bing181

Think we found that out a few weeks back. They're no longer the easy beats, and they're only going to get better. Next will be GWS.

Not at all. Casey play the way Neeld and the MFC coaching staff want, and Welsh spends time at MFC so that the strategies align. On game day at Casey, the Melb development coaches are the line coaches for their areas, coaching the same way and with the same goals as with the seniors. Fully integrated. Casey is a Melb. reserves team in all but name. As one of the other thread states, the problem is not Neeld, it's the inability of inexperienced players to take their Casey form into the AFL, where the pressure and intensity is so much greater. A couple of turnovers, a few opposition goals and they crumble. Confidence, self-confidence, experience. Takes time.

"In the Casey Scorpions' 63-point win over Sandringham at Trevor Barker Beach Oval, Melbourne's Max Gawn impressed while mature-aged rookie James Magner hurt his ankle in the first half but came back on to finish with 31 possessions. Rookie Tom Couch had 34 while Jimmy Toumpas had 21."

Casey goal kickers: Taggert 4, Gawn 4, Nicholls 3 and Blease 2. Singles to Jetta, Spencer, Hogan, Tynan and Magner. Except for Nicholls, all coached full-time by Neeld and the MFC coaches.

Looking forward to the report.

Watching Collingwood. Scary.

Final: In: Rodan, Macdonald, Strauss, Fitzpatrick, Pedersen & Kent. Out: Byrnes, Sellar, Magner, Jetta, Gawn & Nicholson. Without commenting on the outs, I like the ins. Good to see Kent get another go, though suspect he will be sub.

Reread my post perhaps? Nothing to do with anyone in the club, I was referring to the common and garden supporters who post here, and who've spoken to the players, coaches etc. On the other hand, rather than just dismissing everything contrary to your views, why not present the evidence to support your sweeping claims that the atmosphere is toxic and everyone wants out? You've certainly been asked to do so enough times.

You keep saying it, but have nothing whatsoever to back it up. On the other hand, all reports on here from those who've had direct contact with the players contradict what you're saying. Perhaps go and read the thread re the other night's meeting between Neeld, Craig, Jones and supporters.

Hogan is a Melbourne player, and trains full-time under the same coaches as all the other Melbourne players, i.e., the Melbourne coaches.

Meanwhile ... http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/moloney-left-demons-after-snub-over-captaincy-20130530-2neuh.html I'm sure that both the pro and anti camps will find something in there to satisfy them.

I'm as big a fan of Jetta as anyone, but how anyone can say he doesn't deserve to be dropped is a bit beyond me. Let him find his mojo again back at Casey.

Gawn didn't get a single kick last week. Not one. There needed to be changes after Freeo. There have been.

It's this as much as anything behind this 5 million figure. The "higher pay" you referred to could easily get to a million a year based on the figures being thrown around. But you're right, we currently can't afford to sack Neeld and some/all of his assistants. At the moment. You'd expect that there's a fair bit of back-room discussion going on between the AFL and the club.

Fair enough. No simple answer for me, we have problems from top to bottom, and they look different (worse?) every week. I'd previously said let's see where we are later in the season, when we hopefully have something like all our senior players (back) in and we can measure ourselves against the mid to lower-ranked teams. But if over the next few weeks we get too many more performances like the first half in Freo, hard to see that we would wait that long before there are some moves in/around the FD, probably centring on Neeld. I would suspect that Healey is close to the mark, and that at least subconsciously, those who need to be making these decisions have the bye in the back of their minds as some kind of short-term cut-off point, with perhaps other markers further down the track if we manage to get through these next couple of weeks without another catastrophic loss. Only those on the inner circle of the club really know what's going on in terms of the coach, players and coaching, but presumably Jackson is working through it, and I'm fine to go with whatever he decides. Equally though, we may not see the results of whatever those decisions are till later in the season, or even the end of it. Some of the rumours around are "interesting" to say the least, and I suspect that the $$ are having a big say in what we can/can't do. On a personal note, I guess the thing in all this that perplexes me, is that Neeld aside, there are some good, experienced people in the FD, including 3 or 4 who have coached at senior level, and others who've worked at successful clubs. If our problems are so glaringly obvious, how come all this collective football coaching experience can't come up with solutions?? Add to that the situation at Casey: it's a team built around a dozen or so Melbourne players, under the same coaches as the seniors, even including having the MFC development coaches as game-day coaches. They're trained the same way, and play to the same game plan (apparently). Except for one poor game, they look and play like a football team, even a very good football team. Once again, how come these same coaches can get Casey up and about, but not the seniors? Surely it's either because a) the players "lose it" when they play in the AFL - which could happen given our lack of experience, not to mention lack of confidence and self-belief, or b) we just have too many players that just aren't up to it at AFL level.

a) you didn't get an answer (yet) because I don't spend my life on these boards b) you didn't get an answer because private sub-conversations within a thread clog up the board, and are irrelevant for most readers and c) you didn't get an answer because I already clarified my position to you on this some time back, and the other thing that clogs up these boards is incessant and needless repetition.

All well and good, but Moloney did all he could to get to Essendon the year BEFORE Neeld came on board (end of 2011).

This keeps being brought up, but Harrington and those above and around him in the FD (e.g., Schwab) are/were responsible for structuring contracts.

Was (also) noteworthy that Neeld was sitting between Mahoney and Viney on Sunday - first time I've seen Viney in the front row like that. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

Agree with you, but I think we need to get a blue print in place first. Enter one Peter Jackson.

Staggered by, surely.

Like to offer an example to back that up? Why is it so difficult to grasp that there are any number of positions apart from "sack Neeld tomorrow" or "keep him forever"?

I'd be interested to see any posts that would confirm that.

With all due respect, I don't know that there's anyone around here saying that. Well, not that I can see.

Not sure what more he can say than "we're just not very good". Or, we have too many players who are just not very good. No easy fix, no conspiracies either. As Neeld said today, we're relying (too much) on players who have a handful of games. What happened to all our draft picks - e.g. where are some of the "3 year" players, the ones who should be getting up/over 50 games by now, and establishing themselves as decent AFL players, or even "stars"? Strauss, Blease, Tapscott were highish draft picks, then add in Jetta and Bail. These are fringe players at Melbourne (for the moment anyway). But compare that to even mid-level sides e.g. North: Players in that same age bracket include Cunnington, Ziebel, Bastignac, Harper, Atley. We have massive holes in our list, from the absence of good if not great experienced players (over 150 games), right down to the second and third year players who we should be getting something out of by now. The road is long.