binman

Blimey don't open that can of worms. My recollection is different - at least in terms of Cook.

I have read this 3 times and still cannot work out what you are trying to say. Its like some ingenious riddle.

Speaking of old ground - how is BP working out at the blues? I guess Malthouse will be super keen to have someone of his obvious talent in his team. And as for this thread - are you for real? Sure we might go after Jacobs but it will have no connection whatsoever with Jurrah.

Not even in hindsight?

That's funny. Just wrote on the Neeld Lyon thread that our membership tagline should be: BUY IN!

The tagline for next years membership drive shouldn't have been first and forever. It should have been: BUY IN!

Noooooooooo! I couldn't stand it!. One can only imagine the smug, sycophantic post from RR. Something like: Oh oh! or Woops! or A better mark than Jezza (and twice as attractive) - and we opted for a spud who couldn't catch a cold

Early contender for this weeks silliest thread.

Spot on. To commit to the sort of training loads the top teams (an wannabe top teams) apparently have to undertake takes, i would assume, compete buy in in order to push through the barriers. A player who doesn't get it or doesn't accept the vision is more likely to quit when the going gets really tough and not really put in the hard yards. Certainly that player is more likely not to take on board direction from coaching and fitness staff. There was an interesting post recently about 50% of players coming back from their break not having done the work they were told to do. Doing that work, even if you think its rubbish (or perhaps especially) is buy in.

I'm a little confused by this. I agree the culture of playing for draft picks has not been helpful but clearly under Neeld the club is now following the harder road and in many ways i see Neeld having a very similar approach to Lyon, particularly in terms of being clear about the need to change the culture of the club and not worrying about offending peoples in his attempts to do so. And the bit about looking for a savior to cure our ills? Wouldn't Lyon have been a saviour type? Neeld is a first time coach, which doesn't really look good on the savior CV.

Are you serious? You can't be. Freo's list is way superior to ours and has been for years. The list they have this year is largely the same as they've had for the last 2-3. They have an elite regular AA, arguably the best ruck-man in the AFL - and definitely an A grader,a couple of players just below A grade level and another handful of players that would get a game in any league side. On top of that they have a core of players who are seasoned AFL players. Melbourne has none of these things. Lyon would have looked at that list and been confident of a finals campaign. There is absolutely no way on earth that if he had gone to the dees he would have thought the same - no way. He must be spewing they didn't get Clark as if they did they would have been a chance to sneak into the top 4..

Not for the first time Ron, i'm in furious agreement with you. I was thinking something similar today when listening to 7774 (and a bit of SEN) analyse the freo game. In short on both stations they were saying how Lyon had come in an straight away looked to turn the culture around, in particular in regard to players preparedness to the necessary training to get to AFL standard. Walters and Crowley were playerd who were said to have bee given an ultimate - shape up or ship out. Both rose to the challenge. They also noted Lyon's mantra of play yourself in in to team or play yourself out and his complete almost myopic focus on team, roles and systems as opposed to individuals. Sound familiar? If we had got Lyon i suspect he would have taken a very similar approach to the one Neeldl has taken. And to be honest i doubt he would have had any more success. Freo are a seasoned team, with many players who have played more than 100 games and some genuine star - and one super star. I for one and not surprised at all they are doing so well.

4515 posts........Give us a spell. Please.

And when Hogan ended up in a spot on the ground where he shouldn't be we could all yell "Rouse, Rouse, Rouse!!!!!'

Unlike the rest of us.

Its a strange old world, the virtual one. A place where a guy with 130 odd posts can come over all superior to a guy with (shock horror) only 27 posts and totally slag him off for posting a rumour on a site where the most ridiculous things are regularly posted (and more shock horror, often by people with huge numbers of posts) and credibilty is measured in relative number of spelling mistakes. Jeez loiuse! And 'seeya'? Who are you - the lion king?

If they trade Martin they have to pick up the young guy in the MD. I need a player to call My Favourite Martin

"I am told from a well known players manager that as many as 15 have indicated a desire to leave the MFC. That is one third of the list." GNF Lets assume the player manager is correct about this. That means two thirds of the list want to stay and are committed to Neeld's vision. As i said on anoter thread the only way we are going to improve as a club is if we have all 40 odd players on the list 100% committed to the vision. This is true of all really successful elite level sporting teams. I suspect Neeld will be more than happy to assist those 15 players to leave the club - at least 12 of them will most likely go in this trade period alone (perhaps all 15?). They will replaced by players who like Clark will buy in from the get go. I for one can't wait - even if that means losing some quality players and a couple more years of pain. Neeld's recent comments about how he liked the approach of Hardwick at Richmond gives a great insight into Neeld's thinking. It should be remembered that Harwdick heavily cut the tigers list replacing them with players who bought in to his vision and who play the game how he likes it to be played. I'm heartily sick of demon players who play on their terms. The last time a dees team was completely committed to the cause was under Northey. That's way too long ago. Will Neeld's approach work? I don't know but i'd rather take that rtisk than go down the road of players calling the shots and leaking their concerns via social media and managers. 15 players want out? Good - there's the door.

I read this when it was first put up and had a weird vision of the team laughing like a bunch of private school boys in the hall as a hilarious prank was pulled on the mean (but secretly loved) PE teacher. Made me shiver.

HG, interesting stuff as usual. You noted early in the season, and again more recently that Neeld had gone very hard early on and may well have 'lost' some players. I shared those concerns early on, was prepared to wait and see but certainly he took a pretty full on approach that carries a great deal of risk. But i have changed my mind on this recently. I suspect that Neeld knew right from the get go he would be ruthless with cutting players etc at the end of this season and i think had a pretty good idea how few players were up to his requirements. Cutting Cook (which i just found out about and was pretty bloody surprised about - but it is an incredibly gutsy call) is an example of how ruthless he will be. Given this, a full on approach perhaps was necessary - no point building strong relationships with players who you are going to axe, in no small part due the risk they might want to stay (eg Moloney). If that means losing someone like Rivers then so be it. Perhaps he was prepared to be hated by his players (and perhaps even feared) if that is what it takes to turn this club around. Taking that approach takes some courage, particulalry as a first time coach who if he fails at Melbourne may well never coach senior footy again. One presumes he has the backing of the board with this approach. This is a root and branch rebuild and it is absolutely necessary. He can start building a strong interpersonal relationship with his acolytes, a point made well by a poster somewhere in this thread. He needs a team who play for him and do whatever is asked of him. A team of Neeldbots. As you point out a there are massive risks with this approach, not least of which being not getting good enough players but also that enough players won't buy in. But in my view it would be a greater risk to keep any players on the list who are not 100% committed to Neeld's vision. This is such a crucial trading period. I share your concerns but perhaps am a little more confident about our capacity to attract senior players as i suspect some players will be sold by Neeld's fanaticism, despite the rumblings of discontent from exiting and even some players who are staying. I'm sure also that the thoroughness you talk about will net us a WAFL, VFL or SANFL player who will come straight into the side and buy into the Neeld regime.

I'm with Nasher on this one. To be honest i have a sense of relief about LJ going. Don't get me wrong, he is one of all time favorites. Reminds me in lots of ways to Allen Jackovich - brilliant, creative, entertaining - but destined to only give us a small dose of his magic. But, with his off field stuff, the least of which probably being the court case, he would have continued to take the clubs focus away from where we need to be. If we were travelling better perhaps we could absorb some of that distraction, but at the moment it could only make the clubs chances of getting it right even more difficult. Put simply we are not in the sort of shape to be able to deal wit the distraction. As for the way he has left, i understand people feeling a little aggrieved but really its just part of the whole package. He is got so much going on his life right now that his capacity to make well thought out, smart calls would be impaired. And besides in some ways he has done us a favor by quitting now - better than rumors of trades etc bubbling to the surface and being a further distraction. One thing i would say about the timing etc is that i reckon we would have got nothing trade wise from either Port or the Crows, so quitting later and holding out for a deal would have achieved little All power to the club saying they would continue to provide personal support, its a terrific example of a mature response that is in keeping with the unfathomable complexity of what is going on for LJ. He is lucky he has got Rudeboy in his lfe and i concur with other posters who bristle at any implication he has got his own agenda. Of course though says more about a poster making that inference not Rudeboy. I saw LJ turn it on and will always have those memories. I wish him all the best and if that means playing for the Crows or Port then good luck to him. However, unfortunately i don't think we will ever see hi play AFL again. I hoped to be proved wrong, but jeez he will be coming from a long way back. Port will hesitate because they, like Melbourne have enough to worry about at the moment and Adelaide have their forwards (even if they lose Tippet), he is unlikely ever to have the tank to play another role and if aunt broke don't fix it

Straight swap for Caddy?

Then, what prey tell, do you intend to do about it (other than post inane comments and silly polls).

The moderators have become too conditioned to the rubbish (and multiple threads that all come back to the same thing) RR posts on this site. Sounds like a troll. Smells like a troll. Tastes like a trolls. Is a troll They shouldn't tolerate it any more. Discuss.

I never said i don't rate him. I've always been a fan, well at least before this year during which he has been poor. None the less I'd be happy for him to stay and have not once suggested we cut him - and nor has the club. If he did stay however his form would want to improve or his year would be spent in the 2's. What i don't rate is attitude this year and to how he has decided to go about shopping himself. We needed him to stand up on and off field this year. I don't know about off field but on field he has been poor. The club he supposedly loves deserved more as did his and the clubs fans. Compare his approach to Rivers, Jamar, Green and Sylvia. Again to be 100% clear, he is the one looking for the exit. If he watns a reprieve then stop looking, commit to the cause and stop tarnishing his reputation.