P-man

That's a surprising stat. If we had 22 blokes who gave a [censored] and worked hard going both ways, we'd be in with a chance. WC getting Kerr and LeCras back is going to hurt. I am only seeing one outcome. Just please, please, EFFORT. Do NOT lose the tackle count.

So swap him with Toumpas. He can't get a kick at the moment.

So Watts was ill, as reported by Neeld himself, but gets dropped the next week... This after choosing to sub him when there were at least 18 other candidates. Is he actually trying to tear his confidence to shreds? Meanwhile Kent still waits for his chance after being one of THE players in the pre-season. Jamar keeps his spot after the single worst performance I can remember seeing by a ruckman, and only marginally better the week before. Thank God Jetta finally gets picked and both Nicholson and Gillies go. 2 rounds too late. I have serious concerns about some of the decisions being made at this club. It's getting to a stage where if Neeld was revealed as being a Collingwood plant to destroy the club from within, my reaction would be one of mild shock. Let's hope it's under 100 points.

I'll be amazed if it's not a flogging, let alone a loss.

In the short-term, highly unlikely. In the longer term I think it will be seen to be the correct decision. A change in leadership was desperately needed at this club and the clean slate will help. The Board now needs to do the right thing and elect a new President. In an ideal world, Jones would be captain, and Neeld would have til mid season to prove he has a clue and not lost the playing group entirely. But we can't have too much change at one time. That would be doing more harm than good. The response from the players this weekend might say something about how much truth there is to the 186 protest theory. I would hope their effort isn't dictated by personal feelings towards our administration, but right now I don't care. Eventually something has to ignite the group and perhaps this will be it. I have my doubts.

Rangey, isn't this your second grand exit within 6 months? Will you be back as the Hulk this time?

Someone ban this idiot.

I love the Ox but this can't possibly be a serious suggestion..

It had to happen. This problem needs to be eradicated, and Schwab may not be the only one to go. He was a class act in that presser it has to be said.

"Cam you seem to be quite gracious, but are you somewhat perplexed by the decision?" This after he has made it abundantly clear that he understands why the decision was made. Half them in that room were and are vultures.

Wow.

lol

1. Yes2. Yes 3. Yes 4. No 5. Yes 6. Yes 7. I dropped Mick Malthouse's name. Easy as. Gaz just about creamed himself.

What, right now, separates the "core group of players" you continually refer to from the non-core players? How can the non-core become special like the chosen core?

You know your search for answers has become desperate when you start listening to Caro with open ears. And I'm referring to myself here.

Gillies is losing the beard comp. Badly. Unless the comp is to grow the worst beard. Then he's killing it. I couldn't give a stuff about the beards to be honest. I especially don't buy into all this tosh about them suddenly being symbolic of something, just because we're losing.

To be taken with a grain of salt, but Sheehan thinks the wheels are already in motion, and both Schwab and Neeld will not see out the year.

Fair enough. I haven't read through every Schwab thread so wanted your take. I've outlined why he should go. If we're judging him based on the success of the club since he took over, it doesn't make good reading. I believe it's at a stage where those in his corner need to state why he should stay, because this club is on its knees where it matters, and has been for a long time now.

This thread could be fun. eatingpopcorn.gif

He was using the past two weeks as evidence, and I think he has a valid point. This is a team playing with practically zero understanding, inspiration, and ultimately, effort. To lose the tackle count as BADLY as we did when we saw so little of the ball, that points directly to effort, not skill. The man ultimately responsible for instilling these things is the coach, and thus it points to a disconnect between the players and the coach's key messages, which are not getting through. Maybe we have a set of really, really dumb footballers. I personally think it is far more likely that we have an inexperienced AFL coach who is out of his depth and should never have been selected in the first place.

I'll admit stuie, I'm perplexed as to how you can absolve Schwab of all responsibility for this mess. I am assuming you don't have a conflict of interest in this matter. I'm not implying that you do, but I am working on that assumption. Schwab has overseen a period that has resulted in this club being all but driven into the dirt. He does have a significant role to play in establishing the culture of the organisation, which has been shown to be abysmal, and he does share significant responsibility for on-field performance with the selection of those who impact it directly. Other than the debt reduction, where the extent of his role in relation to Jim's is up for debate, why does this man deserve to keep his job? He is the CEO of an organisation that keeps finding new ways to fail. Surely at this point, those up the top need to be held accountable. Some would say it's well overdue.

Well done Satyr. Excellent.

Just regarding comments likening the media to schoolyard bullies, whilst this might be true of some, and we all know the obvious candidates, it is certainly not true of all segments of the media. Indeed I think VERY few would take any pleasure in seeing what this club is going through currently. Robbo for instance may be no rocket scientist, but he was excellent tonight in voicing his views. He didn't [censored] the club, he raised questions as to why it was happening and HOW it could be fixed. He raised the apparent disconnect between the coach and the players as being the first thing that needs to be examined. He went so far as to put out a plea to Melbourne people (Neil Mitchell directly) to help the club get through this and he did it with passion. He didn't dedicate an entire article to Neeld and how he reviewed the Port game and addressed the individual problems to sink the boot into Neeld or the club. He did it to put a spotlight on what was happening behind the scenes. To give the fans desperately seeking answers some insight - insight that the club has neglected in offering outside of platitudes about "elite mindset" and "competitiveness". He is a passionate supporter of the game and he invests himself entirely in the game, and as such he genuinely doesn't want to see a Victorian foundation club struggle like this. At the risk of this being a "defend Robbo" rant, my point is that not all media people are the vultures they are so often painted as, and in fact many could play an important role in bringing this club out of the DEEP mire that it finds itself in.

As my current Facebook status reads: "Demon for life (sentence)" A Bomber fan commented by apologising profusely for her team's annihilation of mine. Said she felt "really, really, really bad for you guys". I know it's well intentioned, but I feel like telling her that pity is alot worse than scorn in this game..

It's difficult to disagree with what he's written. As a supporter I of course don't agree that the MFC don't deserve a place in the league it helped begin, but right now it truly is an AFL club in name alone. The past 6 years seem to have been little other than a journey in redefining the word "crisis". A Croc Dundee exercise of "you call that the bottom? Let me show you the bottom.." Can it sink any lower? Clearly, yes it can.