Outside fifty

Has a familiar ring to it? I doubt they could even fine us. It's more a question of ethics and accountability.

On the face of it we haven't broken any rules. The issue here is that we have withheld information from the AFL and published a statement that appears to contain untruths.

The MFC initial statement to the AFP was untruthful because it asserted that other than a failed job application, the MFC was not in contact with Dank. This was not the case as Dr Bate was in contact with Dank via txt messaging. Further the MFC stated that no player was or had been in contact directly with Dank, this appears to be contradicted by one of the released txt messages. Dank to Bates: "The pharmacy. Tell him to ring me and he can meet me there." This references a player meeting Dank at a Pharmacy implicating direct contact.

Great Post BW. I particularly like your observation about the fitness level required to play the game plan. I think the club got a little bit ahead of it's self with the improvements in our level of fitness over the pre season. I think you are spot on when you say that we still do not have the required fitness level to execute Neelds game plan.

AFP can interview Dank. Any time they want

Great turn out today. Thanks wayne and wizza and everybody else who had a hand in organising today. It's so easy to be critical and negative with whats been happening, but today was like a breath of fresh air. It's things like todays effort that defines us as a club and i'm sure the players really appreciated it . P.S. If anybodies interested the boys trained the house down.

I've got my leave pass for the day so i'll be there.

Although I concede Neeld has made some major mistakes since coming to the club, I desperately want him to succeed. Not for Mark Neelds sake, but for the clubs sake. Give the guy till mid season and see what he's got. If no improvement, then see ya later Mark. If the side shows some signs of fight and even a couple of wins then let him have the second half of the year.His performance in the second half will determine whether he Leeds us into the next year. At the end of the day the MFC isn't a particularly attractive proposition for any coach in waiting. By over reacting and sacking Neeld to early we only make the job of attracting a decent new coach all that little bit harder.

Morgan freeman playing Cricket umpire Steve Bucknor.

"We are fractured and hurt by factions that carry with them a destructive mindset that has persisted for close on five decades since the time we dominated the competition and the code". Great post Whispering. I have one question. Not being privy to the inside machinations of the club I am always been intrigued by references to these factions are and how they operate. For as long as I can remember they have been referred too in hushed tones and yet as a loyal supporter of the club for nigh on 5 decades I have no inkling of who they are and what they represent. From the outside looking in I have difficulty accepting that there are those amongst us who would actively pursue an agenda that endangers or destabilises the club for personal gain or ego, and yet I don't doubt you. At times our club conducts itself as if it were a secret society and only the chosen few will ever know the truth. Maybe we should commission Dan Brown to do the next history of the MFC.

My guess is that they're so confused that they don't know what they're doing. I have never been a fan of Royal as a coach. It seems that every area he is responsible for suddenly becomes our Achilles heel. The others with the exception of Craig are unknown quantities.

Most of the points you raise I would think are directly attributed to the influence of the coach. He might not be instructing them to play that way but given that they chose to ignore him isn't that an indicator that he may have lost them as a group?They certainly aren't playing for him. By the by I'm not excusing the players in all of this. We all know the truth is our playing list isn't up to scratch and nor is their attitude.

It's because they fear Essendon. They're scared that their supporters will not listened or watch their shows. They're scared of legal action. They're scared of upsetting the apple cart. Unfortunately nobody is scared of the MFC .

Costanza isn't Penski material! How about Homer Simpson? Background in just about everything including sport management and could entertain us at half time as the mascot.

To me this is the source of most of our on field problems. It's not that the game plan cannot work rather the way it's was implemented. Neeld has come into a club that had little or no defensive abilities but on the other hand a free flowing attacking style. Rather than observe and evaluate what the playing group were capable of he has wiped the board clean and started afresh with a game plan devised for the Collingwood playing group. in effect he has made a major mistake of going to hard to soon, our players were not in a position to execute such a game plan.This in turn has the players confused and playing with little or no confidence. The net result is that he has either lost the players or is in the process of losing them. He was right in one sense that the players fitness was below AFL standard and given their new fitness levels one wonders how they would be performing today playing their older game style with a slight tweaking of defensive accountability. In other words making small incremental changes rather than wholesale changes. It's my guess that Neeld probably came to club under the assumption that they were an undisciplined rabble that needed a hard task master to pull them into line. This I believe was another mistake. He needed to gain the groups trust first and foremost. Again I suspect going to hard too early. All of this goes someway to explaining the last two weeks of on field performance. What can he do to recitify the situation? I believe he needs to readjust the game plan to a simple digestible one that the players can understand and adopt, something that does not require to much thought but relies more on instinct than analysis. A game plan that will allows them to rediscover their love of the game and with that their own confidence in their ability to play it. With time he might win them back and we might have a team worthy of going to the football to watch.

Personally I wouldn't have chosen Sorrento, it makes us look elitist. How about the big 4 caravan park in Braybrook? It might scare the shy@t out of them and give them an insight into what life has to offer post football.

I never really gave a stuff about opposition supporters before, but after witnessing the way that trailer trash conducted themselves last week I hope their dragged to hell and back.

Al "The Chain Saw" Dunlap.

Good luck and thank you Cameron. All the best for your future endeavours. You have done the right thing by the MFC by putting the club first, and for that I will always be appreciative.

What exactly is your game plan?

It a medical fact, the Flu virus can remain active in a beard for something like 7 years. Time to get rid of the beards boys, they're killing the club.

I like an angry mob as much as the next person but I'm a little confused. If we were to sack both Neeld and Schwab as suggested by many of the pitchfork waving villagers on this forum, how do we pay out their contracts. At a conservative guess both would be on at least 250,000 to 350,000 making the payout at least a million dollars for their remaining contracts. This when combined with the half a million we already owe the AFL for various misdemeanours could put us in a very precarious situation. Don't get me wrong I'm no fan of either.

I for one want to know whats happening inside the inner sanctum. This club has been too exclusive for too long and whilst I know that the truth might be unpalatable I still want hear it. It's time this festering sore was lanced. Please take care with what you right HG and cover your own arse as well as Col's.

HG thanks for your input it's been much appreciated. Being outside the club and not knowing what going within the inner sanctum is frustrating beyond belief. We all know that there is something seriously wrong with the club. I look forward to your insight and like the others hope you don't leave Land for good.

It's hardly surprising that the players didn't give a yelp on Sunday. After all they were simply following the example set by the club during the tanking fiasco. That was our line in the sand and we walked away with our tail between our legs. We proved yet again that we stand for nothing and are scared to stand tall. Where are the player supposed to find the lust for the fight when the club is run by a succession of spineless beige accountants types who are terrified at the thought of a contest. At least Jim had real passion for the club and was the only real President we've had in the last decade. We expect our players to be fearless and courageous on field and yet when we had our chance to defend ourselves and our integrity as a club we capitulated. Having said that I believe it's time we confronted our own perpetual inner weakness and stand firm till at least the end of the season.I believe It's too late to sack yet another coach. It will achieve next to nothing and deny Neeld the chance to see if can right the ship, even though like most of you I have doubts about his capabilities. Again sacking the CEO mid season will achieve nothing except ridicule and derision. For the record I have absolutely no knowledge of how effective Schwab is as a CEO or not. From afar he appears more style than substance. As for the board and the President. I am and always will be disgusted by the way they surrendered to the AFL ,but again lets wait till seasons end before we call them to account. I know that many will refute the connection between the tanking investigation and on field performance but I passionately believe that our club will never solve it's on field performance when our Board and Administration continually show a lack of resolve, passion and fortitude when confronted with adversity. Leadership and culture begins and ends at the top.