iv'a worn smith

No, I don't believe that for a minute. I just believe we need to identify the root cause of this mess and deal with it asap. Again, this debacle goes beyond simply pointing the finger at the playing group.

Once again, it seems to me that your saying this crisis is all down to the players. You state the obvious in what you say. However, what I am seeking is the cause. If you are correct, then we stand out like a boil on a white arse, in comparison to the rest of the competition.

Simply put, this crisis goes beyond the playing group.

That's 100% correct HT, but it doesn't just stop there. The "sum of the parts" is what impacts on any football club. A last quarter fade out as occurred with the Roos on the weekend would support your argument. A couple of good wins, which subsequently saw the playing group get too comfortable in its own skin, a la Carlton would also lend weight to your argument, but anyone who believes that our problems don't go a lot deeper into the culture of this club, is living in cloud cuckoo land. I fear that the likes of Wilson, Sheehan, Robinson et al, will write a story over the coming week, predicated on a so-called "credible source" from within the club, which lays bare the trouble. If that occurs, before the club says anything to us (the shareholders) then it will make our situation even worse. Such "prophecies" despite their efficacy or lack of it, have a tendency of becoming self-fulfilling.

So, correct me if I am wrong in my interpretation of your post, but is what you are saying mean that you believe that the players have acted unilaterally, without an apparent cause and simply decided they won't have a go anymore? This list is not much different to the last 2 years, and while we were not living up to our KPI's then, they were nowhere near as bad as they are now. So you are saying, there is nothing else that has affected the performance of the playing group, other than their own attitudes and lack of ability?

And that won't happen until - whatever the problem is - the issue is addressed. The cause of the illness needs to be treated, not the symptoms. Only the inner sanctum of the club can know the "cause". Again, I can only ask the question, if any other business enterprise, with a public profile, allowed itself to continue this rapid, gut-wrenching and potentially fatal downward spiral without going to the "market" and addressing the issue, how would that very market they seek to have buy from them react? Just as well the MFC is not a listed company, as the shares would be well and truly dumped by now.

Fair enough, but let's just wait and see shall we.

W Who's calling for heads? We're simply asking the club to make a strong public statement to its stakeholders, as any business would do in the same dire circumstances. As for your compartmentalising of a football club, that is just being over simplistic. No business is as any stronger than the sum of all its parts. To suggest you can isolate a segment of the club and say that is all we have to fix is being naive. Clearly, we have an endemic cultural problem at the MFC and right now we're a laughing stock and have been for sometime. The competitive market that today's football industry is will not tolerate such performances and allow such an organisation to survive. If you're willing to accept that, then I would suggest such an attitude is reflective of the very problems which ail this club.

Oh please !!!!. The "T" word - if that is indeed what is happening - can provide no credible argument or justification for what we are witnessing at present. It is just an unadulterated cop out if that is the case.

RPFC, OK, let me ask you a question, consonant with my last post. Name me any other organisation, when the entire premise of their commercial existence is in crisis, that would say absolutely nothing to their stakeholders? I, as I suspect most of us, go to the MFC website to see what the club has to say about yet another debacle, every Monday. If I read one more time "Five things we learned"; to paraphrase Terry Wallace, I'll spew up. Talk about "platitudes". Clearly, in 8 weeks, nothing has been "learned". If there had been lessons learned, then the results would be at least marginally different. RPFC, there is a business imperative here and it needs to be addressed. As I said, the club must at least be seen by its stakeholders, that it is - and I hate to use the term - being proactive in an undoubted crisis.

To act without forethought or simply arbitrarily clearly would be unwise. However, I can think of no other enterprise, where the "leaders" of the organisation simply sit idly by and say nothing. As with any best laid plans, they sometimes go awry, but as with any solid business plan, there should always be contingency planning in place. I, for one, want to hear a strong and unequivocal statement that the club is united, accepts our monstrous deficiencies without question and articulates a clear plan, for the benefit of the sponsors and members, for the future. They simply cannot remain silent any longer.

Just a thought. Interesting Dean Bailey is there in an assistant's role.

Agreed, but the "leaders" of this franchise can't sit on their hands any longer and remain silent.

None of us can be fully informed on where the rot has started, or in what realm it exists within the footy club. But as I have said, it is patently obvious that there is something terribly wrong and for that reason, "management" is obliged to make strong and unequivocal statements to its members, whether through action or words. However, the last thing any of us need is "pollie" speak. As has been said elsewhere on here, our brand has been and continues to be trashed. In purely a business and marketing sense, such a negative is not sustainable and must be addressed. Needless to say, the remedial action taken on the recent sponsorship debacle should be commended, but our "new" sponsors have only signed up for short-term deals and accordingly, we need to begin to consider how we give them value for money, going forward, not to mention our membership base, which has fallen short of expectations already.

Last week I tried to write something positive on Demonland regarding our apparent plight. Maybe clutching at straws??? Who knows, but like many of us, I was tired of hearing and reading about the misery we all feel. I am not going to enter into conjecture about the game plan, Coach and playing list - although I believe while not world beaters the list is better than the results would suggest - such issues are too often used as spleen vents and excuses. Having said that, regardless of what the problem is - and its a big problem - there is something terribly wrong at our footy club. As with any organisation, especially where "shareholders" are involved, when trouble strikes, it is incumbent on management to act. Even if it is just to soothe the jitters of the "market" it must be done. After 8 weeks of inept performances, the MFC, as a body corporate, needs to take a stand and make a strong and unequivocal statement. There is something terribly wrong at this footy club and it needs to be addressed. I WANT MY FOOTY CLUB BACK.

I think the fact that Sam Stynes supports and endorses the initiative is enough. I am confident this will be handled and implemented in a manner befitting such a wonderful legacy.

I cast my mind back to the early to mid ‘80’s. The push was on to get our favourite son, Ronald Dale Barassi back home where he belonged. He was to be the Messiah. Clearly a successful coach, with an uncompromising philosophy. His previous coaching stints were at clubs where a great deal of work had been done to instill a winning culture. He came from a club which made him, largely, into the man he became. He came from a culture that the great Norm Smith engendered into a club with a long and proud history. Simply, anything less than 100% commitment was not acceptable. History now records that the prodigal son’s 5 year plan, at least on the face of it, was anything but successful. Some so-called sage commentators at the time, viewed Barasssi’s tenure as coach of the MFC as nothing more than an unmitigated disaster. Under his stewardship and football department, he brought in Kelvin Templeton, who was passed his prime. Anecdotally, it has been said that when Templeton knew the Dees were having a crack at him, he told the Scraggers, get what you can for me, because my knees are shot. We also had Peter Moore, who was a class act and won a Brownlow while playing in the Red and Blue. He was a beacon in what appeared to be a sea of playing mediocrity. Often a one man show, Moore’s ability and class simply was not complemented by what seemed to be a bunch of inept tyros. Nevertheless, Barassi was bold and was prepared to throw anything and everything at his ill-fated ‘5 year plan’ – ill-fated so it seemed. He and his team (Barry Richardson in particular) were the pioneers of the ‘Irish experiment’. Despite that, a pale, skinny bean pole of a kid was banished by Slug Jordan and he was sent to play reserves football with Prahran. We all no know what became of that story – legendary!!!!!!. Under Barassi, the MFC would again suffer the ignominy of multiple wooden spoons. Of course, in those days we had the under 19’s, which, along with the reserves, was to enjoy a modicum of success. At the end of Barassi’s reign at Melbourne, it would seem his attempts to resurrect the Club were an abysmal failure. Then along came John Northey. Swooper was uncompromising. A hard taskmaster who believed in the tenets of playing for the jumper, for your mates and would instill an ‘us against them’ mentality. His first year seemed to continue the mediocrity we endured under the Messiah. A bunch of no name kids were brought into to the team and it would seem we would continue to endure failure, as we had done for so long. But Northey would transform this bunch of kids into a unit which fought every inch. Tooth and nail, they would graft wins. The football world at first saw this as an aberration, but for the first time, we, as supporters could puff out our chests and take pride in our footy team. Who can forget that day at Western Oval in 1987. My fondest memory is of the last training session before the 1988 Grand Final at the Junction Oval. A sea of red and blue. Thousands of supporters all with the same mantra. The late Stuart Spencer; our President addressing the assembled faithful. I was in football heaven, even though a few days later, we were flogged by what was then a record Grand Final winning margin. Still, it was bloody worth it. As much as I love Swooper, what became evident was that RDB did indeed a leave his mark as coach. Despite the lack of success during his days as mentor and teacher, he left a culture which would endure for over a decade. Barassi managed to bring together a bunch of kids, who although unheralded at the time, would be come favourite sons of the MFC. Barassi did leave a legacy. Of course, footy has changed and evolved remarkably since those heady days, but history still has a habit of repeating itself. Maybe, just maybe, there is some real method in Mark Neeld’s perceived ‘madness’. Maybe, just like Ronald Dale, he will put a significant imprint on this bunch, which will be sustainable well into the future. I bloody hope so. In the meantime, stay proud and strong Dees supporters. There are a few blokes who spilt their own blood for the red and the blue, who are no longer with us, and we at least owe that to them. Go Dees

Also, found Nathan Brown's analysis on the Sunday Footy Show interesting, where he highlighted - sadly yet again - the lack of Davey's use of his his best weapon, which is his speed. He had some role to play in the turnover, which ended up in Mitch Clark's hands, but Flash failed to run on to receive a handball which would have resulted in a certain goal, whereas Mitch just had a ping and it it went through for a point. Gameplan, inability, lack of confidence, or the coach has lost the players? Whatever "conspiracy" theory one might subscribe to, I feel very sad for this footy club at the moment and I am of the view, as others appear to be on here, that there is still a piece of the "puzzle" missing off field, which is one of addressing an endemic culture at this footy club. We need it fixed and we need it now.

As with many pubs in this land, my local has a Friday night meat raffle, which I always enter, as the proceeds go to the Royal Childrens' Hospital. I don't often win. I am one of those guys that watches people win, time and time again. We all have those friends or acquaintances who just seem to be blessed. To use the idiom, I cant even win a kick in a street fight - thankfully. As with every week, the ticket seller asks me what number ticket I would like to have. I always think it doesn't matter, because if it's your time to win, then it just will happen. But last Friday night and given the events of the past week, when I was asked what number I wanted, I just had to choose that wonderful number 11. Sure enough, at 8:00 pm, the draw happens and I won first prize. Like I said, I don't consider myself a lucky person - quite the opposite in fact - but somehow, I had this sense I would win. And so it was. Last night we had a BBQ at home. People who barracked for Pies, Blues, Tigers and one very - and still bitter - stalwart of Fitzroy all spoke with such affection for Jimma. Even those who attended who actually hate footy - can you believe it - spoke with such emotion about our Jim. It was a great night and again, I was proud to be a Dees supporter. My win was really insignificant in reality, but then I thought Jim saw the best of things in the least of things. Go well Jim. I love ya mate and always will.

Words cannot say enough about how we all feel. To Sam and the children, you have been remarkable through all this. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. 'Do you love an apple, do you love a pear, Do you love a laddie with curly brown hair, Oh say I love him, I can't deny him. I'll be with him wherever he goes"

The incident currently under to scrutiny is analogous to "tunneling" in my view.

The difference is Col clearly had eyes for the ball and was open to be "taken out". Butcher could not have possibly seen the ball, given the direction he was running, virtually until the contact was made. The "severity" of the injury resulted from that one act. The heavy contact to Col's arm cause him to "spin" viciously in the air, leaving him without any control as to how he landed. Ergo the injury.

The player who has eyes for the ball, must be protected at all times. We used to have a rule called "unduly rough play". We even had a kicking in danger rule. Now everything is bracketed under the term "reckless". Whether the contact was made with the head or not, Col was wide open and without protection. Therefore, Butcher needs to be held accountable. The AFL needs to take into account that as the game gets faster and bodies get harder, they have a duty of care to ensure the potential for career ending injuries is minimised. Spinal injuries, even low grade ones, are not ever to be taken lightly.

Totally agree rpfc.

To me the highlight the other night was MN. Without his speech, the night would have been no more than a "tree hugging" exercise and a p@*s up. In my opinion, the MFC, for far too long, has lacked an uncompromising leader such as Neeld. Sure, there are no measurable results on the board yet, but I would rather go into Neeld's reign with a never say die attitude, than the previous mantra of, "we just want to be competitive". I was speaking to a guy the other night who is the father of a Casey senior listed player (not MFC listed) and he reckons the Dees list is second to none and laden with talent. Mark Neeld is the man - along with his undoubtedly talented coaching and fitness team - to bring the best out of this list in my view. I am more than happy with what I have heard and seen of Neeld thus far.