Hells Gates

Yeah damn that, now the whole AFL knows what kind of blokes they are! Because they wouldn't of done before...

Is it really any of your business? And there is plenty I can't say, which I havent. Stop being a moron.

We should be 16 - 0 by now, come on...you should know that!!!

Not wanting to pick holes in your post but I think some of what you say is our problem. Our team that has been playing this year has been made up of not kids but men who've been in the system a while, the excuse skinny kids I'm very tired of. Its not that we are skinny - we are very unfit. Bail, Bate, Clark, Davey, Dunn, Frawley, Dunn, Green, Grimes, Howe, Jetta, Jones, Jurrah, Macdonald, Martin, McKenzie, Moloney, Petterd, Rivers, Sellar, Spencer, Strauss, Sylvia, Tapscott, Trengove & Watts are not skinny kids, even Davis & McDonald arent and both seem strong - they are our core players & play most weeks, theres no excuse to be had here with this group. Whether its recruiting, development, Neeld, gameplan, personal issues or whatever else theres no reason that "some" of these players are playing as badly as they are, what the core reason is I don't know but I've always been lead to believe that we havent drafted right, follow that with development and you have one sh!te footy team. I havent seen many games this year due to working away but from what I have seen Im quite shocked at how bad we are, we are just not a good football team. To me Neeld has put all the emphasis on going hard "at the player" and putting as much pressure on the ball carrier and we have totally forgot to go and get our own ball, its like we are hell bent on chasing players around all day. Rohan Bail hit lots of moving targets Saturday night and i was quite impressed with some things he did do. As for the teams disposal being so putrid i used to blame fitness but if we start games just as bad as we finish them and cough it up with no pressure then it cant be all about fitness either. Also I'd like to Misson's results so far this year, I think he's done a great job with our injuries. People are blaming Misson but from memory there hasnt been a huge amount of soft tissue injuries (his responsibility). There have been a heap of collision injuries. Concussion, head, broken back, jaws,fractures but not many hamstrings, calfs, quads compared to other clubs, I'd like to see the stats on this. Quite a few players were already injured when Misson came into our system also so full credit to him & some have been injured since before we drafted them ie: Grimes & Tappy! Josh Tynan is going to be a ripper & as frustrated as I am I'm also with you on waiting on Neeld, he needs a fair go with a fair bunch of new players.

All I have to say is Neil Craig is there to over see the coaches including head coach & report to the board regularly, Im sure that he values his own job and would do it in all honesty. Have faith in the team we have in the FD which includes Rawlings, Craig & Misson. Neeld is there to stay and will see out his contract, meaning he will be there in 2014. They wont sack him. Im still unsure if he can coach but until we add talent & class he is p1ssing into the wind with what he's got. He's certainly getting the ball rolling into the right direction even though we arent seeing it onfield yet, but thats the players, not him. Things that I learnt from the coaches box last night were: Neil Craig sits in the corner quietly taking it all in, doesnt interfere or speak, has a joke around at the breaks - nice fella. Jade Rawlings was getting so frustrated at certain players, very involved. Leigh Brown is Neelds right hand man, very involved, always on the phone & in Neelds ear, was also extremely frustrated & angry. Neeld was very quiet, didnt say a hell of a lot really, was a strange experience, frustrated in the last quarter. Aaron Greaves is a bloody solid bloke! Dave Misson, Royal & Satterly were all on the bench working with players as they came off. Gysberts, Bate & Sellar were all very quiet also. Was really suprised at how quiet Neeldy was in the box, to me just looked cooked & obviously made up his mind on whos in & out with buying into the new regime, kinda get the feeling the axe will swing. I would love to see his updated whiteboard now with the holes in our team. Honestly one of the worst performances Ive personally seen live. Another strange thing was the constant miscommunication between everyone when two players would go to come off, get to the boundary only to be turned away so they'd have to run back. This would leave two Port players free & this happened multiple times. Im not sure where the mix up was coming from but it didnt help our cause much having 18 v 16 regularly!! Anyway hang in there Gremlins, Im very saddened & frustrated and all those words but it ain't going to happen overnight & I can understand the frustration after years of rot. We are on the right track with the FD, just wait to see some class players added & it could turnaround quickly. This years draft/trade/recruiting period is by far the most important ever. Neeld will be fine if we get this right.

Did you see how he just mopes around slowly missing everything that comes his way. He's embarrassing. If anything he did was tackle well I thought.

Well as a Darwin resident I attended...but left before the siren as Im absolutely fed up with this crap. It bloody breaks ya heart. First quarter i thought here we go then when I left we had 2 goals in 3 quarters. I sat right next to the emergencies and coaches box, they were very quiet in there. Im not sure about the crowd but I wouldnt think it would be more than 7500-8000 and a very poor atmosphere. Jake Spencer - walk away from the game son. Jetta - take a bow. What he lacks for in pace he makes up for in footy smarts. Grimes - was good Sylvia - did try to lift us but to no avail. Trengove - first time I've seen him play this year live & I agree he looks awfully slow. Tom McDonald - may well be our best backman. Bail - tried hard to break the lines Petterd - hmmm, not the player he was. Green - great first quarter, did try his heart out. Couch - major thumbles. Magner - is a good VFL player. Disposal nowhere near AFL standard. Slow Nicholson - broke the lines but can get too excited and caught in trouble too often. Martin - slowed right up but offers so much more around the ground than Jamar, nice goal. The heat was not an issue as it was quite chilly after half time. We had been training for it for a month anyway. Im really disappointed with that performance, Im usually quite positive but I have seen enough this year to warrant disgust, when is this team going to improve, we have been rebuilding since 2007 and still we are no better on field, our skills are quite possibly the worst in the league and its not good enough. Mark Neeld has all the right people around him but as Ive said before hes done nothing yet to excite me, Im still sitting on the fence as to whether he can actually coach. We will know more next year with hopefully some better players & less injuries but he'd better improve. We were probably ahead in the free kick count but jee wizz the umpires stooged us with some stupid decisions. I did not enjoy myself at all tonight at TIO and walk away with only 3 things that impressed me. 1. Jeremy Howes mark 2. The speed at which Neil Craig chews chewing gum 3. How many snakes alive the emergencies and coaches go through. The rest of it can go to hell. Over it and not wasting my weekends anymore this year watching this shambles. Sorry to be negative guys but just sick of it and the crap we all cop being MFC supporters.

Little Nev on fire early

Crowd only approx 1500 at the moment

Well it's nearly time. As I live in Darwin and TIO is just across the road from me I better go watch the Dee's tonight, gave up my mates engagement party to go watch so they had better perform. I must admit this year I have to some extent lost some interest due to our poor skills, I have been getting too frustrated to watch them at times. Things are taking the right path off field but its the onfield that is of major worry to me. Conditions are nice with a nice cool sea breeze at the moment the temp is 26.7'c @ 5:30. For those who are interested here are the temps for last night around the same time we are playing tonight. Yesterday at: 7:00PM - 23.6'c 8:00PM - 21.5'c 9:00PM - 20.6'c 10:00PM - 18.6'c. Obviously a lot warmer than Melbourne this time of year but shouldnt really be too big an issue as there isnt much humidity. Anyway I will report back later on as Im going with pad and paper to analyze everything!! might run out of ink....

Thats easy....[censored] the guts out of them until they fold!!! Simple.

Of course its not always accurate but it gives a fair indication over time. Even if its 5-10% out over time the best users of the ball would always consistently be in the upper echolon. So your saying that all AFL clubs should use their eyes & not stats? Seriously!! AFL clubs are built around KPI's & stats!

Oh come on!!! It gives a fair indication, maybe not to the exact accuracy but its pretty consistent when letting us know who are the better users of the ball and the standard our club should be drafting, no more terrible disposers please....and ALL AFL clubs take this into perspective when drafting, you know that rpfc. We all know Watts is probably the best disposer in the side and thats the standard of player that this club should be aiming very high to recruit, that is my point. Watts 75.6% Pendlebury 77.6% Hodge 76.9% Ablett 74.1% Judd 72.5% Griffen 72.3% Rioli 72.2% All of these players are known for their quality disposal and I'd take them anyday. For the love of stats don't try to tell me DE% doesnt mean anything!!!

The reason why though?

Ok I will never post them again!

Damn!!! If that was the case we would've flogged Carlton in many Grand Finals by now!!!

He's learning at Casey too.......

Maybe we should draft Travis Boak at pick 4 then!!! Boak averages 64% disposal efficiency and 3 clangers a game, so much better than Bail who averages 61% disposal efficiency & 2.6 clangers a game!!! I guess Boak gets alot more footy and thats what makes him pick 4 worthy!! IWUAEHIIUE.

For people bagging Cook - What target are you planning on kicking to when we are struggling for goals??? A couple of backmen?? Or Stefan Martin who can't play forward?? Its not going to destroy our finals hopes (although you were probably the ones who had us down for 6th spot), play Cook, let him learn, give him a taste so he knows what it takes at the top level. We have nothing to lose & we have to see how he goes sooner or later, for those of you saying hes a twig hes the same size as Watts & Cameron. From all reports he's been doing well at Casey, may not of been kicking bags lately but has been performing his role well up the ground. I just don't understand the people who cry because we have no one to kick to yet don't want to see or give a chance to a pick#12 All Australian CHF. He may not play this week but I'd expect to next week for sure.

Not in anyway picking on your post as I love those players but Gysberts has been injured alot, potentially our smartest mid, but not quick & not fit either, he may not even make it yet (which I hope he does). And Grimes even though he's captain & having an ok year was drafted with injury concerns & continued that since he was drafted playing only 45 games or so in 5 years. I more than anyone want these two favourites of mine to do well, but at this stage anything could happen. And Mitch Clark - get me another 17 of him please!

Would maybe look at Hampson but hasnt he signed with the Blues for 3 years? I'm still hopeful of Cook, draft mids now as you said in another post we have a great opportunity to snare a Pendles, Thomas, Pavlich, Judd with #3,4. Its not as if we are vying for a GF berth anytime soon, so more fitness, alot more skills, weed out the players who dont perform - this will take a couple of years for a proper clean out and if Cook doesnt come good in 2 years then it'll be hopefully around our top 4 window after that so draft a big forward then eg: Patton, Cameron, Hogan, Witts or whoever is going ok then. My biggest concern is if Neeld panics due to knowing he only has 2 years left. Not saying he will but he's obviously suprised at our perceived talent not being as good as everyone blows it up to be. I just hope he doesnt panic & draft a whole heap of big bodied Magners, you can be as tough as nails but if you dont have the skill to execute the gameplan then we will be going around in circles! All I ask for is that the MFC draft, recruit & trade sensibly, pick players for what theyre worth & focus on our needs, not just big bodies, Im sure they will do a great job as they did with Clark. I must say I'm getting more nervous by the day with all the suggestions in the media ie: 17 yo's, Boak @ 4, Cloke 5/5...But it is the media so I will settle down!!!.

Well said RR totally agree!!

Still not working for me even though Ive turned Comp & Iphone off. Pleae dont take down the temporary link.

I still can't log in yet from PC unless I use the temporary link... Hope all is good when I wake tomorrow!!!! Thanks!

If MFC give up #4 for Boak I would be extremely disappointed!!! #12 maximum & a player if need be.