Carrot Top

I refuse to take the players side in any argument. You can get beaten. It's going to happen. You can even get flogged by sides with much more talent. That happens too, but to give up EVERY [censored] time the going gets tough for the last god knows how many years... Now they are not even waiting for things to get tough. No more. Play like it's an honour to wear the jumper or [censored] off.

Brian Royal.

I think I am starting to hate this club.

A bunch of blah, blah, blah. Must be a slow news day. Funny, one of mine is anything that comes out of Darcy's mouth.

That's the rub though. We really need to start getting that bit right. Too many kids have come through and started to look like they were going to be A to A+ players, then they just drifted back into mediocrity or worse. I don't think our recruiting is the problem. It's what we do after that that is leaving the cupboard bare.

Moloney is one of the things wrong with the club. Looks great when things are going his way, goes missing when it doesn't, and when he is told to lift he thinks it will be easier to walk. Screw him. He can go the way of players like Bruce and McLean, plus a couple of others, that found out exactly how mediocre they were at clubs that didn't accept it.

I'm not applauding. Don't think that's what I meant. But I have seen glimmers of hope - not many but one or two. He wants a hardness and desire that I've only seen in the Northey years. I don't know if he can get it with this lot but also can't think of anyone else out there that will give it a better shot. The simple fact is that this club ruins players. We don't produce stars. We don't produce players with mental strength and we take good kids and make them average footballers. That wasn't going to change in a pre-season and I don't expect it to change this year. I had last year and Bailey written off after the West Coast game, and this year written off after the 186. That was when I stopped lying to myself that we had a group that had any sort of real desire to do the hard things that were needed for the team to progress. We need another big clean out of these players that only do enough to keep their spot and couldn't give a stuff about doing the extra yards. We need to completely cull the list of players that think they have a right to wear the MFC jumper. It's going to hurt more. And it needs to, because if we don't do it now this club will get worse until the AFL puts us out of our misery. That's why I'm backing Neeld. That's why I'll take these losses on the chin. We don't have a choice any more. We have to harden this club up within the next 5 years or cease to be.

I've backed the players for far too long, only to see them throw up chicken hearted efforts time and again. No more. There is something seriously wrong at our club and has been for a long time. Neeld has my full support to do whatever he thinks needs doing to fix it.

Quoted for the truth. He would have given us much hope in his first 20 games and then we would have seen him go backwards. About now there would be a thread on here debating if we could trade him for a packet of potato chips or if we should just delist him. As for Liam - agreed. He has the tools. If he can just get into the zone he'll be the player we all hope he can be. My fingers, toes, eyes and whatever else I can think of are crossed for him. And not just for him but for me too. I need to see a star at my club. These last five years have drained me and I'm not sure how much I've got left. I need a top up and not just of promises and hope this time.

I wish we were good enough to tank. I really, really do.

Meh.

Sure, it's not like we need mids or anything.

Dumb, lazy and mentally weak. And it's getting worse.

You can't throw away the plan after one game. That's reactionary and stupid. He just has to keep hammering away at the basics and playing those that are willing to go when it is their turn. If that means that some of those overpaid primadonnas who are supposedly the talent around the club have to play the rest of the season in the two's then so be it. There is something seriously wrong with the mental state of the playing list and there has been for nigh on 15 years. Neeld or Jesus H Christ himself won't turn that around in a couple of games. Looking at his face tonight I think he truly understood that.

At least those compo picks will increase in value.

Ask Brian Dixon how he went in the 1955 Grand Final.

I agree. We might take a bit of a hit in the pocket a first but I'm pretty sick of the day being spoken about like it's a freakin' charity funraiser for us. Talk to Richmond, share it as a home game and tell those toothless scum they are not welcome on our ground that day.

Here is hoping. I wouldn't have been surprised if a bunch of players left last year. Boy, the wheels fell off in a big way. If the training reports are any guide the sense of purpose and belief is back again though.

I think they've sold Jordie short then. Anyway with compo picks, Viney and the rest of the mids doing what they are paid to do I think we'll be in a pretty comfortable position if those two go to the next level.

Living in NSW I haven't seen a training run for years so I don't really know what the standard is but that sounds great. Any advantage that can be gathered when the ball is in dispute will go a long way toward winning a game. I believe the forwards have the firepower and the backs the talent to do what is required of them but niether of these things will work properly unless the mids can control the tempo of the game (ie fast into the forwards and slow it a bit when it is going the other way). Yeah, I'm starting to get excited.

Tim Lane just pointed out that the Emperor has no clothes. The AFL destroyed its own credibility a long time ago.

He still has 24.8 kgs to go.

Loving it so far. Sure it's only talk but it's talk that was needed. Get 'em fit, get 'em hungry and leave 'em with no illusions that near enough is good enough no matter your draft spot or the size of your contract.

Exactly. To me he was a dead man walking at Q time against West Coast - 22 I50's to 3 if I remember rightly - and it didn't get better after that. The team had no confidence in him or his plan and went to water every time pressure was applied.

True. I'd never heard of him until I read this thread. Doesn't look like I've missed much.