Slartibartfast

If he needs to do that then he's not the man for the job.

I'm with you WW. I've been wrong more often than I care to remember but this bloke seems to me to have so much talent. I think potentially he could be Barry Prendergasts best value for money pick and could be one of our most important players going forward.

The issue to me is "why public". Surely in the first instance this message should have been delivered to the playing group as a whole and privately. I actually think it probably was. So why pick two players and make public comments? Surely that would be more appropriate if they hadn't been responding to the "private" communication. And when he made them he had little if any meaningful dealings with them. It seemed very odd to me.

I argued this when it happened and got little support, but I agree with all you've said on the public comments. Neeld had previously said had only known the players for 5 minutes so it seemed a strange thing to pick two players and single them out. I was also surprised because I thought Jack worked really hard last year. I doubt we'll ever know how it worked and we'll never know the full circumstances around the comments. If Jack plays a good year who knows whether these comments were positive or negative.

I have enjoyed everyone's contribution but I'm a little confused. Like others, I don't think Neeld is a polished media performer (I find him uninspiring and dull) but whilst recognizing that, I think from all I've seen and heard he's done a sensational job and our footy club is now quite different from what it was under the previous administration. I also didn't agree with Neeld's naming of Watts and Davey because at face value it was unnecessary IMO. As has been said, it flies in the face of any leadership material I've seen. But there is often more to these things than meets the eye, and in the scheme of things it's a minor issue. The events of the last 6 months or so hopefully prove to be the watershed of a major period of success aided by a significant increase in resources to the FD. I hope the contribution of those that went before Neelds group are not discounted or worse maligned. We are in the opportune position we are because of much hard work by many over many years. Neeld has an opportunity that no coach at Melbourne has had in years. We have talent and resources like we haven't had since the 60's. I hope he is the right man for the job. I like what I've seen so far but that doesn't mean we can't comment on various aspects of his performance and from what I can see that's all that's happened here.

I think you miss the point. McKenzie was offered a spot on the senior list which at minimum would have been a two year contract. He stayed with Melbourne on the Rookie list, punted on a long term injury to get a senior game and had no guarantee of a contract beyond the year. Views on his skills may vary but his loyalty is exceptional and that he has won the coaches award for the last two years and the Heart and Soul Award last year says a great deal about him as a person. I also think his skills are being underestimated here. He clearly played with injury last year missing the first batch of games with a groin problem and the fact that he is yet to join the main group at training this year indicates that even when he played last year he wasn't right. If his body stands up this kid will end up in the leadership group at minimum.

I made it down to training and can't really add much to what has been reported other than: 1. The drop in intensity compared to pre Christmas is noticeable. 2. Reports of Blease being out of place are very misleading. I admit to not studying training hard today as I was chatting to some friends but every time I looked up Blease was doing something good. 3. I know it's been said before but it was terrific to see James Strauss running as well as he was. The test, of course, will come when he kicks and needs to change direction quickly.

Don't get too excited, the training reports have repeatedly said Blease was training with the forward group.

I'm happily outranked!! Initially I looked at his as a discussion on "ethical sponsorships" but it now seems to be focusing on a particular club sponsor where the allegation is unfounded.

No, it relates to sponsorship of the MFC and to this point the discussion relates to whether the MFC should accept the sponsorship. If it was a discussion about puppy farming I'd agree and move it.

He'll never have small man skills but there have been many a crash and bash ruckman who have carved out careers. I'm not saying he'll be an exceptional ruckman but he may well be one who is in the Jamie Charman, Steven King, Ivan Maric, Tom Bellchambers type. In todays game there aren't many ruckmen who you want to have the ball in general play so his around the ground skills don't have to be all that good for him to be a good serviceable ruckman. He needs speed to get to contests and endurance to be able to at worst negate his man and he needs to have good ruck skills. He's not that far off being able to play AFL footy.

It's not just us who will decide. Unlike many I rate Spencer. He is a huge man, he is surprisingly quick and has better skills than many think. But above all that he is very competitive. If he does manage to stake any sort of claim we will be in list management horror because Spencer may attract significant interest from other clubs and not only will we have to decide on his status we may have to put a much sharper price on it. Having said that we should keep in mind that we do have Mitch Clark and Jack Fitzpatrick sitting in the wings so much will depend on them. If Clark fails as a forward the waters will be further muddied. Gawns unfortunate injury is the best Christmas present Jake could have got.

See the Casey Christmas Party report.

Many thanks for the reports Theo, DD, Maldonboy. Everyone here appreciates the efforts you and others who have reported during the preseason to date. It's fantastic to have a community where we get a report of virtually all the open training sessions. Good luck to Max, let's hope the scans give us all an early Christmas present. Cheers and thanks to all, Fan

If Leigh Williams was the solid blond bloke training yesterday then he looks a chance and maybe your speculative tall forward. Very good build. Sam Blease is doing his training with the forwards and may well be the "small" forward you're after. I didn't see Couch yesterday but that means little.

Thanks for the info but this doesn't deserve it's own thread.

I reckon you should have coach sponsors in the same way you have player sponsors. They would be highly sort after IMO.

The discussion of Jurrah is interesting. When someone first plays for us we look to see what they can do. Jurrah could do a lot and we fell in love. The longer a player plays the more we notice his weaknesses. Jurrah has a few and some are starting to doubt, perhaps fairly. Many have become familiar with what he can do and don't rate it as highly as they did. That's a mistake.

Please stick to footy guys. If you want to discuss other non footy matters there is the General Board. Thanks

Finally H. How about that!

I agree Nash and you also need to take into account the influence of the coaches gameplan on his selections. Judging by BP comments on the website the criteria has changed significantly since Neeld has joined and BP might have picked players on criteria rather than those he thought were "best" under Bailey. My major worry about the last 5 years recruiting is that we may have missed our chance to build a premiership midfield. Whilst I think Blease and Strauss can be very good footballers we passed on Shuey and Redden. We took Tappy instead of Bastinac. They are not bad picks, but by passing on all those players I think we are a little short in midfield stocks. Much depends on Gysberts IMO. I don't blame BP for missing Fyfe, IMO he will be the best player of 2009 and a champion player of the game, but given what he's shown and where I think he will finish, everybody missed him.

Are the people who continually criticise Hadden and Ponting the same ones who wanted Hussey gone at the beginning of last year? It's a shame that people are so quick to turn on players who have performed so wonderfully for our country. Great to see these two blokes play an important role in our success this test. I recognise Ponting is past his best but he still warrants a spot IMO and at his best was as good as there was going around. Very few of his runs came against the no name countries unlike a few other icons. Great player, love him.

I got there just as they started and Grimes was in the main group doing run throughs with the majority of the players. He broke off as they did their reps and joined the rehab group where he did some sprinting and straight line running. He was doing that with Davey and Clark (and perhaps Jetta and Petterd but I'm not sure). Also it was good to see Jack Fitzpatrick in the main group. Max Gawn was also back with the main group.

I ventured down as well and there isn't much to add to Maldonboy's excellent summary. Just a couple of comments. I'd support what Maldonboy said about Howe. I've been to each Monday session. Initially he was in about the 3rd quartile of runners for the repeat sprints but in each session he's progressed up. Today, where they ran in pairs, he was in the second pair with Morton behind Jones and McDonald (Bail didn't train with the main group). He's been quite outstanding in his running and athleticism and it will be interesting to see how he's used (sorry for the pun). The other surprise packet in the running is Tom McDonald and I just wonder if his endurance will affect how he is used this year. The other comment I'd make is that I've not seem physical drills before in November under any coach. But today in the drill Maldonboy described there was physical contract and tackling - certainly it was far from full on but it was there nonetheless. The drill was all about decision making but with a little bit of physical pressure. It was good to see Sam Blease back in full training and from the bit that I saw he seemed to be doing very well in the drill with his evasion and speed. Col Garland is another who has impressed to date with his application.

We got the same as Geelong got for Ablett. We won't get more than that. Time to move on.