Slartibartfast

His father was a tunnel rat in Vietnam. If you aren't aware of what that means look it up. His father is/was seriously effected by the experience which impacted Nathan's upbringing. Job's in the army can be different. You can work behind the lines and see no action or you can crawl into a tunnel knowing there is a good chance you'll never come out. I'd be slow to judge.

Not "disappointingly" personal. I admire the consistency of your approach. I just can't accept the position you hold that the club wasn't in dire trouble and that a possible outcome could have been relocation or extinction, both the same result for me. I don't know why you're so defensive. I've obviously held the position that Neeld, Schwab and McLardy weren't good enough but I've never been rude about them as people. All were well intentioned but all led us to be non financial and non competitive. Here are some facts Jack. The first is that around the end of 2011 we were coming off two 8.5 win seasons. We were almost or were debt free. From 2007 to 2011 the Stynes/McLardy/Schwab/Bailey team managed that improvement . They also eliminated about $5 million in debt. A mighty effort. At the end of 2013 we were coming off a two win season and recorded a loss of $1.7 million loss and required AFL assistance both financially and administratively. We were embarrassingly uncompetitive on field and in debt off it. The McLardy/Schwab/Neeld team managed that decline. You don't need to "believe" that because it's fact. You can attempt to source the cause back to the Daniher/Gardner days of 2003 to 2007 but you've not presented any facts that supports it and I think many here would find it difficult to link Gardner and Daniher to the decline from 2011 to 2013. My belief is the decline started with the loss at Geelong, the completely botched response to that game, the involvement of Garry Lyon at the approval of McLardy and Schwab and the subsequent appointment of Neeld. That 8 week period set us up for the performance that was to follow and it happened because we failed to follow due diligence and proper process.That belief is open to reasonable debate but the decline from 2011 to 2013 cannot reasonably be laid at the feet of anyone but those in charge during the period. And I don't need to do the "full and proper research" because I was there and observed it first hand.

The fact you'd take this approach is in keeping with your position over the last few years. From memory you didn't advocate change to any of the major pillars of the club (coach, CEO or Chairman) until the very end when we were in a far worse position than if we'd changed earlier. The fact that you'd wait until a few thousand MFC supporters were protesting our demise down at AFL house to see we were close to losing the club is in keeping with your past vision. But of course that would be far too late as indeed it was for the Swans and Lions. I'd contend that it's now not difficult to see what was on the cards and I think there would be many here who would accept things were so much worse than people like you preached. The fact that you are still unable to accept how bad our position was shows that you really haven't got a track record of anticipating outcomes. Thankfully the AFL did and stepped in to save us. It's also not surprising that you find it hard to anticipate what would have happened if Neeld, Schwab and McLardy had stayed and therefore described my possible outcomes above as "quite the hypothetical".

You and I can agree to disagree. But let your mind just imagine what we'd look like now if Neeld and the FD were leading us along with Schwab and McLardy. IMO it's very likely we'd have: No Watts or Sylvia. No Michie, Riley, Tyson, Cross or Vince as I doubt any of these players would have agreed to join us under that leadership group. No major sponsor. No increase in membership and most likely a significant drop. A loss in the order of $3 million with a significantly less optimistic outlook. Little if any optimism for this year without any leadership at the club. If that were the case I'd argue we could look forward to finishing 18th in 2014 and the loss of membership and sponsorship resulting in another significant loss and the need to reduce expenditure significantly. IMO there would be a significant chance that the AFL would have looked to moving us to Tasmania on a full time basis in the same way South Melbourne we moved to Sydney and Fitzroy to Brisbane. At best the colours would have been maintained but the name of the club would have changed and with it the MFC as far as I'm concerned. I didn't say it "would" have happened I said it "could" have happened and I chose that word carefully. When Jackson took over I can't remember the feeling of the supporters being as low or our image being worse and that coupled with an organization losing money hand over fist clearly means we were in a terrible situation. Each to their own I guess but I was very worried and so were many of my friends. We are lucky to have been saved and we should not forget those that did it. The AFL cop a lot of Shyte on this site but they should be recognized and thanked for their contribution to us. Our mess was not of their making but our position now most definitely is.

We may not be a financial basket case but we were under the previous regime who despite the generosity of the FH still secured a loss of $1.7 million which reflects the performance of the last 12 months. Thank god for the AFL handout to pay out those not up to the task and for securing PJ for us who has shown what excellence in management can achieve. Without this we could well have lost the club. Onward and upward and looking forward to a competitive future.

If we ever have a drink together don't let me drink from your cup! 8 wins for me with a bullet. Everyone (just about) underestimates the damage Neeld did to this group. We will surprise many this year with reasonable luck.

Why don't we just let this thread be a best wishes thread. Get well Bails.

In Roos' presser he says there is a focus on skills and Jones backs that up and says the players are loving it. It would be interesting to know how much of the gut busting running was the initiative of Misson or Neeld. I think it did so much damage. The players hated it, it cost them skills and had them as flat as tacks going into the season. Neeld seemed to miss the point that people perform better when they enjoy/love what they are doing. From the players I've spoken to and the feedback from various sources this year is miles ahead of last year.

Thanks mate. Looking forward to seeing him play for us. He's a hard nut no nonsense footballer.

Hey Stayriconhome, is Riley with the rehab group? Do you know when he's going into full training? Edit: just re-read your post. "Dawes and Riley went for a walk around the tan. FMD. Clark and Dawes have played about a season between them for us. Let's hope they get on the park. The other thing I'm interested in is whether they do the gut running at the end or beginning of sessions. I'm not surprised by the change of atmosphere at training. Neeld was just a fwit the way he went about football. These kids won't know themselves and will be looking forward to the whole process. We will see a completely different group now we've got rid of the mugs who were running this club. Thank heavens for Roos and Jackson.

Does anyone know if this bloke will be right to go round 1. I like what I've seen of him.

It must be good if Grimes can't get a game.

Green to continue as I didn't want to burden T&G with the responsibility. T particularly has suffered having to try and implement a poor coaches philosophies on a group of burdened players. My theory was that while Grren wasn't a good captain the development of T&G were much higher priorities and there were no good options. Your boy Roos is one of a couple of people who could encourage Trengove to give up the captaincy and feel ok about it. It's a shame what's happened to Trenners as he's a wonderful kid, but kid he was and what we did to him was disgusting. We did equally terrible things to Watts too. Let's hope Roos can save them. All power to Trenners, one of my favourites.

Rono if you really believe this you've lost it.

It's a fair comment about not backing up my statements with examples but the point of my post was to suggest that Jetta was well worth another year and that the team as a whole under Neeld had performed badly which made judging any of the players on the last 2 years problematic. As far as Neeld goes I think there are clear indications he had issues with the players. Moloney's farewell tweet was extraordinary and gives an insight into how he felt and the fact that he tweeted at all instructive. Neeld also isn't in the frame for any football position with an AFL club despite having a long time to organize one. I'm not sure what he's doing now although I saw it suggested he was trying to get back into teaching despite his statement that he loved the game and being involved with it. I've said all along it wasn't Neeld fault that he was appointed our coach but on any measure he was a failure. Let's leave it at that and say that I expect to see a completely different and more confident team this year under new management.

It was a joke Doris.....

What post are you referring to Robbie?

Yes, I'm having trouble too.

I'm surprises that nobody has addressed the big question of the draft! Will the Demonland server stand up on the big stage? When the pressure is on to preform, when the heat is on, when it faces its biggest test of the year? Imagine the distress and pain a simple driver error could cause. A simple database error and the health of so may Demon faithful would be effected. Let's hope Demonland have a backup plan, a plan B, let's hope they have thought outside the square and are overseen by good governance with good systems. Let's hope they understand that the happiness of literally 1000's of people rest in their hands. Good luck Demonland and thanks for your efforts in providing a great draft and trade period so far. And let's hope we do find a friend for Jesse.

It did for the short sighted.

Simon Black v Kane Tenace. Yeh, I get you point.

I think you underestimate the appalling impact Neeld had on the players. Some of the stories I've heard beggar belief. I've never been a huge rap but he gives it a real go, has had terrible injuries amd has never stopped trying. I can't see we are worse off with him on our list than with some pick 80 or so from a weak draft pool. I wish him well.

Surely the only benefit in any bluffing would be to get Collingwood to take someone at 6 who they thought would be available at 10 because we wanted to try and insert someone into the draft ahead of us. It would be surprising if Acres was a consideration to either there so I'm struggling to see the point.

Gosh, I'm wounded.

And Kevin Dyson.