DirtyDees DDC

We are all assuming that Clarke will play predominately as a KPP. MNs comments indicate he may have extra plans for Clarke. Perhaps rotate Clarke and Jamar in the key forward spot. Clarke only kicked 27 goals in 17 games this year, but he doesn't need to kick 50-60 to be effective. If he can pot 30-40 goals a season, and free up Jurrah and Howe to kick 30+, and Sylvia and Watts to bag 20+, then he will pay his way. I also suspect that Davey will return to his first role at the club, as a fast high-tackling goalsneak. You wont see him on the backline next year in any great capacity. Don't be surprised if the club keeps Warnock. Our game plan will change, with less emphasis on precision kicking out of the backline. So far we have lost Scully and pick 12 for 2 1st round compensation picks and the big tall forward we desperately needed for team balance. This is a great morale booster for the club.

We weren't able to get an 'experienced' coach, even though we tried for Clarkson, and with Eade, Laidley and Craig all available. Mick had to take a year off, and Ross didn't take us into consideration - preferring Freo. So we had to throw out plan 1- going for an experienced coach (if that was ever truly Gary's plan) and go for option 2 - find the best assistant coach in the land and get him to Melbourne before he is picked up by someone else. It appears both Adelaide and Melbourne were interested in signing Neeld, so a decision was requested asap by the club, regardless of Neeld's involvement with Collingwood's push for the flag. He weighed up the merits of both lists and chose us. My initial preference was for a recognised hard nut like Scott Burns, partly because that seems to be the mould that produces successful coaches, and our 'bruise-free' football image needed fixing. Burns has the reputation of being a tough physical competitor, whereas Neeld was a taller and more lightly built, and didn't have a reputation of being one of the league's hard men of the'90s. Mark Robinson hinted at this in an interview with Mick yesterday, and Mick chopped him up. MM pointed out that you couldn't get two more different coaches than Sheedy and Mal Blight, yet both achieved the ultimate success. Interesting to note that the one thing Neeld wants from his team is hardness. Matthews also said that he was not sure if Neeld was ready to coach a senior team 2 years ago, so he moved Neeld to manage the midfield. MM now reckons he has no doubt Neeld is ready. Unlike Hird, Neeld has served a long apprenticeship.

$cully is going to America for a holiday. I hope he scores a date with Tonya Harding.

It wasn't just the money. We stuffed this up too. If we had put together a good season in 2011, like Essendon or the Swans, then he may have decided to stay. Instead, we put up crap. $cully looked at their potential list, and looked at our performance this year, and thought his best chance of playing in the top league was with GWS. I hope he does his leg in round one. Gutted.

To the tune of 'Tom Dooley'. "Hang down your head Tom $cully, Hang down your head and Lie. Hang down your head Tom $cully, Go take your cash and fly".

I'm glad he's signed - great news for the club. Now can he finally have a proper pre-season and not park himself in the 'modified training program' group like last year. Endurance is his biggest problem.

He is totally playing without any confidence at the moment. That missed goal in the first quarter - he was on his right foot and should have buried it. He was trying to think his way through instead of trusting his instincts. Then within 60 seconds of missing that goal, he leans back on a 50/50 contest, then fails to chase the defender. 3 awful errors in a minute and they didn't drag him!

Until recently i thought that Tom would stay. I believed his best chance of winning a premiership medal in the next 5 years was with the Dees rather than GWS. Sadly our recent performance on and off the field has been so poor, so unprofessional, that we don't deserve him at the moment. How on earth did Cameron Schwab save his position at the club? He was gone on the Sunday following the Geelong debacle. It's not done and dusted. The article confirms that he hasn't made a decision. Sounds like all the rumours have come from GWS - stirring the pot. Even Ox recently admitted that he had not spoken to anyone from Melbourne when he said he was 98% sure Scully would leave. We might be able to save him if we get the right coaching panel, and we fix our administration, and we win the last 3 games, but that's unlikely. We are so down on confidence that we could lose all 3. If that happens, say goodbye to Tom, Colin, Cale and anyone else out of contract.

Really?!!! Is that so? When this story broke in Feb this year, my sources said the parents were stunned by the the rumours and hadn't heard anything till the news broke on 3AW rumour file. Once again, i ask....what proof have you got that Scully is leaving? Or do you just have a 'gut feeling' that he's gone?.

I recall an atricle on Jamar that indicated he has a history of foot soreness. They have to nurse him thru each pre-season. He has certainly struggled since returning from injury.

Another important stat. At the end of next year he will become an 8 year player for the club. The new rules for free agency will apply and we will be struggling to keep him at the club if he thinks his chances of a flag with the Dees are poor. Free agency will allow rich successful clubs to recruit very good players and maintain their high positions on the ladder, because 8 year out-of-contract footballers want to win a premiership medal. Those players will come from poorer less successful clubs with little chance of winning a flag. We are complaining about GC and GWS pinching players. We ain't seen nuthin' yet.

I can't see how honest feedback given off the field can mean that we threw the game against Geelong. I'll grant that our attitude was poor (especially our work effort off the ball), but so were our lack of size, lack of skill, and poor tactics.

The club asked for feedback last year from Miller and McDonald, and also last week from the leadership group, and they got it. They might not like it but they can't ignore it. Every successful organisation has 360 degree feedback. Melbourne shouldn't be any different.

The players have indicated there is friction between themselves and their CEO. That friction needs to be addressed for the club to move forward.

Don Mclardy was on 3AW. They kept asking him why Schwab was out on Friday and was kept on for another year on Sunday. He declined to comment, or to dispute that the story was incorrect. If the players are unhappy with Schwab, how can this work out?

mmm. And interesting that Bailey - who was selected as coach prior to Jimmy and the Boys' rise to power - has departed , while CS and CC remain and have the full support of the board. This isn't over. I wouldn't be surprised if we got a resignation or two before the end of year.

Many years ago when he was CEO with West Coast, Brian Cook said there should be a clear 'separation of powers' between the different arms of the football club. It appears that Schwab crossed that line at various times and the players and others have taken exception. There will have to be a lot of fence mending at the club if he continues as CEO. Just listening to Dean Bailey's press conference. He is a much better media performer than four years ago. Said he was glad the club took the direction they did (blooding new players) even if it cost him his job. He's a nice bloke. He just couldn't get the players to hit targets and execute his game plan. It certainly would have been better if we'd handled his removal with the same smoothness that Adelaide did with Craig, but I suspect that Craig offered his resignation and Bailey thought he still had something to offer. It makes a big difference.

Mmmmm. Be a good move if we could get him. Absolutely, however I have heard he has a handshake agreement with the Hawks and is going nowhere. But you are right. Let's find out while he is out of contract. In the interim we have to pick temporary coach. We do have an experienced AFL coach in Connolly but his own position seems in doubt at the moment. I think the CEO job is as important for us as the coach. Imagine if we said to Clarkson or Williams or Eade 'come to us and work with Brian Cook'. They would jump at the chance.

Patrick says we are rotten from top to bottom. Crap. We have paid our way out of debt; we have record membership, and much better facilities and assets than 2-4 years ago. What we do need is a clear definition of roles between the 3 different components of a football club - admin, management, and the footy department. We need experienced operators in the CEO and coaching role to come in and show us the way. The board has indicated they want an experienced coach. With the exception of Barassi, since 1968 we have consistently picked 1st time coaches without success. If we are looking for a grand final winning coach who has the motivation and capacity to take over the Dees, then there's not many out there. And they aren't available. Matthews doesn't have the desire; same with Thompson; Williams is the de-facto coach of GWS; Malthouse is tied up by a contract with Eddie and Paul Roos wont leave Sydney for a couple of years. So that leaves experienced coaches that don't have a premiership to their name such as Eade and Laidley, and there's no guarantee we can outbid Adelaide for their services. There is one person I'd love to see at Melbourne - Geelongs' Brian Cook as CEO. He is the best in the business. Get him, and we'll attract a top coach.

So for the third time in a row we have disposed of our coach mid-season. It's never a good move and it's possibly the second worst move a club can make. However the worst is losing by 186 points, and having the biggest losing margin record in the league this year. Perhaps our 2 saddest losses were against mid-tier clubs such as North and the Bulldogs. We got towelled by to teams that won't make the 8! We are not competitive at the moment. Bailey seemed to be caught out tactically with few inspired positional moves, and we have made strategic errors with our list management. He admits the way they handled junior was a mistake. We took 3 experienced players out of our list in 2010 (Junior, Bruce and Miller) but we didn't have anyone to step up as leaders to take their place. What is scary is the players saying they were fully behind the coach. Crikey!!! What would have happened if he'd lost their support!!!

Media reports from Caroline Wilson and others suggest that Cameron Schwab will be sacked asap. I find it very hard to believe after yesterdays sickening performance they would get rid of the CEO before they get rid of the coach. Schwab is not responsible for the day-to-day management of the players or the tactics on game day. He may have caused problems within the club (and i'm not privy to any any gossip) but our problems are not with our profit and loss statement, or the balance of our accounts, or the new training facilities or the purchase of the Bentleigh Club. Our problems are with our on-field performances this year and the development of our list by the football department, all managed by Bailey and his team. It would be laughable if we make Schwab the first scapegoat of yesterdays debacle.

I was going to start this topic by going through all the list and selecting the players that are deficient in at least one of these facets. No. Let's make it easy. Let's pick the players on our list who DO NOT have these flaws. I did not find a single player on our list. I am welcome to hear arguments in favour of Frawley and Sylvia. Maybe they do have all round skills and are physically strong, but they were two of the biggest culprits today with their lack of leadership. We are a team of boys, massively underdone, and the fault lies with everyone at the club; the players who don't work on their weaknesses, the recruiters who picked underdeveloped kids, and the coaching staff who fail to prepare them for AFL football. Todays despicable effort was due to a series of poor decisions, both short term and over several years, that gave the club it's darkest day. That includes the woeful effort by Casey Scorpions. But wait - there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Jack Viney will toughen us up. All 178 cms and 77 kilos of him. That will make those skinny guys at Geelong and Collingwood shudder!!!! Give me a break.

I think Richmond and Melbourne had an agreement to play 2 games each in 3 years against Port up in Darwin. If that's correct then we won't play in Darwin next year. Can anyone confirm this?

I also think it was no surprise that Melbourne and Richmond got thrashed this round. Our clash last weekend produced over 160 tackles, tons of contested possession in the second half, and a match that was in the balance deep into the last quarter. That was a tough match between two young sides and both teams really struggled to get up for this weekend. We are still a bit light compared to other clubs. The average weight for an ALF footballer is about 87-88kg. Our median average is 85kgs. No wonder we went for 4 talls in the 2010 draft.

I also think the guys at Footscray that hurt us last night will not be there in 2 years time - Giansiracusa, Murphy, Boyd, Morris, Hall, Gilbee and Ward. The guys that stood up last night - Trengove, Petterd, and Watts - they will be better players for us in 2013/4.