John Crow Batty

Can we channel this near death experience to the rest of the list?

I tend to think he has been badly developed. After 4 years no one knows where he should be playing. He has had some bad injuries which do not help. The bigest problem IMO opinion is his attitude. Seems to think the game is all about cheap shots. Too many times I get the impression he likes to get to a contest a fraction late and clean up his oponent rather than making the ball his primary focus or laying a proper tackle. He has made himself a marked man and in his recent games he has been cleaned up more often than he dishes out. If someone like Ross Lyon was coaching him he would be a much better focused player with a definitive role.

Despite all this recent talk, Roos still appears to be sitting on the fence and tellingly he has not put the story to bed which should be dead easy to do if he rejects us outright. He is a media person with plenty to say and if we don't hear a definitive NO from him soon It would be bad form for his reputation if he continued stringing us along and eventually said a 100% NO at a later stage. A cynical look at the situation could be that he may be interested in coaching in WA or Queensland. Much better climate and so called life style as some suggest. He could be playing us off to get a better deal if so. I do not think this is the case.

An interesting point from OTC a few weeks ago which no one had picked up. Just after Gerard Healy stated that Paul Roos was not going to be the next Melbourne coach he threw to Roos a seemingly benign but tricky question about Melbourne or the Bulldogs deserving a priority pick. Roos stumbled and mumbled for a while as he sensed a trap. He had little to say about the Bulldogs and talked mostly about us. He chose his words carefully so as not to seem prejudical to Melbourne's case for a priority pick. This confirmed to me he is definetly interested in coaching us and that negotiations are nearing an advanced stage.

I thoroughly disagree with the notion that the Roos/Lyon style of coaching is dull or boring. Its winning football at its most structured, disciplined and strategic. Like feasting on prime steak instead of junk food.

I am off to China for urgent business. But I will be back. My last thoughts on this topic. I take genuine comfort that the Melbourne players did their best to resist tanking despite the machinations to debase this club from those above who have shamed this club. Their efforts will not be futile.

We could say we were lucky that he reserved his majic moments for us. A shooting star if there ever was. No one quite like him before and perhaps never after. Was like a wet dream that could never come true. And we are the eternal dreamers.

Speaking of the Mods, whats is happening lately? Low visibility from RR, Nasher and even H_T. Fan has demoted himself. And Dandeeman, wasn't he a moderator? Haven't seen many of his posts lately. Locked horns with all of them but well respected. The mob looks like its taking over.

A bogan with bad hair? But the scary thing is, he still would have been with us if he didn't do a runner.

CC and CS have trashed our brand.

Hazy, why do you bother wasting your time with arguments? Just make your point and move on. This is not a forum for balanced rational arguments. I used to be a very moderate benign poster until I stated my belief that TS was gone in early in 2011. Then I copped a barrage from the idiots that mostly average 20 post a day here and dominate every discussion. We all know who they are. There is no way you can present and argue a diverse opinion with them. Their heads are truly buried in concrete. I got flamed and provoked into retaliating. Hence suspended a few times. Now I don't bother. I say what I have to and move on and don't argue with them. Only answer rational replies. Luckily some of them have now blocked me(orchestrated by rpfc) because I stated my opinions forcefully and ignored their abuse which is now a relief as I don't have to put up with their diatribe.

You actually thought of something before you read it?

He was a solid, effective and reliable player without doing the superstar stuff. Always in the game and never went missing. Should have become a dentist after his premature retirement.

Not surprised this has got back to some Bailey bashing. I am not surprised his career with us was a failure. The meddling by incompetents like CC and CS into FD matters is documented fact, aside from Whiteboard Wednesday, tanking, poor player development, recruiting, player revolts etc. All this after the meddlers took over. We will never really know if he would have been a good coach because he had too many banana skins placed in his path. What is telling though is the high regard he is held by players. His success as an assistant at PA. And his good work in assisting Sanderson in helping Adelaide rise like the Phoenix last season. With Neeld so far, his first season really sucked. All I see at this stage of his career is a good flogger of horses but not much of a leader of men.

Great post. And those persons who made monumental stuff ups have the audacity to now push the culture change mantra and blame everyone else but themselves for their incompetance. They have destroyed the next eneration of our young players and sucked the soul out of the rest. And too many here gloat at the delusion that we will outsmart the AFL whilst we grovel at the bottom.

Is this going to be a regular calendar event?

People who know how to manage footballers and a football clubs core business (playing fooball). Not bull artists who pass out the begging bowl to make up for zero productivity.

Don't confuse your support for the club with support for the idiots who have left us where we are.

What do you mean by "US"? The club or those that have ruined it. Who do you support, the club or the incompetents? Their noses are not far from hitting the wall. We will be rid of the rot and the real rebuild can then begin. And not long after, many supporters will finally realise how they have been conned.

A point often overlooked is the the role of "The Age" newspaper in recent times in particular after Ms Reinhardt's meddling. The paper is in trouble and looking for ways to bump readership. They have gone more tabloid recently and are basing their strategy to focusing on long standing social and other issues that have been swept under the carpet for far too long. Now they are targeting child abuse within the church on the social front and tanking and corruption in sport namely football and to a lesser extent horse racing. The Catholic Church like us gets the worst of it because not surprisingly thats where the worst smell is currently at. Nothing much new added as what has been said in a lower key for years with corresponding little action. The pressure is on.

Good post OM. Whilst supporters can be sold spin and past UBD game plans's, you can't sell the same crap to the players. If they don't believe in a coach's message then it is not going to happen. Another thing we lack is a four letter word that sums up what we need and never used here except from me is "Elan" and that wont come without belief from the players. Been lacking since the moderately successful Northey days. A player that comes to mind from that era was Rodney Grinter. Before Northey was a loose ill disciplined selfish goal hungry wannabe speccie taker. Then he became one of the backbones of our team. Hard and sometimes ruthless, he and a few unsung others epitomised what Elan is all about and helped us lift out of the quagmire simillar to where we are now. Can Neeld do a Northey or better. Can he inspire lesser players to be a Grinter? We will see.

Our list relative to the comp is as least as good as other middle of the road clubs. Our Major problems are exclusively off field. Never seen a football side play with so much apathy and disinterest as last season. This tanking issue may be a huge blessing in disguise. Finally may rid us of the real cause of our arrested development and lack of soul. A few draft picks lost as punishment pale into comparison with the mismangaement of a genaration of our young hopefuls.

There are more than one players on our banner here that are on the reality bus but not necessarily Neeld's take on it.

What will happen will happen no matter Take you own advice, you have been saying this for ages. Looking forward to see your regular posts during office hours.

Well you can continue salivating at perpetual inertia and dammnation. I can now see some salvation happening.