binman

ADC i have long planned to put you up for membership for my super exclusive ignore club - but can't bring myself to do it. Your posts are so terrifically negative that they're almost artful. Not to mention very funny. 'We needed an experienced coach who could come in and do some healing and bridge building' - pure unadulterated comedy gold. I could almost visualise say a Malthouse or Lyon coming in and getting all touchy feely with the poor old senior boys. Of course there is no way a senior coach like Malthouse or Lyon would say my way or the highway, shape up or ship out in the way that unfeeling brute of a man Neeld has done. They'd both all be about the healing. Just like Lyon did this year at the dockers - not!

Not surprised at all Couch and Davis were kept. Couch won the b&f at Casey and Davis won the Respect Earner award. Also no surprise Petterd got the axe, in the few Casey games I saw his attitude was poor. It's about the culture.

Was just about to post exactly the same thing. I just don't understand why some DL posters (and even more incredibly someone like Mooney who has witnessed first hand the importance of a strong culture) cannot understand why Neeld has targeted the players he has. Its not as if he has been quiet about the fact that to succeed you need an elite training environment and players who are 100% committed to the cause. As i have noted previously Neeld has basically drafted in a new LG. Rodan, Dawes and Byrnes are noted hard trainers who give it their all. All 3 have great reputations as top club men. Byrnes, who is doing the Kokoda trail in his off season won that award at Geelong despite playing almost all the year in the magoos. Rodan ability to come back from his knee injuries and do the required rehab shows what a pro he is. I don't know about Pederson but i'm guessing he is also a good trainer and obviously has a great attitude given he won Werribee's b&f meaning he was giving it his all and didn't drop his head - which many players who don't get picked in the seniors struggle to do. Look at who has left the club. I'm not sure about Rivers work ethic but without knocking them Gysberts, Martin, Moloney and Morton were never lauded for their approach to training and none were considered leaders. Get rid of non leaders and replace them with leaders and you begin to create a culture where success is possible and kids can develop and fulfill their potential. The club has been correctly criticised for its player development but i reckon a big part of that has been the lack of senior leaders creating the right culture - like Geelong and Sydney famously have. How is bringing a raft of younger kids into the club going to help create that culture? we have tried that approach and it has not worked. Build the right culture first then when young guns (like Hogan) start they immersed in it from the get go and their development is maximised. Again i just don't get why people don't understand this.

Any rating is by definition based on a criteria. I didn't hear what criteria Wallace and Gromit used to assess our trading but i assume it would be on perceived value of the player worth we traded out against that of the picks and players we brought in, However that's a nonsense as the club would have had a completely different criteria. For example i'm sure their base KPI was cutting out out the dead wood and players that have contributed to our [censored] poor training and general culture. Secondly they obviously focused on solid citizens and players who could add value to the culture. And thirdly they picked players for specific roles related to Neelds preferred game plan. On that criteria i'd give us a B, but of course the proof will be in the pudding.

Root and branch. What is this business about Gysberts being injured by the way? He still managed 14 games for Casey. Enough i would have thought to make a compelling case for senior selection (like for instance Nicho did when coming back from an injury). How players respond to injury (eg focus on rehab etc) gives a FD a great deal of insight into a player i reckon. Not suggesting Gysberts didn't respnd well just that even an injury gives a player a chance to impress a coach (again Nicho being an example). Out of interest how did he go in the Casey b&f? I had a look at the web site and couldn't see a list. Didn't finish top 3 though (Couch, Tynan and Fitzpatrick). By the by Troy Davis won the Respect Earner Award. This is why there is no talk about us cutting him. If Gysberts had won that award we wouldn't be trading him. Full stop. Root and branch.

Only space on our list for the true believers (and players prepared to bust a gut in training all year) Chasing another big fella , after already securing Clarke, Dawes and Hogan gives, i think an interesting insight into Neelds preferred game plan. Strong bodied mids, lots of contested footy (which we saw this year). better level of fitness to run, chase and spread and kick long into a forward line with multiple marking options (with improved crumbing options, which i hope will also include Davey)

Root and branch

You should get a job at the club then. Funny actually i loved Pickett and enjoyed watching Duchy play. But i also loved Templeton, Cottogio and Carmen

The key reason why we've got him IMO. Look at who we've picked up so far. All sold citizens and elite trainers - to a man. Conversely look at the players who have left or are rumored to be on the block. There have been question marks on their approach to training (with the possible exception of Rivers). Neeld is desperate to drive up the training standards and clearly sees it as a fundamental element of successful sides. Where the risk of having an older bloke at the club who trains at 100%. Whose spot on the list is he taking?

Clearly you don't but obviously the club doesn't share your view

This way we are ensuring we get him and our late picks probably not of great value in any case. If he goes into the psd GWS or GC could snaffle him

Ok thanks, makes sense

I'm still wondering about the role of the MFC twitter crew in all of this (i have no idea about twiter by the way and tbh have no plan to). I would find it curious that anyone connected to the club in any formalish capacity (assimeing MFC TC are cconnected to the club) would be a party to spreading false rumors about a contracted player. Unless of course they have an agenda, in which case that would be pretty grubby

Good call Demon3 - i'm with you. He seems a positive guy, which would have been hard to maintain after spending most of the seasons in the magoos. I also have a soft spot for him and hope he stays. I really believe that he is a real confidence player and struggles psychologically dealing with injury and poor form. I've still got confidence he can play a role for the dees.

Right, so he was in Subi. Why then would the MFC twitter crew (whoever that is) want to be involved in bringing attention to that?

Ok, sorry. I get confused by the drafting option. He could go into the national draft couldn't he?

Sorry Chook, i must be a bit slow. The TAB, the Geelong Cup? Does this mean you are in Vic and the photo is of him here? What does the MFC twtter crew have to do with it? Are the MFC twitter crew some old school break dance team? By the way i thought Gatewood was a moral, backed and also backed it for the cup. Nice win.

What use our pick 4 on him? I don't think so.

I think the vic state gov is funding a search for Mortons in the high country - are the local stories true about mysterious mortons wondering the bush or is a myth?

I'd go with bunkum. Not wanting to pot Gysberts but if the Cats really rated him they could have had him for a reasonable pick/swap. Instead they went for Caddy - a young midfield player in many ways similar in style and build to Gysberts who despite playing most of last season could only come 17th in a lowly clubs b&f. They were prepared to pay a pretty big price for Caddy (too big a price IMO) and could have got Gysberts for possibly a late second round pick. To me their choice to focus on Caddy says a bit about how Gysberts is rated externally.

Look Stuie i agree to an extent. I think it would be a shame for him not to fulfill his obvious potential at the dees. I guess where where we differ is i am assuming Neeld has worked really hard this year with all the players, including Gysberts. The time and resources have been put in this year and a year is long enough to reach conclusions. Why is another year necessary? The injury is a furphy to an extent. Yes it would have impacted on his fitness etc but you don't think how he went about his rehabilitation would have been considered by the club in their assessment of his work ethic? Compare his scenario to Bartram. Barty barely played all year due to injury but his work ethic has never been questioned and i would be shocked if he is cut (maybe made a rookie?). Instructive also is a comparison with Blease who seemed to have switched on mid season and responded to the development provided by the club. Neeld was effusive in his praise for this and i suspect this was not just about pumping up his tyres. I hope Gysberts has a road to Damascus moment and convinces Neeld he is up for it. Then follows through with the commitment

Neeld has had a whole season to assess JG. My guess is that a key criteria is willingness to put in the required work to get to AFL standard fitness. perhaps i'm wrong but you seem to imply that Neeld hasn't "rolled up his sleeves"and work with him. I would argue he has and the indications are that Gysberts has not responded. This is not high school where you have to keep a student on - if Neelds assesment is that JG is not doing the work or won't in the future then why waste time and resources trying to convince him of the need to do so. I agree development is an important part of an AFL coaches role but so is making tough calls. Neeld made clear when he got the job all players were on notice. I suspect players such as Cook and Gysberts have been given theirs. They had their chance to impress, were given developmetn support and hvae not stepped up.

That's my recollection also. Of course Taggert's selection was driven by Neeld as were all the other selections in that draft. Couch,Magner? Hardly in the BP mould. Seems a weird barrow to be pushing RR.

Clint Bartram, footballer. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Clint Bartram will be that man. Better than he was before. Better...stronger...faster.

And as i noted Dawes is only 24 - which for a big fella is really the time he is likely to start hitting his straps. If he improves fro this point in his career (which is likley) we are the getting the best years of him with Collingwood having had to do all the development (with the investment that entails). One other thing. Having Hogan in our system for a full year adds incredible value to him as a draft pick. If we had taken the punt and were luck enough to get him next year he would have missed the first month or so of pre season and would have been dealing with the interstate move and all the associated issues. Instead we will have a young gun, ready to go round one and be third tall, surrounded by two big men hitting their physical prime. He will have settled in Melbourne, know all his team mates and the system and have a year of Misson polish. I don't think any of the so called experts, or at the least the ones i've heard have acknowledged how beneficial that will be for us. Nor has there been much comment on the fact Neeld is trying to build a system and is bringing in players specifically to play roles, fit the system and provide role models (that a young 18 year old, no matter how good, is going to be able to provide)