Demon Dynasty

Fair enough RP. I'm sure he's a good bloke at heart. Heyy I wasn't holding it out there as fact other than I did hear he was a mate of Don's. Was just hypothesising. What's wrong with re establishing the old boy's club anyway!? :-)

Lol BH. I'm throwing my hat into the ring as to having no idea which possible coach is ideal either. One thing I do know, provided we get one of Roos, Clarkson, Williams or Eade, we should be a whole lot better than what we've had to witness the last 18 months. In fact I also think we'll do pretty well under Craig from here after he's had 3 to 4 weeks with the boys. He's no slouch and I reckon he might instill some fight and belief amongst this lot which will surprise many. Although I can also hear Old Dee in the background warning me not to go too early and to believe it when I see it. I'm gonna take that advice with all things MFC from here.

Lol. Yep. Glad to see you've got a SOH RP *_* Got time to kill today. But you still haven't answered the first part. Why was he appointed at a time when his mate Don (who according to reports got him in there) was on the way out? I'm listening RP!

You have to wonder why he came onto the board at all and who invited him considering the existing board is on the nose and the key players have either left or are about to exit stage left. Maybe to sure up the old boys club and make sure it's not a completely AFL "preferenced" board. The few old boys left within can then slowly work towards garnering another new "Old Boys" Board within a few years after the AFL has handed over the dough. An internal takeback once the AFL's gaze and focus turns elsewhere. SWEEET! Back to more of what we've had at the cozy MFC.

Hope so. I'm still battered and bruised from the 1996 fiasco! *_*

"At the moment , I don't want to coach.....MFC will need to do some serious convincing to change my mind" Show Paul Roos a refreshed board with good quality leaders and football nouse, a great football manager/director who Roos ticks off on, a bucket load of $ under a long term contract and a committment from the AFL to back us (him) on Footy Spend etc....and it should look a whole lot better for Roosy and hopefully us as a club.

I agree. Brent pre empting the overthrow of Julia in the next week or so by a vengeful Ruddy is a bit much! You naughty boy Brent! Cut Kevin some slack and at least wait till the blood letting is over and he's disposed of the evidence!

Jamar is also a very good mate of Beamer

After watching Neeld in action in the pressers etc i believe he will communicate at a level, a simple one, that the players will more easily understand and carry out. The KISS principle is key when instructing footballers to do "STUFF" on game day. More layers can SLOOOWLY be introduced once initial instructions are being met successfully and on field performance starts improving. Instructions such as - "Now get in a circle and sing the song and throw socks n poweraid & stuff at new blokes" - to be added after the first win!

A list of possible candidates for the MFC position that have been mentioned at some point by D'landers/Media etc as a possibility for the position no matter whether they be unlikely/unsuitable/considered almost unavailable or highly available/likely/suited etc and their winning % from all games coached during regular home and away matches (in order from highest to lowest %). Coach / Win % Thompson 62.60 Clarkson 59.09 Sheedy 58.88 Matthews 58.41 Roos 58.06 Craig 56.69 Williams 56.03 Eade 55.59 Worsfold 55.34 Ayres 55.21 Blight 54.63 Ratten 51.29 Pagan 50.31 Laidley 50.00 Daniher 48.58 Wallace 48.33 Hardwick 41.56 Knights 38.64 Voss 37.88

Couldn't have put it better myself OD. The only thing i would add to that is..... 1. An experienced successfull coach is potentially more marketable. Especially when trying for Friday night/Blockbuster exposure at some point (emphasis on "at some point") 2. Supporters, Sponsors and players are driven by hope, potential but most importantly that "winning" feeling and an expectancy that they might taste the ultimate in success. An experienced coach offers all of that and in the end will deliver something that goes someway towards fullfilling it subject to a complete disaster befalling him through injuries or well....a curse or something like that 3. Most supporters and sponsers will also get this and weather any short term storm/volatility and are more likely to stick fat for longer. Better on the bottom line generally. And we all know (as does AD) where that's at right now

WA with the regular number of injuries at this place every year i reckon we may as well too. Need all the back up we can get!

The list is a long way from being satisfactory. But at the same time don't underestimate the effect Craig might bring into the playing group. Albeit this will be muted somewhat as he is obviously a caretaker and the players know this. You can't compare the outgoing coach with the likes of Craig. Smart operator and his record is up there with some well rated coaches. Of all present day coaches, potential coaches and coaches who have left the scene in the last 5 to 10 years or so or who might be the slightest chance of being considered or even discussed for the role next year......AND who have had at least one full season of coaching, the present rankings for Winning % throughout the home & away (regular season only ie., no finals records included to be fair) Craig sits at No. 11 out of a total of 29 coaches. Neeld not surprisingly sitting last if included against these. In fact Neeld has the worst ever record of any MFC coach and sits at 219 out of 224 coaches (of all time AFL/VFL) who have coached at least one full season. Craig ranked 54th here. Candidates, who some are seriously considering for next year, who sit below Craig (11th) include; Williams (13th), Eade (14th), Worsfold (15th), Ayres (16th), Ratten (19th), Laidley (21st) and Knights (26th). Of the present day AFL coaches, Craig ranks 9th above Hird (10th), Worsfold (11th), Brad Scott (you get the picture) , Watters, Hardwick, Voss, McCartney and McKenna. I have left out Hinkley in these rankings as he's obviously had less than a full season. While I'm not saying Craig will have serious success (not enough time and he's taking over a shattered playing group) we also shouldn't underestimate who we have here as caretaker. He might surprise some.

LOL. You may well be right RD. The laptop register might be all booked up for this coming weekend. Reason - "personal use" !

Yes i heard and watched the presser mate. I've been involved with small, medium and large businesses on both sides for 25 years. I've interviewed/employed/sacked and been sacked myself (twice). I know what it's like to be Neeld albeit without the $600k. I've seen consultant's paid out before their term is up. I know how the system works but thank you for trying to enlighten me. FYI companies pay out employee's contracts and re-employ them down the track on a fairly regular basis. Admitedly that generally doesn't happen with someone who has under performed, although this will often depend on "who you know" within the organisation. In addition organisational structures and the people who drive them are forever changing. So what was the "sacker" 12 months or so earlier, might become the "sacked" at a certain point down the track. Enemy leaves, allies can enter the scene and all of a sudden you're a chance at getting another guernsey. Then again i'm not suggesting we re-employ him as 1st banana either. Egos and emotions aside he was very highly regarded as 3rd banana mid field coach with the Pies during his tenure. Just ask their captain. Couldn't do any worse than Royal as a mid field line coach. But yes, i'm also wise enough to know this is a 10,000 to 1 shot and the new coach for 2014 will be looking to replace Royal (i hope) with someone of his own preference. Part of my reasoning for putting it out there is to highlight Brian Royal's continuing tenure. One which has been highlighted for many a year now but somehow manages to survive every new restructure and coaching appointment. By any measure, our mid field performance in the last 2 years certainly doesn't justify him being retained.

No i didn't think so either OD. I just thought in an ideal world without all the egos and emotions he has to be a better propect than old Royal surely. But emotions and egos are always a big part of footy and most situations like this. I would like to think Royal will be looked at anyway. Seems to survive every time but on the surface has delivered very little on the field.

Too early and probably impractical contractually. Then there's the players to consider as well. But after the dust has settled following the appointment of new coach for 2014 (assuming we do and the new coach is open to it) any realistic chance of Neeld as mid field line coach taking over from Royal?

There's no guarantees on that but yes, Magner (and even Gawn and Taggert) might have a little pep in his step after this morning's announcement.

Some Directors to fall today as well according to Patrick Smith

Presser supposed to be scheduled for 10.30

SEN KB stated he has received word that all players have been called into the club and a presser called for 30 minutes. Neeld likely to he replaced by Craig announcement

I think PJ has already determined he will have more time re his "Clear Air" comment a few weeks back HN. But yes, there's a bigger picture and bigger fish at play here that might mean he doesn't have more than a few weeks. It will need to be a pretty significant turnaround against the Doggies and the Saints (and beyond) if Mad Eye (and the playing group if he has the bulk of them on board) are going to save his bacon. Very true but this will change IF we start winning. No one likes losing, especially the way we do. Like i said, Neeld & crew have turned the wick up in a major way re training and drilling Skills Skills Skills (= more Confidence/increased attacking game style). However given this has only been from approx round 6 i doubt there's been long enough to make a difference to impact enough on the field under real match pressure. Too little too late in other words. However we aren't in the playing group and we aren't out there training it. So you never know. Might also be better late than never as well. He might have changed the focus just in time and with the buy coming just at the right moment to turn things around in the second half. For an example of where this emphasis on skills/improvement in confidence/attack might slowly be cutting in take some time out if you want and watch the 3rd quarter against the Hawks again (arguably the best team in the comp) where we controlled the footy/match for most of the quarter both by hand and foot and in general play and won the quarter. Admittedly the Hawks may have taken their foot off the pedal a little but i doubt it. the Hawks are too professional to take their foot off a team's neck and it was the premiership quarter. If we score 2 wins after the buy, and i'm not saying we will, i wonder how everyone might see things! Things can turn quickly. Mind you they would bloody well want to, for all concerned. As someone once said....I hope for the best but am preparing for the worst!

Certainly not a nasty reference Jumbo. Watching him in action reminds me of a character from Harry Potter who i quite like (with Watts as Weasley lol).... Hopefully he'd see the humour

I think there's a number of factors here DemonOx. Firstly no. I hate losing no matter what the margin. The margin this year has been too large and too often. Neeld might be trying to improve culture, defensive aspects, muscle/grunt and work ethic across the playing group or might have focussed on this early. Where he has failed to this point IMO is in the following.... 1. Insitilling and training SKILLS SKILLS SKILLS and hence belief into the playing group generally. By this i mean he didn't focus on this enough early in his tenure. By doing so it brings more confidence amongst those who are getting it and improving on this side to take the game on and attack when they have the ball at a much quicker tempo. We lack the skills to pull off run & carry, hitting up leads on a regular basis and the confidence/effort required to lead up, run & carry when the opportunity arises (including overlap handballing/running in waves off the back line and through the middle) and to keep doing this from the get go to the final siren. By focussing on a defensive/grunt/boundary biased game style too much too early i think Neeld has unfortunately left the bulk of the playing group inept in the skills/attack ability side. Instead most players sit back, on their back heel if you like, playing from behind. Instead of attacking the loose ball with confidence, knowing they have the skills to get out of trouble/congestion and find team mates by hand and foot, they hesitate a little, sit back and instead end up chasing tail most of the time and trying to tackle/worry their opponent off the ball. You can do this for a quarter or so but i would think this is a pretty physically and mentally taxing style of game which is bound to fail over 4 quarters againt all but the weakest of opponents who are also possibly as hesitant or physically just not up to a full 4 quarters. And no not all players have this mind set, some are taking the game and their opponents on like Terlich, Garland, Rodan and even in patches Kent, N Jones (no questionmark over his intent and intensity), M Jones and one or 2 others. But there just isn't enough of that mind set amongst enough players at present. I believe Neeld and Co. have tried to address the above with more intent since approx round 6, focussing on skill drills much more than previously, but the difficiency is very hard to correct mid season. We might start to see the effects of this over correction at times during the second half of this season following the buy. Let's hope so. 2. I fear he just isn't able to get the best mentally and spiritually out of some or possibly many of the players so far. I just don't think we are AS bad as what we've witnessed in most games this year. This is a motivational/connection/man management issue and IMHO probably just as important as the issues in the above point. Neeld has 2 critical games coming up. He has a chance to demonstrate that he can bring out the factors i've mentioned in point 2. The players will either respond to him or they wont. The games against Stkilda and the Dogs will determine his own fate i think. Must win at least one of these and hopefully the other or get awefully close. If he does this and the side shows a similar level of output for the remainder of the year, and assuming we can't obtain a super replacement premiership coach that we couldn't overlook between now and season's end, then i say we stick with Mad Eye. Also keep in mind, outside of Dawes when he returns, we have no fire power whatsoever up forward atm. The losses are always going to be uglier than usual when you aren't hitting the scoreboard very often, even if the team is somewhat competitive over 3 or 4 quarters. Of course, if the start of next year is anything like this one, with a season starting blow out and further ones following, then all bets are off. And i agree. I'm not sure we can afford to do this. But unless we find a super alternative coach.....can we also afford the $600k payout for an early settlement? And yes some would say we can't afford not to....but then what IF we don't find that super replacement and we ended up with Ayres/Eade/Laidley or someone like that who doesn't have true pedigree and who might also see us on the end of more blow outs? We would then start questioning his appoitment after 6 to 8 thrashings too. If we can't find an experienced premiership alternative before year's end and provided Neeld connects in the next 2 weeks.... and we don't drop off after that and keep improving....then i say he should be given at least till then end of the year. And then 2014, subject to certain non negotiables and no go zones set by the new Board together with PJ.

Captain - Dawes. The only premiership player in the team oozing leadership. Co Vc - Grimes (goes close to Captain material but prone to injury and butchers the ball too often) Co Vc - N Jones (the mid field man. Dont argue) Co Vc - C Sylvia (Needs the responsibility and might relish the challenge. Time to step up. Might go some way towards convincing him to continue on with us next year. Worth asking and offering). Co Vc - Frawley (As for Sylvia but has earned it IMO. Gets the big role almost every week and often comes away with the scalp. Great for his ego and a nice reward for many years of hard work and effort. Captain of the ship down back). Co Vc - M Clark (when he's finally fit)