demoniac

poor kick to Pettard... kind bounce.. nice goal by Jones from 50...need to see more of that from him

The Green tackle and Frawley running too far are the coach killers that we have to eliminate from our game. We have directly given the Eagles 2 of their 4 goals. When we go fwd we have to be more patient and try and construct a goal. Still better signs than last week.

Joel Mac goes short to a contest inside defensive 50.

Joel Mac. Takes on the tackler and loses.

Nathan Jones you just burned an inside 50. We are decidely hopeless at constructiing an I50 that results in a mark and a set shot.

its simple..if we are putting players behind the ball we have to be patient going fwd to allow our players to get fwd.

can we spot a target inside 50 with a 30 metre kick?

Thanks James. First 2 goals from bad decisions by experienced players.

Magner clearance. Nice kick to Dunn by Trengove.

Thanks for that Brad. Very poor tackling technique.

The Fox Footy Voice Over guy has a bloody annoying voice.

Tony Shaw.."Talk is cheap" He must be upset that Neeld agreed to the pre match interview with Greg's brother.

Just want to see players getting better at implementing Neeld's game plan and improving the basics like positioning at stoppages. I like Tom McDonald. A real competitor who also provides surprising run for a player of his height. Can get lost in a 1 on 1 marking contest in defence but a good pack spolier. #demonsongs....I'veseentheBaileyandthedamagedone

Our head of recruiting for 2012 is Todd Viney. At a guess I think he will be doing the picking.

but Greg said Mitch Clark is going to Freo... like the fundraising idea..a constructive idea. if i donated $50 for every time a journo made my blood boil this week the club'd have a record sponsorship and I'd be broke.

First issue for mine is that Beamer would be one of those being tested by Neeld and Misson. Neeld and Misson know the fitness levels of the mids of 2 of the better teams of recent years in the Saints and the Pies. Beamer was not mentioned in any of the pre season dispatches as being amongst the few running the times Neeld and Misson were used to seeing being posted by Saints and Pies mids. In short does he have the endurance running capabilty required to be a mid in 2012? The other area of concern would be his clearance rate when Jamar is being beaten in the ruck. Its good that when Jamar is winning the taps Beamer capitalises but its as important that he can win his share or at least stop his opponents taking posssession and clearing when Jamar is being beaten as per Lions.

You'd think they'd make him easier to retard/tackle.

Neeld and Misson are making our players prepare and behave like elite athletes. More power to them.

We have been nowhere near fit enough and opposing teams have laughed at our set ups and our structures and our intensity. Misson can fix our fitness. Neeld can fix our set ups and structures and demand greater intensity. He looks like the first Dees coach with a bit of mongrel in him since Swooper. We can't just keep on endlessly rebuilding.

Well lets talk about the 'strengths' of the team. Neeld and Misson have made it clear that our players level of fitness was well below the level of the players at the 2 clubs they came from who have won or played in Grand Finals in recent years. So fitness levels are not a strength we can play to. Do you understand what that means? Are you angry that under Bailey our players were not prepared to the elite fitness levels of players at the Saints and Pies. How can we compete with the best if don't match their fitness levels? Paul Roos, Michael Malthouse and others have similarly commented on our complete lack of a hard defensive ethos and the fact that under Bailey we consistently defended from out defensive 50 when other teams were trying to force turnovers in their backine or midfield utilising the press. So defence was not a strength under Bailey. In short it is not Neeld driving the cultural change at Melbourne its the game itself. Our players have been living in Dreamland coasting through pre seasons and playing unaccountable footy in season. I don't want another rebuild I want a Coach who will demand elite standards of fitness and who will implement a durable game plan that will stand up under pressure and who will demand the players adhere to it.

Are you sure after one game that you have nailed Neeld's game plan? I loved his presser. The reality is that he has inherited a team that was not elite AFL level fit and had a woeful defensive ethos and an outdated game plan. Did you see the examples Paul Roos showed - which Neeld says were some of the same clips he showed the players during the review - of Melbourne players letting a Lions player waltz through a ball up or failing to kill a contest in defence even though we had the numbers. A goal resulted. Every Melbourne supported who walked out of the G should have been in a similarly bad mood to Neeld. He can't do it every week but for a club that has not won a flag for almost 50 years a bit of public and pointed anger when players fail to do the basic hard nosed professional thing was most welcome.

I thought he performed well on the couch. He has to make boys into men. That is going to take time. We are coming from a long way back in terms of fitness and game plan. On a side. By God there are almost more ex players/coaches employed in the media to breathlessly voice their opinions and their opinions on other ex players/coaches opinions than there are current players. Michael says something 3AW. Its earnestly commented upon by Robert on SEN. Gerard and Mark on AFL360 study it like some revealed truth. Matthew comments on twitter about either Michael's original comment or Roberts comment on the comment or Gerard and Mark's comments on the comments on the comments. Then finally that guy with the glasses from Crocmedia breathlessly makes it a feature story on the Footy Show.

One of my pet hates is a tackled player handballing to advantage of an opposition player when they could hand ball over their shoulder in to the face of the player tackling them. Same deal when need you are in possesion and need to avoid a deliverate out of bounds free kick: hand ball in to the face of the opposing player putting pressure on you. Another alternative is to handball it as high in the air as you can to make it a 50/50 contested ball.

Neeld and Misson come from the Pies and the Saints who have been Premiers and Grand Finalists in recent years. They know the fitness levels of the Pies and Saints players. They've made it pretty clear that the Dees players were well below the standards they had taken for granted at the Pies and Saints. Its gonna take longer than 1 pre season to catch up. Getting to the fitness levels of the Pies and Saints is not an option it is a must if we are to ever be competitive.

The basis of the game plan is still the team defence/offence press of defensive and forward press and the spread with each team adding their own variations. We need to master the presses and the spread. We are coming from way back in terms of fitness and in terms of game plan.