Pates

Consider this scenario - we sack Neeld and by a miracle (and $1 Million per year) we get Paul Roos, pre-season is full of hype and round one is a disaster. Food for thought. I honestly feel like this club is going around in circles with re-re-rebuilds and sacking coaches. I'm not totally against sacking Neeld as I can't see any improvement on the field but at what point do we just say to a coach "you will have your time"? Has anyone else noticed that Mark Neeld has been in the sites of much of the media from the start, before he even coached his first match? That's because he is coaching Melbourne, a club with a history of sacking coaches so they knew that if they heaped the pressure on and things weren't working out then they would be right on it. If Choco is our coach next year I would be asking for a 5 year contract if I were him. [EDIT] I've also got to question the timing of it if tomorrow he is sacked. We've played Fremantle away (who just had a draw with last year premiers at the SCG) and the Hawks who the premiership favourites, and from all reports the effort was there it was just the execution which is a difficult thing for the coach to change. Of course these two matches were going to be painful, I would prefer waiting until we face the doggies and saints before making this decision. As many have said here, our club will be weak if they bow to media pressure.

I was very confident that Lynch would prove to be a mistake for them and making Dawes make way for him the cherry on top. He was always very lumbering at WC and had probably two seasons of good football while being delivered laces out by Cousins, Judd, and Kerr. Glad we got Dawes instead of him.

What you say makes a lot of sense. I'm not 100% in the sack Neeld camp, in fact if the club said they were backing him come hell or high water while I'd be shocked part of me would also be impressed and pleased. I don't see there being any massive positives in giving him the flick now, but ultimately I can't see a lot of negatives a part from the financial side (which you could argue could be offset by the fickle fans wanting Neeld gone turning up again). The dangling issue is what his relationship with the players is actually like. People say that he put Dacey offside and yet he has dinner with his family. There has in fact been comments that should he be sacked players will look to go. Question is do we no longer look at our club as a club with a 150 year history and look at the team as starting right from scratch like GWS and GC? Yes he's taken us to that point, but did he outline that as his intention from the beginning and are the players on board with it? I won't bat an eye if/when he is sacked, but I must wonder what his long term plan was.

Say what you like about Neeld, I think he's made a fair few mistakes but I really think he's set up a new fitness base for the next coaching team. Not a lot to hang your hat on but that, the improvement of Jones and Howe, and getting Clark and Dawes to the club will be his legacy. (Big woop I guess)I do feel sorry for him, he didn't take on an easy job, he took on the hardest in the AFL and he had big hopes and plans. Much of the teams fortunes are down to him, but our poor culture IMO has taken another victim. I would love to see any of those commentators who have criticised him come to the club and have a go at trying to get these guys playing competitively against the likes of Hawthorn. I am wondering whether this week will be the week. The Choco/Junior combo is intriguing and it would be a very easy sell to the members, I'd be in favour of it.

What the hell was that last minute. 3 goals with barely a whimper.

Final margin really doesn't reflect the game, especially as GC were stiffed early in the final quarter by some umpiring calls. Cats fans would be pretty happy, they got a good game (and a bit of a scare) for 3 quarters, the team still managed a 50pt belting, got a win on their stadiums night debut, and their prodigal son kicked a goal only he could kick. Seriously "freak" is the only term appropriate for him.

With your changed view do you also feel less convinced that he is gone?

Because some of them have gone backwards, I agree we have a lot of NQR's on our list that may be very good VFL players but can't take the step up, but we aren't as bad as we are getting beaten. We have an AA full back, an AA ruckman (who is albeit getting on), Nate Jones who despite what others say I believe is an A grader (who's having to perform the role of a star), two big forwards (who haven't played together yet) and a bunch of first round picks that seem to be going through the motions. If they are playing to their maximum ability then the recruiting has been a billion times worse than first thought. I'm not saying we have a gun list, but I have zero doubt we have an under performing list. So has it occurred to me? Yes. But I don't believe it to be the case. Watts, Blease, Sylvia, Tapscott, and Strauss are all top 20 picks that should be in our best 22 regularly and at least reliable players. Yes they have all had their injuries/issues but they have been around long enough.

Ok so firstly, good on Robbo for flying the flag for the club. At times like these someone has to bite back, even if it does seem a little contrite. I still have a soft spot for Beamer, but I saw his departure as someone who couldn't handle the changes and didn't like the idea of a new coach coming in and not saying he was a gun despite his B&F. Neeld said from the start it was clean slates for everyone, the past was the past both good and bad. Perhaps Neeld could've handled it better, but personally it sounded like Moloney didn't like the challenge of earning his leadership again. Because of that he sulked a bit and immediately put them at odds. I've said this before, I don't disagree with 90% of the departures including Moloney. I'm just concerned the ones that have stuck around and apparently "bought in" aren't showing improvement.

Some of the feelings on here have been very well said, especially WJ's. I haven't read OP but I would assume that the point was to ask whether the FH who have given so generously to get us out of debt will be as willing now that we've got ourselves back in that hole we took so long to crawl out of. I'm not a FH but I donate to the fund around $100 every year, and I will do so again this year. Not because I support the board but because I support the club and will do what I can to see it succeed again. Turning away IMO does nothing for the club, it will only serves to make the issue about yourself and not the bigger picture. Stupid and irrational as this sounds, I would rather support a disfunctional and failing club, then turn my back them. And that is not a shot at those who can't take it anymore, I'm 26 there are those that have been through more and can't handle it.

Ironic that you put those two in your post because we will have to be exactly that for the next coach. We will also have to have faith in the clubs decision (aka easily lead), staunch in our approach (stubborn), and have high expectations (possibly delusional). I guess what I'm saying is tomato/tomato.

That's exactly the problem as I see it. I fear that we're doomed to go a round in circles only making tiny steps of progress. I've got kiwi family and kiwi friends, and they are very quick to declare white Australia as racist (a generalisation for which I got extremely annoyed about), but even they have cultural and racial issues between the Anglo and Maori communities. It is ultimately very difficult to see a time in which words such as Ape won't have racial connotations because it will always depend on the victims feelings, regardless of the intentions of the person saying it.

Definitely, our problems don't start and end with Neeld. Agree with pretty much all the points of the OP. I'll keep turning up when I can, it hurts but as buddy from Seinfeld says, "you gotta support the team!"

He was much better and effective on the weekend. It appears that Neeld has been focusing purely on the defensive part of his game, I can only assume to make him a more complete player. But I want him attacking, I want him to be the one causing headaches for other teams not trying to nullify opposition players. I also think, when it comes to his speed, it's fair to assume no matter what the club says about him he has lost some conditioning over pre-season due to his stress fracture. Hopefully a full pre-season next year will help him regain some pace. He was never a speedster, but I remember that Richmond game in 2011 where he was able to chase down two people consecutively and tackle them effectively.

A few issues at play here: At first when I heard about this and what was said I thought it was an overreaction to the word "ape". Although I would never say it myself, I considered it to be low grade in the scheme of things. That was until I switched on to triple J and I heard a discussion about it and an indigenous man called in, he basically outlined what it meant to him and that it is universally recognized as offensive to indigenous Australians. Perhaps that is where it should be said that any racial slur, no matter how the perceived "strength" is simply not on. The second issue to this is how it was handled by the MCG staff. Having seen how old the girl was, their first question should've been, "are you here with an adult guardian" and they should've have come with her at the same time. I did not hear about her getting spoken to for two hours, if that's the case then that's a terrible mismanagement of the situation. The other is the media. Every news outlet, paper, reporter etc, hang your head in shame. Even the ones who took the soft approach of talking about education blah blah blah..... You all made it a bigger issue than it needed to and have made it a harder process for this girl. She made a mistake, it was a stupid one, but as Dermott Brereton has said she will now always be known as that girl who called Adam Goodes an ape. She has been publicly humiliated, slagged, and her photo circulated (something should never have been done given her age). For me Goodes has handled it well, I don't mind him pointing someone out in the crowd, and I think the comments he made the next day were very good. Eddie getting on his high horse saying "racism won't be tolerated, membership canceled etc" was too early and poorly delivered. Next time investigate first, then talk about consequences.

I definitely think that someone should be held accountable for this mess, but it would be completely irresponsible for us to removed a board without first making sure we have the capable people waiting in the wings. Thankfully (and this was meant to be my point) Peter Jackson will ensure that wont happen. I'm not sure what's shallow about not making a situation worse than it has to be.

Well I'm glad to hear it, because the only thing worse than having a poorly run board, is having no one willing to replace them.

I don't disagree entirely with the OP, but we can't have a board spill mid year. The concerning thing for me is in past years at various clubs (including ours) when there has been a terrible board there has been someone leading the way with a new ticket to get in the club. This year there is no one. Is there really no one out there that's an influential Dees fan/member/past great that who wants to lead us out of these trying times? Perhaps we have to put up with the guys we have and trust that Peter Jackson will be able to show them how a real football club is run.

Earlier in the year (i think after the GC game) someone mentioned after Queens birthday as when Neeld would be gone and I agreed. It certainly looks like that's on track and when you think about it it makes sense given the bye offers a chance for the club to regroup after what will be another painful experience. Barring us getting an upset of the century or performance of the year to push either one of these two teams, I believe Neeld will be gone by Tuesday/Wednesday after QB. Sad thing for Mark is there is nothing he can do about it, it's all down to the players. If they want him there then they will play for him and his future.

I actually sort of thing the board and more specifically Peter Jackson is just looking at the results as the board for GC and GWS were/are. They probably figure that sacking him won't do anything for the team and it won't make much of a difference in the long run, it'd just be a short term appeasement for the fans.

Strange comment. Davey didn't say anything about Daniher getting him "up", what i got from the article was that Neale had a very good relationship with a lot of the players including Aaron (who he brought to the club), and when he was going through a tough period he wanted to offer his support as a friend. Nothing to do with our current coaching staff. Also surprised by the "hate on the Daniher era" comment, I know very few people that hated it. I loved it! As you pointed out he also got us playing a good brand of footy to watch, and he got us to a granny, a prelim, and 6 separate finals series making us one of the most regular finals bound sides during his period of coaching. It was frustrating the up and down years, but a couple of times I felt we were one star player and a bit of luck short of a premiership. As a side thought, I wonder whether there could be any chance of getting Daniher back to the club as an assistant or something.

These next few weeks may well make or break him. If the players show spirit and fight against sides like Freo (in Perth), Hawthorn, and the Pies then he will see out the year and if we go on from there he's got my vote to have his full term. But if we get blown off the park like we did in the first 3 rounds then the wolves will circle. I really hope we've turned a corner for his sake, but I won't get my hopes up.

Aaron has had a horrific run with injury in the last few years, with pace being a key component of his game I was really worried he'd fade away into oblivion. I was so happy to see him back to his old self vs Richmond (although he got lucky with the rolling the ball along the ground miss/goal). It was strange and refreshing to see someone in red and blue be able to size up a situation and pinpoint a pass perfectly, I really hope he can continue with it. Perhaps he'll go another year, if his form continues then why not?

Convince him his place is here. If he's unhappy than work it out, he wouldn't be the first footballer to be looking at his options but stay. He is one of a few good players we've got that would be a starter in every team in the comp. We have to start retaining senior players or we'll keep ending up back where we started. And as someone said earlier, isn't it against the rules to approach players under contract?

www..news.com.au/sport/afl/collingwoods-dale-thomas-and-dayne-beams-ruled-out-for-a-large-chunk-of-the-season/story-fndv8g1a-1226647454989 Alright so I'll just say I reckon it's unlikely that we'll snag him, but with the surgery ruling him out for 12-16 weeks it might put his market value to the pies down and allow us to come over the top with a bigger offer. My thoughts are that Calrton would be his preferred destination but they have an abundance of good mids so they might not be interested. As always I'm sure GWS and GC will look to swoop in.