Akum

There's lots to like about Port Melbourne. They play for the coach. And the coach knows just how to get the best out of them. They play for each other and back each other up relentlessly and almost instinctively. They play as a team. Most of all, the midfield plays as a "team within a team". This more than anything allows them to get the better of sides packed with "more talented" AFL players. They never give up and just won't be beaten. Casey had them cold last match but just couldn't put them away, and Port typically got up in the end. And I'd assume that Ayres is just about 100% responsible for these qualities. Which all happen to be qualities that we sorely lack atmo.

No poll??

Didn't Ablett miss this game last year?

Of course Magner isn't the saviour. I can't understand the mentality that if they're not the saviour - a player with no faults - they're not worth the trouble. The point is - will he contribute to the team effort? Just about all players have strengths and weaknesses. Good sides can use their players' strengths while covering for their weaknesses. That's what building a team is all about. Magner's strength is getting his hands on the ball first at stoppages. Would that help us now? You bet! The one game where he was allowed to play to his strengths, he was one of our best. Of course he's not the complete player. But he's the one bloke at the club besides Jones who gives us the best chance of first use of the ball.

No it's called the hokey pokey.

Port are always well-drilled. Can you give them any credit for pushing the side that's been clearly the best in the comp for the past few years to within a goal at their home ground???

DA, every time you bag a player they do something great and we get a goal. Keep up the good work!

14 shots to 7 against Port, KC? Are they missing sitters or is it the wind?

To trade big, you have to give big to get big. Our best chance of getting an A-grade mid is via trading for the likes of Watts & Frawley. Watts for Gibbs or Griffen? Frawley for Sewell or Deledio or Stephen? All potential win-wins. There may be better choices, but there are a number of clubs with excess quality mids who badly need quality KPPs.

Course it's not gospel; as I said, "there's not much to it". Still think it's a relevant perspective though, especially as they both said the same sort of thing.

There's nothing much to it. As I explained in another place, they are both involved with youth organisations in the western suburbs, who I see in the context of my work. I don't know what involvement they have with the Jets, but they both made comments about Neeld not being a good coach with the Jets. One of them said that while Neeld might be a good assistant coach, he doesn't think much of him as a senior coach. I didn't ask them for details or specifics.It just confirmed my impression of Neeld - and of Bailey, for what it's worth - that they are examples of good (perhaps very good) assistant coaches who don't make the transition to good senior coaches.

I'm concerned that most of the things GNF has posted are not far off the mark. There must be players wanting to see positive change of some kind before the end of the season for them to decide not to look elsewhere. Let's face it, if you were a player manager and one of your players came to you asking for advice about whether or not to stay at Melbourne, what would you tell them if you had their interests at heart? And clearly, from certain incidents this year, some players are still in touch with Petterd & Rivers, and still on good terms with Moloney and even Scully, to know what life is like elsewhere. I also get the feeling that there's actually quite a lot of concern around the AFL fraternity about MFC's future. Nobody wants to see us fold, not even our greatest critics. But there is concern about whether the club has it within itself to start making a few good decisions, because it's clear that the current situation can't continue for much longer. So I don't think it can wait until the end of the year to find a new coach, but I don't think we need to act in haste. I think we have a bit of time to let Peter Jackson find his way around and try to find an appropriate senior coach, but we can't leave it too long, because as I said, we need to see evidence of change for the better before the season ends or we could lose some players. That's what happened at Port at the end of last season, though it hasn't turned out badly for them.

Only things like "he was no good when he coached the Western Jets" and "he's just not a good coach". They're both from separate youth organisations in the western suburbs, it's not a big thing, and I didn't ask them for details, it was just said in passing.

Interesting. In the past couple of weeks I've come across, on separate occasions, 2 people involved with Western Jets. Neeld's current situation is no surprise to them whatsoever.

With Moloney, we weren't the worst midfield in the AFL, because he dominated against midfields that were worse than ours. Downhill skier, remember? Without Moloney, we ARE now the worst midfield in the AFL, and he dominates against us. He was definitely the difference between the sides. Take him out of their midfield and put him into ours yesterday ...

Don't recall this, but I'd say that if he ran full pelt at someone kicking it to him 30 metres away, he'd end up standing on his toes. It's to create a space behind him for a team-mate to run into to receive the kick-out, and puts the defender in two minds about whether they cover the short kick to him or the longer kick to someone behind, which it obviously did because you say the defender was right on him. This is a common basic kick-out strategy for most teams, tho it relies on someone else to work out what's happening and run into the space. Seriously, some of the garbage posted about JW these days is unbelievable.

It's important that there have been a number of rule changes in the past 2 seasons designed to keep the game flowing more. Reducing interchange rotations, the "contact below the knees", giving less time for restarts at stoppages and kick-ins. This rewards faster more direct ball movement, precise disposal, running and kicking into space, and so on - uncontested possessions!! - and a number of teams have responded accordingly. It makes it so much harder to use a zone defence and "the press", to play wide and move the ball forwards slowly by kicking to contests. Besides, most teams spent 2011 and 2012 working out how to beat the press, and most do it easily. 2013 is so totally different to 2010 & 2011. If Neeld is flexible enough to realise this and to change the gameplan from now on, things could start looking up. Who knows, he may even have the smarts to be the first to work out a counter to the fast attacking style of 2013 - somebody will work it out sooner or later, and it may as well be us. But he needs to face the fact that his 2010 playbook is outdated and let a new one be written.

"Had enough of all of you, I don't care what you do from now on!" They said he spent very little time with the players at 3/4 time.

Again, you're conflating "the club" with "the current personnel at the club". Unfortunately, for "the club" to survive and thrive into the future, which is what we all want, some of the current personnel will have to go. They simply aren't the ones who can secure our future. That's not "weak pushover". That's doing what's needed, for our own sake.

The Board petitioned St Jude to get us out of this mess, but he turned them down.

Agree that there may well be nothing illegal about the drug issues per se. The problem is the further erosion of trust in the Board by those who matter - the AFL and us.

... and the problem with being loose with the truth is that it makes us wonder what else is being hidden from us. There has been the feeling for a long time that something is seriously wrong somewhere and we're all being treated like mushrooms. This only confirms that feeling.

There was Stef Martin.

Stuffed AC joint.

All depends on whether he's learned to be flexible in the past few days. More zone defence and kicking to contests and he's gone. All in his hands.