Real Demon

SEN have said it's just a routine press conference, and has nothing to do with Neitz retiring / standing down as captain, so nothing to really get excited about!

Stepping down from captaincy makes the most sense. Club may be acknowledging it's time to plan for the future, and this is the first step.

At least we can't get relegated!

We aren't in as dire trouble on field as the Blues........we have a lot to work with already...........but we have a few big holes with key position players that don't get filled by anything other than top 10 picks! If it means two years of bottoming out, then so be it.........we need consecutive years of high draft picks. I hate to say it, but there is no other way around it. Players like Neitz and White don't get replaced by anything other than quality, and picks outside the top 10 are just too hit and miss.

Well said! Time for the club to do what's needed, and start the rebuild! I can take the pain of losses if I know we are going somewhere!

I know we never had the picks then.....that's my point......2006 was the year tough decisions for the future were needed to be made, and players moved on for quality draft picks. The fact that our key position stocks are in tatters now is just a joke! Where's the succession planning for Neitz and White? And I'm not talking bandaid jobs, but genuine quality players like both of them have been. The clubs recruiting team better be on their game this year. After seeing the Blues and Tigers win today, I'd think pick 1 will be ours.

And the sad thing is, if we were going to rebuild our goal to goal line, 2006 was the year.....more lost opportunities! 1 Bryce Gibbs Glenelg Football Club Carlton 2 Scott Gumbleton Peel Thunder Essendon 3 Lachlan Hansen Gippsland Power Kangaroos 4 Matthew Leuenberger East Perth Football Club Brisbane Lions 5 Travis Boak Geelong Falcons Port Adelaide 6 Mitchell Thorp Tassie Mariners Hawthorn 7 Joel Selwood Bendigo Pioneers Geelong 8 Ben Reid Murray Bushrangers Collingwood 9 David Armitage Morningside Football Club St Kilda 10 Nathan Brown North Ballarat Rebels Collingwood

We are in a position where we need to be rebuilding, and from the way Bailey is coaching, it appears that come hell or high water, his game plan is the one we will be playing, and that's it. The problem is, rebuilding isn't a decision the coach / footy department make by themselves, and they have no hope of making this work unless they get buy in from the rest of the club. Hawthorn are the best example of rebuilding done right. The whole club decided on it's direction. Obviously they tried to win games, but if they didn't, the longer term vision was there, and they stuck to it without compromise. Bailey can't keep going the way he is without explaining what's going on, and without support for a plan. If we are not rebuilding, then he better start to change the game style to suit the cattle we have and get back to being a team worth watching. But if we are rebuilding, get the support of the board, and give the supporters some insight into what your trying to do so we can brace ourselves for a few years of pain. At least there will be some vision of success at the end of it. Otherwise if it keeps going the same way, Bailey will end up as just another coach who will get his marching orders by a board hounded by it's disgruntled and disillusioned fans!

Definitely more kicking, and less handball to move the ball on quickly as stated earlier.........the intent was still there to move the ball quickly, but the balance between kicking and handball was a lot better, and it seemed to me that it was really back to the players deciding how they wanted to play on, instead of being programmed to handball and move the ball on at all costs. As a result, the players seemed to have a lot more confidence. Biggest concern from the game IMO was the delivery into the forwardline........far too many times it was bombed in with no system.

That's true.....but that goes organisation wide too! I don't think it's too much to suggest that our on field persona matched that of the rest of the organisation. IMO....excellence starts at the top, and filters its way down through the club, where it becomes the expectation for everyone in all departments, including supporters.

We looked good with both Miller and Paul Johnson able to lead up today and provide am option. I thought Miller was good today.....he'll never be a champion, but can become a very important part of the team!

North winning a flag with crap facilities is an old argument......we are talking over a decade ago now, and the game is vastly different now to back then. The club has to take the facilities whack on the chin, and just get on with rectifying it. It's a professional league with professional athletes, and the standard is to have quality facilities. Who knows what difference having great facilities may have meant.........doesn't really matter now.....let's just get on and fix it!

Not sure we have had an idiotic recruiting team, but I think highlighting the fact that the Hawks made changes to their recruiting department when they decided to rebuild the list is worth noting. Without wanting to be unfair to Barry Prendergast, have we gone for the best recruiter we can get, or taken the easy option and promoted from within?

Agreed.......you can give be disappointed over his couple of off field misdemeanors, but on field he is having a crack each week, and if I was him or Daniel Bell, I would want to unload on my teammates for the lack of support they are getting from up the ground in the first 2 weeks. I remember distinctly in the Hawks game up the Punt Rd end when Carroll backed into a pack with 3 other players and got absolutely clobbered, and I thought at least he is putting his body on the line and having a dip, and that's all I can ask as a supporter!

First post, and what absolute tripe! Hope your follow up efforts are a little sharper than that Senile.

One more AFL member with club support here! I was buying a Redlegs membership on top of the AFL one each year as a donation up until the start of last year, but one of those little people came into our house, as did the subsequent loss of income, so I've had to cut back for now.

I'd treat this with the same contempt I'd treat most of what Thomas says! His "rumour" probably comes from the newspaper article he read about Green being disappointed about being left out of the leadership group, and Sylvia being disappointed he let himself and teammates down by missing round 1! For what it's worth, I like both players.......no way in hell I would be letting Sylvia go.....one of the few genuine talents on our list, just has to get his act together, and he eventually will ala Steve Johnson from the Cats. I like Green too, however if the right deal came along, he is one of those players we may have to make a tough decision on.

MFC Rocks My World And A Premiership's On The Way!

Nah it's not.....I watched the first half. had to leave early because on my way out, but there was a heap of people down there today! IMO......decision making was shocking......too many times we held onto the ball for too long. A lot of players simply not in good touch, and the team isn't gelling yet. North looked far more advanced, and much slicker using the ball......Wells was red hot through the middle.

The right decision IMO..........sure, he was only speeding, and it happens to us all at some stage, but after some of his comments from an earlier article, he is talking the talk, but not walking the walk: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...7-19769,00.html I think it's the right call from the leadership group........they have to stand for something, and this surely has to send a message to Brock, and the rest of the players too.

There's also no "i" in team!

What a legend! Gotta love that persistence!

Any of you playing the Fantasy Premier League on the official EPL site, and if so, how are you doing? I've had a team in since game week 1, and find it a hell of a lot easier (mainly due to smaller squads) than the AFL Dream Team.

Makes you sick? Not getting a fraction carried away? Can we leave this crap until the season has started......I'm enjoying the positive mood around the club at the minute, and am looking forward to our 150th year being a big one. Let's try and keep the lid on the negativity bottle until we really need it!

Fair enough to have an opinion, but I prefer to leave it to the experts! We are kidding ourselves to even pretend to know what we are talking about.