leucopogon

Here here!

Anybody else sick to death of rebuilding? Carlton got in Judd to set the bar for their young guns, we got in Mitch Clark, we need to poach an out and out superstar or two otherwise our present rebuild will all be for nothing.

Sad when you miss the Daniher days, feeling bloody sick

actually almost relieved by this result as any expectations it was going to be an interesting season are now evaporated. I can concentrate on things other than MFC and AFL

High draft picks = Fools gold for us. This footy department is rotten to the core. I think we need to move heaven and earth to get in as many free agents from successful clubs (read: Hawthorn, Geelong, Pies) to try and set a bloody example for our youngsters.

If I was Neeld I would have said to the seniors you're playing for your career in this quarter, don't expect another game of AFL football if you don't earn it in the next 30 minutes

can't wait to see what happens next week, we'll give 186 a run i reckon

abc commentary team laying into our senior "non-leaders" what a joke of a list we have

Thought we'd be 2 wins at halfway, i think we'll be 0 wins now

Direct message sent. Cheers!

I'm definitely interested. Let me know. Cheers P.S. I'm in Perth, so not sure if that's gonna work for you or not?

that mcdonald guy looks classy, too bad he's a f/s for north. Jesse Hogan would be up there for mine as well, looks great. Martin looks a bit lightly built for modern day AFL

dees best and fairest? Jamar dees best 1st year player? Magner goals clark will kick? 54 games jurrah will play? 8 dees surprise of the year? Dunn to have breakout year premiers? Hawthorn first coach to get sacked? Voss biggest off field controversy? Hopefully something to do with any other club except MFC games won by gws? 0

"MFC - Where are we honestly at" off topic trying to trace the mental frailties of our supporter base to the failed merger of 1996 Crikey.

Yeah dee-luded, but Ali ended up landing a knock-out blow with that tactic. Where's ours?

Spot on, but you forgot one: 3. The false dawn: team plays accountable, hard fought footy and provides a stirring enough performance to get the fans excited that we may have finally turned the corner. Funny how these games often happen against the Pies. I now await 4. The "media bake inspired rebound win". Too bad we have to wait 2 weeks for Rd 1 as I'm sure if it was this coming weekend, the intense media scrutiny would have fired us right up for a good showing against the Lions. Not so sure it will last for two whole weeks though.

nominate at least one maybe both this year because they'll be high picks if my predictions for bottom 2 or 3 come true

The sad thing is dee-luded, I can't even say with any confidence who our good stock is. Frawley, Clark, Jones, Howe and Tapscott are the only ones that really stand out for me. Maybe add Jack Trengove (but I'm far from convinced about him). Blease, Strauss, Watts, Martin, McKenzie, Bail, Morton, Grimes, Bennell, Gysberts, Jetta etc all underwhelm me either because of their inconsitencies (or deficiencies in one or more facets of their game) or bad luck with injuries. We need to clear out our senior core, they are all duds except Jamar but what good is a million hit outs a game when we still get smashed in the clearances?

I'll bite, as I said in the post Port match thread: we're in another rebuild/reboot. I can't see Neeld tolerating the list clogging team of pea hearts that have been assembled in the Daniher/Bailey era so I expect they'll be cleared out progressively from the end of this season onwards. Maybe free agency will be good for us if it means we can get in ready mades easier. I'm beginning to think we were sold a bill of goods with our most recent bottoming out/rebuild using high draft picks strategy. There's just too much that can go (and has gone) wrong. Expecting bottom 2 or 3 this year.

Play like you practice and practice like you play, you spend the final two weeks of pre-season getting pantsed and that's what I'm fully expecting to happen round 1. As some of the others posted earlier, our missing list from tonight hardly fills me with confidence.

If Neeld's plan is the polar opposite of Bailey's then basically (like many have alluded to on this thread) we are only now just bottoming out, the last 4 seasons were basically for nothing. We stockpiled frail outsiders (hoping that we'd become the new Geelong that could cut through opposition sides with silky skills). But now we are going down the "press" road we need grunt and insiders who excel at accountable footy, so basically most of our list are redundant, hence will be largely delisted/traded on over the next 2-3 seasons. Looks like this year will basically be one big trial for the list under the watchful eyes of the coaches to see if they can adapt or perish under the new regime. I'm expecting a firesale at the years end. I think we'll be finishing bottom 2-3 this year. Gold coast will probably go past us.

79 point margin in a practice match, when the heat gets turned on by one of the serious flag contenders this year I can see them getting a big % booster against us. They've shown they've got the game plan to dissect our zone (which we're only just learning) with laser like precision. As for the smaller Geelong margin, I don't think they'll have their way with us quite so easily. Neeld surely won't allow another 186 performance. Hence I see a 100+ point improvement by us (which is a good result). The fact that the hawks game comes the week after this stern challenge, I feel we'll really get blown apart. I think the Hawks are almost a lock for the flag if they stay injury free. The results I had trouble predicting were the Richmond game (we might sneak a narrow win there as its at the G and we seem to have a mental edge over them). Bulldogs could easily be a loss but I feel they might slide this season. Also the StK game result is hard to call. We might be a chance there. The killer 4 weeks follows with Geelong, Hawthorn, Sydney, Carlton. That's gonna be a hellish month which could really knock us for six in terms of confidence and momentum. Us being a young team with a senior core with consistency issues is liable to really commence a downward spiral from that point onwards.

Predictions for first half of this season: Bris (@ MCG) - win (30 pts) WCE (subi) - big loss (50-100 pts) Rich (MCG) - narrow loss (10 pts) Bullies (MCG) - narrow win (10 pts) St K (MCG) - loss (30 pts) Geelong (Kardinya) - big loss (50 + pts) Hawthorn (MCG) - big loss (100 + pts) Sydney (SCG) - loss (30 pts) Carlton (MCG) - loss (30 pts) Ess (MCG) - if my predictions before this round are right confidence will be shot so I'm calling it a loss (20 pts) Coll (MCG) - loss (50 pts) 8 of 11 games at the MCG for 2 wins, maybe 3!!!! It is a tough first half of the year. I think we'll be around 16th on the ladder at the half way mark of the season. Happy to be proven wrong of course.

Just watched the replay of the game. Dismal. I have real concerns for the season now. Now that we're in transition (again!) I really can't see us getting more wins on the board than last year. I'm predicting bottom four this year (6 or 7 wins) as we learn the new game plan and predict that most of the old guard will be put out to pasture (talking about Davey, Rivers, Green, MacDonald) by years end. Also, I don't see Trengove ever becoming an elite AFL player, he reminds me of a young Brock McLean.

Exactly. If Neeld was the answer, why didn't they beat the cats in the two H&A games this season. If I was the OP I'd try to temper my optimism with a little realism. Mark Neeld isn't going to be an instant fix for us. The MFC "culture" is a poisonous one of inconsistency and has been for over a decade now. Unfortunately our up and coming crop have all now been indoctrinated in it so it will take a huge shift in direction for us to become a genuine finals threat, let alone top 4 or flag contender. I hope Neeld is some sort of messiah that many on here are thinking he is, but ultimately its those 22 blokes running around on the ground in red and blue that will determine our success or failure, not the head coach.