rjay

I will say he will be going to who ever does the best deal, then again knowing how Lyon likes to develop young talent he may not have played a senior game by then. The deal may not have to be to great.

Very united last year with the admin and football department loving each other and the players united behind Schwab and Connelly. The place was falling apart and has yet to fully recover. Change was needed and only time will tell if it was the right change.

I was hoping this would be dealt with and we could move on, but I am resigned now that with some luck it will be when contracts are due later this year. Then we can really get rolling. Also agree with Hardnut that some on the board may be a problem. A strong president and top class CEO really set the platform for a strong club. I don't know about McLardy yet but I would be throwing everything at Cook to get him to the club.

Build our own. Good draft, good system now, go down the Geelong path. We have our Ottens.

Not to nit pick but Rucci is actually a Crows hating journo, but as a Port man he was leading the charge to get Primus out last week, all the usual stuff about his training methods, people management, he has lost the players etc. and needed another crusade this week after they made him look like a goose on the weekend. I certainly would be taking most things Rucci says with a grain of salt... and anyway true or not at the time we appointed Neeeld a lot of the so called footy experts were saying we got the best of the assistants. They are back tracking now and hopefully will again in the next few years with Neeld a success.

He also recognised that if we had have gone along the same path that whilst we may have picked up a couple of wins we were likely to go backwards this year under Bailey.

If he were fit I think Gary might have been pretty handy in 2000 though Jackie but the draft picks and fine were a big loss to the club, not Gary's doing. I do think the influence of too few has had a detrimental effect on the club and somtimes the loyalty Gary has given to mates has been a problem. I also don't see him as being a rubber stamp for Schwab, Gary has been strong on getting a defensive mindset into the club for a while now and may have had too narrow a focus. Having said that he may have made some very good appointments this time around, lets hope so. Time will tell.

My biggest problem with the media coverage is that it does not get to the bottom of the issue here. Greg Denham at least pointed to it this morning on KB's program and I know he has cheap shots at us but even he said the article offered nothing new, a little like his article a week or so earlier that also offered nothing new. A caller, not a Melbourne supporter he said, laid blame for the clubs position with the CEO and his failure previously with this club and at others and now again at this club. KB rightly pointed out that the admin can't get a kick but as Greg pointed out they are responsible for a lot that goes on at the club, particularly when they get their hands dirty with football department matters. This is a hard issue for KB and to his credit he hasn't put the boots in to Schwab who was part of the group that sacked him. My personal belief is that Mark Neeld is coaching with one had tied behind his back and that we can't fully judge him unless the board takes action to clear the decks. We finished bottom 3 in 1999, after our CEO resigned the next year we played off in a Grand Final it maybe a conincidence but the 2nd & 3rd round draft picks we lost in 2000 are the senior players we so badly need now, players of the calibre of Hunt, Cassisi, Newman and Cross and that is not a coincidence. http://demonwiki.org/1999 These articles would have been read before I'm sure and I know a lot of you don't have time for Pat Smith or Greg Denham. In my mind Pat is a top class journalist, he can be infuriating at times but he pretty much always has a considered opinion even if it is not mine. Greg I think takes to many cheap shots however the way our club has evolved lends itself to this. Even Malthouse has said the club has been involved with everything but football. http://www.slatterymedia.com/uploads/store_items/kb---a-life-in-football/files/The_Australian_Wednesday_August_3.pdf http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/demons-boss-cameron-schwab-offered-as-a-sacrifice/story-e6frg7mf-1226106999777 The easy way out is to pot Neeld, but the club has stalled since a promising 2010 season, he has some responsibility for season 2012 not what went on before. I know a lot will think I'm letting the players off lightly but I don't and haven't in the past. Some of them are struggling with ageing bodies others are just not up to it and at years end I'm sure we will see big changes to the list but to me this will address only part of the problem.

I don't get this talk of recruiting athletes to the club. I know that recruiting has been and remains a big issue but where are these athletes, we are the slowest, least athletic team in the competition.

Just repeated Caro's article with less detail. Well, I guess I shouldn't have expected much more.

Let's wait and see what's in the article, maybe for a change there will be some constructive critisism and some good ideas put forward. I just hope he doesn't go on and re hash the stuff about winning 8 games last year, or the coach has lost the players. 3 coaches have lost the players over the last year. They didn't play for Bailey, Viney and they don't appear to be playing for Neeld. No matter what the club says something is wrong, things changed after the 2010 season and Neeld can't be held responsible for 2011. Lets see if Mike can shed some light before we get stuck into him.

Rucci is trying to deflect after what he was saying about Primus and the campaign he was running to oust him stalled leaving egg all over his face last weekend. He is in a race with King for the Acker of the year trophy although I think Acker himself is still running favourite after his Jimmy comments.

David King, the new Acker!

Same thing happened at Essendon mate, now look at their list. Things can turn quickly.

From the Demon history... Daniher repeated his 1998 pre-season plan of sending the players to four weeks of 'school', split between theory and training. Off-field the club was hit with $600,000 in fines after voluntarily admitting salary cap violations over the preceding years. $250,000 was suspended on the condition that the club not be involved in any serious breaches fof five years. Joseph Gutnick had called for an enquiry on March 1 and admitted that the Demons excess payments would be more than $800,000. Melbourne were forced to hand their first pick in the 1999 National Draft to Fremantle as compensation for taking Jeff White with the tainted money, and they lost the first three picks of the 2000 Draft as well. They later got back their first pick in 2000. In August CEO Cameron Schwab retired after disagreements with Gutnick. Garry Lyon, who retired during the season, joined in a public disagreement with the President over the issue. With five vacancies on the board at the end of the year Gutnick endorsed Mark Rothfield, Peter Hayes, Gabriel Szondy, Beverley O'Connor and Stephen Bickford. This ticket was opposed by Ian Thorogood, Gary Hardeman, Ralph Glezer, Aris Imbardelli, Garry Pearce and existing director Angus Graham. The club made a remarkable $1,494,645 loss. Salary cap fines, tax debts and an undisclosed severence payment to Schwab accounted for $1.2m on top of a trading loss of $298k. The club end of season trip to Cancun, Mexico was notable for the players deciding to train while on the trip in an attempt to build fitness for the 2000 season, and to atone for their poor performance in '99

I've said this before, a premiership player at another club told me that they were always amazed by the arrogant players at Melbourne in G. Lyons time. He couldn't understand it because they hadn't won anything.

Unfortunately I think the priorities will be kept for GC and GWS if they have a bit of a lean period.

Yep and yep again I still don't know how he was taken back as CEO after what he cost us last time and if you don't know that do some homework. We just don't learn from our mistakes, do you seriously think that Melbourne Storm would consider appointing Brian Waldron as CEO again.

Sorry guys that article brings nothing to the table, Neelds position was only brought into doubt by some dubious Caroline Wilson twitter rip off and this guy has built an article around it. Even on this forum where emotion is running high for obvious reasons I don't see many calls for Neelds head, I see questioning of his approach and game plan and why not after the performances we have given on field. The worst list in the competition? well I guess we are performing like it.

Well put Deecathalon.. As written by Patrick Smith...our record with CEO's has not been great. "At the time, Melbourne chief executive officer Cameron Schwab said it cut loose Energy Watch and its money because the club stood for integrity. This is the same club and same chief executive fined $600,000 and denied draft picks for two years for salary cap breaches 'fessed up to in 1999."

That's true Dannyz but I sure as hell hope Neeld is not so one dimensional. It has always bothered me that Gary Lyon was looking to add some defensive steel to our team and went with the Collingwood (Malthouse) model where as the Geelong model if you like has been far more successful, even Nathan is heading a bit more towards it. Eades was seen as too attacking where I would have viewed him as a great tactician who got the most from his team, someone who has set the agenda and not just followed. I truly hope in Mark Neeld we have someone that can be ahead of the pack, a good thinker of the game. We hear that he is very well organised and driven but those qualities can also be seen as too rigid and maybe not able to adapt. I want him to have a good chance to succeed but he won't get that until things change within the club.

...and we haven't recovered from that. Neeld won't get a fair go until those involved in the politics are gone. Lets hope we don't have too long to wait.

Not absolving him mate, that whole thing was a scam in my eyes.

...and he was the one who organised that absolutely stupid Scully press conference.

A very slow knee jerk reaction is taking place, it's taken 48 years to get here. No, I don't think I will calm down when there are things that need to be sorted out now, not at the end of the season.