jimcor

Why wouldn't he wait until the end of the season? I would. If he decides to go, a trade at the end of the year would need to be massive. Having said that, he's happy here, he's made some great friends at the club and there's no reason to be pessimistic. Move on and enjoy the season.

I agree. If MFC is unable or unwilling to defend the player, we'd be better off simply saying that individual player performances are not going to be discussed outside the club and if we didn't think a player was delivering what was asked of him, he wouldn't be playing for the Dees. Surely, that's a true statement.

Whether Morton is ever going to be a good footballer or not is almost immaterial. I'm not surprised that a journo would have a look at D'land if they were putting a story together on someone like Morton or Watts. As high draft picks, the story is about them not living up to their potential rather than, in the case of low draft picks, exceeding expectations eg Howe, Magner. Nothing surprising there at all. I suspect everyone knows that there has been a fair bit of deserved criticism from the supporters. My issue was that: Are the best interests of the footy club served by our coach, on match day, being publicly seen to deliver a rocket to a player? I was uncomfortable last year when a premiership-winning coach (Malthouse) did the same thing to a young-ish player (Simon Buckley) and I'm more uncomfortable with a first year senior coach doing the same thing. It's just wrong and (I'm filled with dread to use the term) makes MN just look like a schoolyard bully. Where's the consistency when other players did exactly the same thing in the game but didn't receive the same rocket. I've long been a critic of Morton but, up to the clanger, I thought he was one of or best. He tackled, he chased, he ran both ways. The other question is would the story have been written without the spray and has this improved Morton's chance of minimizing his areas of concern. Only time will tell, I guess

And knowing this, you still try to hurt my feelings! Shame,BH, shame!!

It was public and, from what I saw on TV, in my opinion it was humiliating. As you know, it's often the way that something is said that has far more significance than the actual content. I don't think anything was gained from the display other than to raise some man-management questions.

Given (as I said earlier) that I think that one of Cale's major issues is self-confidence, I don't think that public humiliation by the coach is a productive approach. As much as I can empathise with Neeld's frustration (I've been frustrated by MFC performance for a hell of a lot longer!), I think these sorts of obvious horror moments are better dealt with away from the cameras. Fear is certainly a motivator but it's seldom the best one. Need is paid a big quid to provide leadership and I'm not sure this qualifies as such. In the fullness of time, Neeld will be measured by the performance he manages to extract from all players and in the form of premierships won. His talent isn't demonstrated by the effort he gets from the players that have either or both of the natural skills and the commitment to his plan, it's what he gets from the others i.e. those who lack the natural skills or the ability to understand what he wants them to do. Generally, I like Neeld's approach and much prefer it to Bailey's but he's a first year senior coach and he is obviously learning a bit as he goes along, as well. I suspect he wouldn't be thrilled to be similarly humiliated.

I was also a bit embarrassed by the toxic reception that Morton received. To me, he looks like the polar opposite of Jack Watts in that JW always looks as if he knows exactly what to do (even when it's about to go pear-shaped!) whereas Cale almost always looks as though he's terminally confused about what he should do. This wouldn't be helped by 5 years of criticism from the likes of us - me, very much included. I think he might still turn into a pretty good player if he ever manages to get some self- confidence. Also, I would also probably include him in my Top 6 today in spite of that horrible turnover.