Micky Dee

Tom Cutler

Many of us have wondered about the attitude of the current playing group (for the last 7 years...). We've speculated about how they've become accustomed to losing, how a few opposition goals can kill their resolve, how when given a chance to win, they almost forget how to take the four points. Sure, our coaches are obliged to motivate the players, but when that fails, what other options have the MFC explored? (Aside from Meditation with Mrs. Roos) The following clubs have a 'Performance Psychologist' listed in their Football department staff: Essendon Collingwood Port Adelaide Richmond North Melbourne Other clubs don't provide a full list of football dept staff on their website, but they may well have have one too It raises the question, for a club that's been smashed from pillar to post for the best part of a decade, why the hell don't we?

Interesting that Herald Sun headline on this story originally read: "Jake King's career in balance after the Richmond forward was again caught socializing with ex-bandidos boss Toby Mitchell" This morning has been downgraded to: "Richmond forward Jake King again caught socializing with ex-bandidos boss Toby Mitchell Seems that someone at the HS jumped the gun a bit

Poor bloke hasn't even coached a game in 2014 yet!

Hi Courtney Fish, Yep. I guess we just decide whether the article is of benefit to the club or has the opposite effect. Interesting observations would be that any team that holds a press conference (about anything) is usually guaranteed good press. One interview can spawn about 3 articles about a range of topics. Also, it seems that the journos over at the age are asleep at the moment. Have completely piped down this week. I also wonder which team is going to be the first to have the coach brought into question and the associated witch hunt. Glad we get to avoid that this year. Roosy's got some runs on the board!

Thanks for the feedback guys. To answer some of the queries: I guess instead of a percentage, we've gone for a weight of numbers approach to how significant a story is. E.g. If a scandal occurs at a club there will be a heap of articles written, therefore dragging down a teams score as opposed to a lightweight story that might only be reported once. With the selection of news sources, we've selected those with the furthest reach. You could obviously include everything and anything from a footy blog to someone's post on bigfooty, so we had to draw the line somewhere- the opinions of paid journalists. It was also interesting to see that Superfooty and Realfooty are widely syndicated through interstate papers or other news sources- so we only needed to include them once. As for deducting points for injuries, we once again had to draw the line somewhere. In my experience it is also true that while there are freak injuries, clubs can come under criticism for a spate of injuries over a season. E.g bombers soft tissue issues etc. We decided that a negative article is a negative article, and only decided to exclude match reports because it would probably just align with the regular season ladder. All good points that will influence the way it evolves. Thanks again

G'day guys and gals, Thought this might be worth sharing for those who are interested. Myself and my fellow dees supporting mate have developed a website that ranks teams on the good and bad press they receive over the season. It's a social experiment of sorts, but an idea that we found interesting. And yes, we do have WAY too much time on our hands... THE FOOTY PRESS It's constantly in development, so feedback or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Go Dees

St kilda: 'Setting the world on fire! (One dwarf at a time)'

I thought I read somewhere that pederson is out with illness- replaced by Strauss? Can anyone confirm?

I know what you mean, but I just don't think he has the luxury to stick with all aspects of his plan over the next 2 weeks. Also there's external pressure, and there's also pressure that comes from having your ass handed to you by two teams who finished outside the eight the previous year.

Serious? I don't think my tone is relevant to the points I'm making. Besides, I'm sure he received more condescending feedback from the sidelines on Saturday night. If I meet mark in person, and regardless of whether he's coaching an afl club or not, I'll definitely apologise. Sheesh!

Mark Neeld. Never mind the weak assurances from the pres. and CEO, you've got about 2 weeks to show something or you're done for. You might survive a thrashing by the eagles, but definitely NOT a defeat by GWS. What to do? What to do? If you stick with the current game plan and player selections we'll get smashed by the eagles this week. That's a given. Then you'll have 3 hrs to turn it around against a spirited GWS side. By then it might be too late. Forget the members, the media and the club for one moment- think about your own interests and mix things up this week. Don't abandon the gameplan but put it on ice for a few weeks. Let the players play. Man on man- the type of footy players know instinctively from their junior days. Simple. Contest by contest. If the players can't compete then, well at least you won't die wondering. But if it pays off, and they show something, keep going. If you survive, and that's a big 'if', your game plan is still there. You can get it going week by week, adding elements as you go. By that time, the players might be ready. Right now, they're confused and scared of failure. And while you're at it, be bold with your selections. You haven't had a chance to coach some promising players in this list in an afl game: Gawn and Kent spring to mind. At this rate Mark, you won't get to coach those boys. Would you rather finish your career watching serial under achievers like jamar go around for two weeks? But we might get smashed without our 'experienced' players!, you might think. The way we're going, the members are already numb and won't be picky between 130 point and 148 point losses. They might even appreciate seeing a faint glimpse of the future- some hope. And who knows, you might like what you see too. So, before you go the way of countless coaches before you, see if you can go out knowing that you did everything to turn this coach-killing club around. Have a go, mark. Roll the bloody dice

To be fair to magner, after playing well in the guts for a few weeks he was moved to an unfamiliar playing role as a defensive forward. I don't think he lacked for effort or burned out

As one of the fastest kids in the league, Sammy Blease has got to be 'blaze'

The new media guy at the dees has been doing a great job so far. They need to give him an extra SLR camera or two