RalphiusMaximus

Why can't I multi-vote? I love what the lions did, it was ground-breaking at the time and had the coaches stamp all over it. Sydney I have huge respect for because of their uncompromising culture and attitude on the field. Geelong I love to watch simply for the ability of the players on display. Don't care much for Ross Lyon. He instils discipline and defence, but he's never quite pulled off a flag. Carlton are nothing. The hawks I think have a very good gameplan and some real stars, but I'm not sold on them as a unit in the finals. Could well be a prelim or runner up again this year.

There were players in tears at that presser. They wanted him to stay, make no mistake about that. The supposed rift between coach and players was nothing more than a media ghost used to stir up more trouble for the club. Again, media self-justification. They were never going to report that the playing group were dispirited and flat after having the carpet pulled out from under them yet again.

Does anyone really believe there won't be an alternative ticket running this time? This board has presided over the descent of our club into madness. What they are doing right now is reshuffling in an attempt to keep the same group in power, even if they have a few different figureheads. We need to see a total clean-out at the top. I hope Jeff does put together a rival ticket. He'll have my vote.

Sensible in terms of making the board look better is that? Wait until immediately after we've played two top 4 contenders to sack him so they can decry the team's poor form, then get rid of him before we play two teams we might actually beat, thus giving them the opportunity to claim the wins are the result of their decision-making and not anything to do with playing two fellow cellar-dwellers. Pathetic and weak yet again from the board. The sooner we're rid of them the better.

It won't differ all that much. Craig does not believe in giving games to young players who aren't ready. He's gone on record as saying that the common belief that getting games into kids fast tracks them is a fallacy and he won't play them until they are ready to be played. As such I would expect him to be putting the most experienced side he has available on the park each week. We could well see Magner and Couch in the side. Of course, that assumes he is coaching to win. He could take his caretaker role as a license to test the whole list and see who is worth keeping on. We could see wild experimentation for the rest of the season. I'd quite like that to be honest.

I've no doubt he will as always be understated and diplomatic and will refuse to point fingers. I would be thrilled if he cut loose and let the board have it with both barrels.

I want this board gone. The only worthwhile member was Jim. The rest of them are just running in circles and trying to avoid being the next one to drop. Get rid of the lot of them and bring in a group who can make smart decisions, stand up for the club and govern with a little integrity.

Proven how? Because a board we all agree is a pathetic waste of space decided to sack him at a moment that might buy a few of them a chance at keeping their jobs? You need to get a dictionary and look up the definition of proof dude. So loyal that he started shopping himself around to other clubs a year before he left. Don't forget that he was trying to get away before he'd even played a game under Neeld. The guy chucked a wobbly because he wasn't made captain and he's still sulking today. This is just more proof that we are better off without him. A classic example of a bad influence on our young players.

This is the first time in my life I've been ashamed to support the Demons.

If he's the best mid available at the time, then yes.

Now that's not at all fair. I stopped taking mind-altering drugs at my first university.

I say no. He's obviously a hell of a player, but in this case needs trump BA. We are being killed because of our crap midfield. We need at the very least a top line mid and a small defender out of this draft, preferably having already traded for another good mid prior to the draft. here is no way we should spend a top 10 pick on a tall forward given the number of talls we already have on the list. Any top 10 picks we have need to go to the best midfielders we can find.

No, but it does make the anti-Neeld lobby collectively look about five years old. I have no particular objection to it, as the childishness of the little joke merely serves to reduce the credibility of everything else they have to say. At the moment the majority of them seem to be arguing the case that "Neeld has to go because!" and "We've made up a childish nickname for him to show how bad he is!" Very few of them are even trying to put up a reasoned case for his dismissal.

Thanks for that. Helpful. Of course, a quick look at the VFL website shows that they do indeed have a bye. I wonder how the reserves went?

I've spent the last few minutes trying to find the article and failing, but back in 2011 there was a very interesting piece written about the list management meeting being held before the draft. We got a play-by-play look at how things went, and it was pretty damn clear who had the final say on whether we picked someone up or not. If someone can track down the article in question I would appreciate it since I can't seem to find it and don't really have time to spend hunting right now.

In Victoria? I thought he didn't want to move down here.

Aren't Casey having a bye this week?

So you're saying that the FD under Neld got their picks right, and that counts against him too? That we got the best possible player at 4, we got the 17 year-old we needed, kept our option on Viney and that there is nobody in the football world who can fault us for any of those moves except for the odd Melbourne fan? Great case for the failure of our FD. As for the line about selections being Viney's work rather than Neeld's, do you really believe that Viney was working an an vacuum and there was no discussion or input from the coach and others in the FD? Of course not, you're simply being disingenuous because you refuse to give credit where it is due.

And yet it's all Mark Neelds fault and he needs to get the chop for what he's been doing to us for seven years. I will say he has failed and should be moved on if he sees out his three year contract and we are still crap. I fully expect to see the rewards for all the groundwork starting to show by then with a middle of the table finish. The list management under Neeld has been rather good though. We've seen clear signs of development in the young players he's brought in, as well as some of the senior players still at the club (sadly not all). He's been very responsible with his list management. He gave the list he inherited a year to show him that they deserved to be kept on and then got rid of the ones who couldn't do so. He's brought in mentors for our current crop of young players, and the results are pretty clear to see. He's overseen the trade/draft period that netted us Hogan, Toumpas, Viney, Dawes, Barry, Kent, Jones and Terlich, as well as spearheading the push to land Clark. I call the last two years the best trade/draft years we've had in a decade or more. The longer this year goes on, the more we are seeing just how badly run our club has been. There are deep issues that have been festering and poisoning every level of the club and it is going to take time and effort to get them sorted out. The poor playing list and terrible on-field performances are merely one aspect of this. In some ways I'm actually happy we are going so badly as if we were playing well the spotlight wouldn't be shining so much on our club and these issues might have continued to lurk under the surface, obscured by the illusion of success. As things stand, we appear to have hit bottom, and in doing so have draw attention to the deeper flaws in our club. The AFL is getting involved, we are seeing people from outside the "boy's club" being placed into positions of authority with a license to take real action and we are starting to see some results. Things are going to improve from here regardless of who is coaching.

I got it from the stats on the AFL page. Disposal efficiency is in the advanced stats.

Unimpressed with much of his article. He clearly hasn't done a whole lot of research for it. No mention of Terlich for starters. Jamar to keep for another three years? He is right about letting some of the NQRs go and playing a few of the younger guys for the rest of the season, but not much else.

I honestly don't remember my predictions. Probably backed Watts to be a big improver this year. I suspect I had Nev cementing a spot as well. Oops.

I'd take Jeff over Don at the moment. We do seem to have a few people putting their hands up. He made some interesting comments in response to the crap about his not being a member/supporter. Raised my opinion of his candidacy quite a bit.

Agree. He's been given a slap on the wrist with a six month sentence almost entirely suspended. I would have preferred him to go away for longer. It might help to straighten him out.

VEry interesting to look at the disposal efficiency from that last game. The culprits are not the ones would have expected.