre season is not going to bridge the gap between our level of player fitness and the top sides' levels of player fitness. Hopefully Davey will return fitter and more determined to perform in the role of defensive small forward.

Brutal Reality 1:One pre season will not take us from our sub standard fitness levels under Bailey to the elite levels that Neeld and Misson were used to at the Pies and Saints. Brutal Reality 2: Bailey held with the flood - defending from your defence - when the game had moved on to the press and the spread. Neeld is implementing the press and the spread. Its not going to be successful immediately particularly given Brutal Reality 1.

When I say 'we have to be united' the 'we' is the Melbourne Football Club. That is the message.

Our biggest mistake is that there are not enough of us. That is the brutal reality. We all want to blame someone. Boards, CEO, Coaches, Recruiters...we've been blaming the same people for 40 years. The blame game gets us nowhere. If there is one message in Jim Stynes' Presidency it is that we have to be united if we are to have even the slightest chance of winning a Premiership.

We're rooned WYL..rooned.. A constructive post as per usual.

How was the board weak this week?

We need runners. The reality is that one of the challenges for Neeld and Misson is to develop players like Morton, Blease, Bennell. Strauss, Jurrah into match hardened AFL Footballers much like Malthouse and Buttifant turned the likes of Dale Thomas and Sharrod Wellingham into senior AFL footballers. Starting point is run out of defence. We can't play Frawley, Rivers, Garland, Sellar, Tom McDonald and Joel MacDonald in the backline. Simply not enough run can be generated as of these only Frawley and Tom McDonald are capable of generating the required rebound run. Out go Garland and MacDonald. Garland has been poor this year and does not have the third man up or intercept marking ability of Rivers. Joel MacDonald simply does not have the decision making or disposal required by a modern defender. So defence is... Tall Defenders: Frawley, Tom McDonald with Sellar on bench 3rd tall: Rivers Running Half Backs: Grimes, Strauss with Morton on bench Small Back: Bartram with Bennell on bench or Bartram Frawley Rivers Grimes McDonald Strauss

I do miss the weekly farce of Paul Roos showing the vision and the stats to prove that we were defending from the defensive 50 and Bailey responding every week that defending from the defensive 50 was not our game plan. I am sure the senior players would like Dean's leisurely pre season back too. How dare Neeld and Misson demand they work as hard the elite players do. I mean its fine for players at top 4 clubs to get fit enough to run up and down the ground as per the demands of 2012 footy but its a bit much for our senior lads.

186 points was such a sign of gradual progression. I have no idea what Dean Bailey was doing at the Dees for 4 years but it certainly was not teaching the players the basics of modern footy and implementing a robust viable game plan. And it certainly was not working our players hard enough in the pre season to get them to the elite levels of fitness reached by players at the Pies and Saints. for example.

We are poor in decision making and fitness and Neeld is implementing a game plan that will be more durable. Remember other sides laughed at our fitness and game plan under Dean Bailey. Neeld and Misson know the numbers posted by Pies and Saints players and our players were not in the same ballpark fitness wise. Misson has put 1 pre season into them to start to address the fitness issue. One pre season wont fix it. We are simply not fit enough to match the relentness running up and down the ground that the modern game requires and the teams with elite fitness can handle.

Methinks Magner might be in front in the b n f.

Maybe he is giving them no room for excuses. At least Neeld now knows the magnitude of his task. Dean Bailey has left him players who are not fit enough and make dumb decisions.

Do the Fox Footy commentators have any idea of Melbourne's list? Of the young players who are coming back from injury through Casey and should be pushing for selection next week?