binman

But, notwithstanding this, we then overlooked a hard, power forward (Darling) and recruited another tall, mobile forward (Cook). This surprised virtually everyone in the game - supporters and commentators alike (perhaps not Dr Who and a few others), given the known deficiencies/needs of the MFC's list. To date, the surprises expressed at the time continue to be expressed today.

Yep. I don't understand how any one could seriously argue we should have taken Darling instead of Cook. It was an absolute no brainer. Even if you think that Cook will end up being a better player Darling had been playing senior footy in a strong league (the WAFL) and as we have seen was ready to step straight in senior AFL footy, as a KPF no less. We were crying out for such a player to give some chop out to Watts and Jurrah and we would have a player now who could fill that role at base rates. Even if he did end up going home to WA after a few years he would have served his purpose and perhaps we could have benefited from a trade.

As i said no brainer.

It's not about the journey, it's about how you get there

Fight apathy............or don't

Damn. He's in my supercoach team. I hope Carlton takes the feather duster approach!

I think that is a fairly good article rpfc

Yep, i agree. Neeld def gave the story oxygen with his emotional rebuttal and did look a bit silly a day or so later saying there was now no need or urgency in finding the "source"

the 2nd point is about the only one that applies, and even that is a grey area.

Really? Grey? We don't have a FOJ sponsor. Our major sponsor has been sacked (and even if you accept that due diligence was followed in letting Energywatch on board the buck still stops with the CEO for selecting a company owned and run by a borderline lunatic - his self published autobiography at the least should have raised some red flags). There has been rumblings that Kapersky were less than impressed with the service they received and didn't re-sign.

Not much grey there i wouldn't have thought. Red faced but not much grey. Like any business a CEO is judged on results and unfortunately the scoreboard does not look good for CS.

Oh and you don't think the CEO has a role in building unity and ensuring everyone sticks to their roles?

Agreed.

I've always believed the value of a football administrator can be judged by the content of his speeches at commencement dinners.

As opposed to forging a united club, attracting the right sponsors and having clarity about roles

Topic should be Recruiting and Development

Bring back the roller coaster!

Keeping the sad vibe going, just over heard a fella tell his mate as they were walking a busy street "i reckon GWS and GC will get a win before the dees". Jeez louise.

Let's win this week dees! That will leave the toiges 0-3 and the gloom and doom talk might transfer to them

What choice do we have? Our enthusiasm might wane. We might find it hard to convince ourselves to trudge of to the footy mid winter to watch the dees get smashed. Like watching a car crash in slow motion we will read about more crazy stuff happening at the club. We will put up with (just) the oh so funny comments about the dees from family and friends. We will slowly accept that we have to almost rebuild from scratch and won't progress until we have turned over every player older than 25 (with the possible exception of Jamar). Despite ourselves we will start wondering if the curse of The Red Fox is real.

But what choice do we have. As i said to my 9 year old son once you barrack for a team, that't it, ther's nothing to be done.They're our team and for better or more likely worse we have to remain loyal.

Two years ago the Dees were definitely a team on the improve; a team which drew and then lost by a solitary point to the eventual Premiers that year. In 2010 no-one was rubbishing the club's recruiting or player development. Something went badly wrong in 2011.

Yes, i agree. My feeling is we are still dealing with whatever did actually go wrong last year. It was widely reported around the time of 186 that the admin and footy department (and players) were at loggerheads, suggesting Hells Gate's comments about how involved Schwab has been in the football department's business over the last couple of years are close to the mark. My sense is this might well be central to what went so badly wrong last year and i also feel it continues to impact this year.

Don't get me wrong i'm not suggesting Schwab is responsible or should go but there was definitely some sort of trauma last year (beyond the obvious in the sacking of Bailey and 186). Trauma takes time to deal with and can linger for a long time, particularly if it swept under the carpet and not properly acknowledged and/or addressed. There is no such thing as drawing a line and fully starting afresh, something Neeld is now having to come to terms with.

Something still doesn't feel right at the club

Apparently he's got a pretty good right fut on him

Now that the problem has been dealt with - getting rid of that idiot ben polis - couldn't we sit down with the new CEO and see if we couldn't just continue our agreement with EW?

have a joint press conference with Cam schwab and Luke zombor denouncing polis and his comments and state both parties are happy to continue with the arrangement in place?

Is there a reason that wouldn't work?..

Yes there are many, not last of which is the brand is Energywatch, a brand that will forever be tainted. It is a company that is dead in the water

This is an idea I have had for a while, if you think it's rubbish that's fine but I just want to put it out there following the events of today.

I know a lot of us out there have put a lot of our own hard earned money into the Melbourne Football Club through memberships and the recent Debt Demolition. However, I am proposing a "Supporter Alliance" whereby we supporters donate money (however little) under this banner and sponsor the club. The money wouldn't be anywhere near what the club will have lost from "that company" but at the very least it is a sign of support

Again, I fully understand that many people feel they have given their fair share and that's fine, if you feel that way please just keep those thoughts to yourself. This is an opportunity to support (figuratively and financially) the club on top of memberships other areas, even if what is raised is just a small donation (not a "sponsorship" as such), the club needs some good news after all that it has been dragged through recently.

As a starting point, I am willing to donate $200 to get the ball rolling. Any thoughts or suggestions please let me know, if it is a rubbish idea I will just donate the money privately and you can lock the thread.

Perhaps Demonland could be a sponsnor

One racist comment doesn't make the company a racist company. .

Have you read what he published on facebook? There is a litany of disgusting references, comments etc. He makes multiple obscene racist comments, misogynist rants and direct personal attacks. The guy is a lunatic

Let's be pragmatic and not throw the baby out with the bath water, if we have a FOJ sponsor waiting in the wings, let's go for it, otherwise stay calm, get an apology and move on.

Thanks this post has clarified things for me. You are taking the [censored]!

Yeah let's dump them!! What a great start guys, then let's dump Jurrah for violence, Moloney for Alcohol abuse etc etc

Are you serious or are you taking the [censored]? Of course we have to dump them as sponsors, we have absolutely no choice. From an ethical and moral perspective we simply must immediately sever all ties - i'm surprised they haven;t done so already'.

Leaving aside the ethical imperative we also have to cut ties on financial grounds. Do you think we have a hope in hell of attracting any new sponsors (or keep our existing ones for that matter) whilst this fella is involved in the club. How do, in good faith, negotiate with say an large Chinese company (ï'm not racist because my cleaner is Asian"). No company in the world will come near us, now or in the future unless we cut ties. For god sake the Prime Minister has come out and criticized him - the Prime Minister!

Not returning multiple calls (and tweets) over a 3 week period from a club CEO (knowing full well what Schwab wanted to talk about) . Refusing to take Aaron Davey's calls or return messages from Tuesday on and then not wanting to participate in a mediation session his own employer had wanted to happen.

What's his role again? That's right community engagement. I don't see much evidence he knows much about engagement. Perhaps he could google the word (and whilst at the computer might also look up the words confidential and trust).

His "mate" Thomas might also consider looking up the word friendship as it would appear he has no idea what it means. With friends like that ......

As long as he talked to them ranga by ranga not as a group I dont have a problem with it

To be honest i don't reckon jokes such as this one are particularly funny as it makes light of what Neeld was wrongly accused of doing. If, in the context of player meetings relating to performance, plans etc he had spoken to the indigenous players as a group rather than as individuals this would have absolutely been racist and wrong. Neeld was furious and hurt by the accusation, an indication of how innapropriate such an approach would be

In the presser, he mentioned that both he and the players are accountable.

That's true but i'm with Stuie on this one. He said they were pulverised from the start at clearances, which suggest they weren't switched on. He could have acknowledged it's his role is to ensure the players are switched on. Isn't ensuring a team is ready to go a key role for the coach? Neeld himself has said previously the buck stops with him.

To be fair no journo asked him directly about his performance, perhaps they were too scared, he was pretty wired. I would have thought he at least would have been asked about preparation, his lack of creative moves (eg if we were getting smashed in clearances why leave a player who has been one of our best in this regard over the pre season sitting on the pine whilst Blease applied no defensive pressure? What about throwing Clark into the ruck for a bit or Watts to full forward etc etc). These were pretty basic questions that were not asked

I'm starting to really think the media saturation of AFL is slowly turning me off the game.

There's simply too many journos all trying to outdo each other with any tiny piece of irrelevant c rap they can lay their hands on. So Beamer said "the coach" BIG #$^$#ing DEAL! Neeld said "i" instead of "we" - are you serious??

It's partly my fault for watching 360, Footy Classified, twitter, forums like this etc so I guess I only have myself to blame but honestly, some of the absolute c rap that passes as a story these days in quite staggering.

Yep i'm with you on this. More crap and less intelligent analysis - how does that work? It's also 365 days a year, which is in large pert orchestrated by the AFL with clever (if you ask them) timing of stuff such as rookie drafts, drafts, announcing fixture etc etc. Next year they'll have all the intrigue of the free agency palaver to add to the list.

Some journo will prob write an irony free article about the saturation of football coverage

Intersting that Neeld highlighted the role of the players in selecting the LG. Even if input small i wonder if Moloney being dropped from it reflects on his approach to dealing with teammates (partic the younger fellas), which from what i have seen seems to involve alot of yelling, pointing and barking.

It will be interesting to see if Beamer runs his boxing camp this year during the bye. Neeld may veto it i suppose but if he doesn't and Beamer doesn't run it again it may be evidence of his disillusionment with the new regime (or not). I was saying to mate before the game that he seems very flat and not happy and only 1 tackle in a game of footy from an inside mid built like a truck reinforces this for me. He should have have flattened Beams (legally) at some point just to show who is boss

1. Watts is the only player in the team with anything close to A grade disposal skills

2. Talk of him not being selected for round 1 (or for any future rounds) was pure baloney

3. Davey had a golden opportunity to straight line the ball and elected not to, sayonara (sadly)

4. Clark has to clunk his marks

5. We need Jurrah and Sylvia in that team

If it's good enough for Tynan, Magner and McKenzie to throw themselves head first at a contest, it's good enough for Davey. If it's not, he needs to go away and fast.

There was one contest in the last quarter where he absolutely squibbed it, tried to tap the ball to the side rather than straight lining the contest and i was surprised he was immediately dragged