The heart beats true

This comment has all the psychological scarring of a closet Melbourne supporter.

I hope the next generation can start to believe and ensure the Demons have a bright future. Made me really happy to hear that he got behind them!

Enjoy the win boys, and all the Demonland folks. I gotta say I've been critical of Neeld but he did a great job tonight. I was so happy for him at the siren because you began to understand the pressure he was under. Good to see Don give him a big hug in the rooms too. Grimesy was a real leader in that last quarter. Watts was good. Col Garland up forward was inspired. Beamer and Sylvia tried really hard without a lot of reward. Best of all we played like a team. That song of ours is alright isn't it? ;-)

It ain't a bad draw is it? Footy is all about confidence. Our boys might get some real self belief. Get behind em. Go the Dees!

SCOFF! (please let my days be numbered, I can't handle much more of this)

Keep an eye out for the amount of times Bruce McAvaney calls someone with a 'good kick' that manages to miss the mark or even be turned over to the opposition. He does at least once a quarter. I think he likes the kicking action more than the result sometimes. I do think the AFL needs to get involved with the relationship between commentators and player managers. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Ditto with anyone that sits on a board. Pick a side and then be as good at it as you can be. It's why a lot of the best callers historically haven't been players. They understand their role and people trust them for it.

I love that list, but if Stephen Milne comes to play for the Dees I couldn't cope. I love to hate that guy. What would I do at St Kilda games? It's not the same hating on Riewoldt.

Not to beat a dead horse but Sylvia coming back in without playing a game just proves what a joke the VFL comp is. While on one hand I think it would be character building for Davey and Sylvia to be playing footy in the suburbs it really does nothing for the club that is their employer. Davey has missed 2 games this year so far from being omitted, yet not played the game of footy he really needs to get himself up and going. Hopefully he gets that this weekend.

Absolute bullsh#t Jose. Potential Free Agent players, player managers, sponsors, and 17 year old draft picks don't get a chance to hear what is said behind closed doors. All this club trades on is how it plays every week, and the way it acknowledges those efforts to the media.

Out - Sellar, Green, Dunn, Bennell In - Martin, Sylvia, Davey, Bartram Sellar isn't up to it and has proven it at 2 clubs (thanks for this dud Neil Craig). Greeny will be too sore, but I loved what he did and he really deserves to come right back in when he's fit for it. It sends the right message to the playing group. Benell offers nothing and looks lost. Ins - Stef deserves another crack and has more potential than Sellar. Sylvia and Davey are both in as they at least draw better opponents than Pettard and Bennell warrant. I also think that Colin Syvia is playing for his career. If he doesn't make it work in the next month it's highly likely that he won't get picked up by anyone. I know we've been harsh on him but I think his injury undid him more than we assumed. If he can light it up then we look a lot better than we do with Dunn trying to kick miracles from the boundary that even his mum doesn't think he'll kick.

If you watched Ross Lyon's press conference today he said that they are evaluating the list and will be cutting players if they don't perform by end of year. He also said that the coaching group can get better and can get more from the players. Has Neeld ever said either of these things? I'm not being sarcastic. I'm actually interested if he has. I felt like Lyon put the whole club on notice. I'd LOVE Mark to do the same thing but I fear he doesn't have the experience and history of success to fall back on.

I think the playing group need to take some responsibility for this bullsh#t that happens once an opposition has kicked 2 goals in a row. I'd love to see our stats once a team gets a run on against us. It's outrageously bad. I'm tired of watching press releases with blokes trying to explain why they didn't show up for a quarter every week. Surely we instigate a team rule that throws players behind the ball or clogs the game up to stop the demoralizing loses. It helps nobody.

Whatever it is he needs a rest. He's painfully slow and he cant kick passed 30 metres. I think he's injured and opposition clubs know it. Carlton really took him on today and exposed him.

I'm over these threads. The kid is clearly trying his hardest and is coming along. If your a supporter then support. This is helping no body. If however you want to make dumb arguments about Nic Nat you are free to go barrack for the WCE. Go Jack! Go the Dees!

Agreed. I've started to vehemently defend Jack at games. So called opposition fans love sticking the boots into him, but it's the Melbourne fans it really annoys when I champion for him. I encourage all our supporters to applaud him every time he does something good. I think you'll see he's coming along well. Also I think some people need to understand his strengths. He's not a pack splitter. The club hasn't developed his body for that. The fault lies with the club if they wanted him to be that player. If you don't agree go and have a look at Buddy Franklin in the U18 championships. He's a scrawny little kid. Now he's a giant. Jack is being bred for something but I think it's changed a few times since he was recruited.

Just got home. To be really honest I think Neeld might be onto something. At 3/4 time I was marveling at how we could be in the game when I could easily name 12 players that had barely touched it. We have a really poor midfield and a really poor forward line today yet kept in it for 3/4s. We have 10 blokes that wouldn't be in any other side (I'm looking at you James Sellar), but at least we looked quicker with Blease and Nicholson. Pluses - Nicholson, Blease, Tommy Mc. Our young blokes are coming along. Minuses - Beamer, horribly out of sorts. Trengrove, he's either injured or just really poor. He looks a shadow of himself from the last couple of years. I really felt like Carlton players looked back and saw him chasing and so took him on every time. He's becoming a liability.

In terms of skill when Buddy is on fire he is incredibly exciting. Reminds me of what Ablett Snr. and Carey used to do in terms of becoming the sole focus of a game. For endeavor I love Ablett Jnr, Bartel, and this year Lenny Hayes. I also love to see the mature aged recruits do well. It's good for the game and flies in the face of some of the over thinking that goes into player development. Some blokes just have the desire. Pods, Tory Dixon, our very own Mitsubishi.

I hope Davey, Morton and Sylvia have performance based contracts. This could save us some money to help entice someone with a heart muscle to join us next year. The double bye in the VFL is a joke and couldn't have come at a worse time for us. Davey and Sylvia need to run around in the suburbs and understand that it's a big fall from the top. (Off topic but I don't understand the incentive for the VFL affiliation. At least allow the AFL clubs to have all the Casey listed players on the Rookie list. Might put a rocket up a few blokes. It seems like it doesn't really work for the AFL clubs, and has ripped the soul out of the VFL)

This made me laugh so hard.

Gee it's hardly a team of guns coming back in is it? It feels like my week is shocking from the end of game to about Wednesday morning, then a couple of days to be philosophical, but come Thursday night I'm real nervous again. This might be the most nervous I've been about seeing the team on paper for a long time. Sellar, Dunn and J Mac? Gees. I'd start drinking at 10AM Sunday if I didn't have to drive home.

Moloney: 'I'm so focussed on your game plan I'm even working on my eye twitches. Look! 2 at once. How's that for effort?' Neeld: 'My eyes are wide open Brent. WIDE F*#KING OPEN!'

Actually, has anyone seen Bugle Boy and Jack Watts in the same room at the same time? I smell a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top.

Stuie, you beat me to it! It's funny because in theory it's a shocker of an idea for a club thats perceived to be too white collar to have a guy in a velvet smoking jacket play the bugle before the game. In reality I kind of like it. it's one of those weird quirky sports things that feels like it could just be something we do. Why do we have the banners? I tried to explain that to a friend of mine from the US and couldn't come up with anything, yet I'd hate to see them go. Also, the irony of the Bugle Boy being the only one to show some fight and getting into a fracas with an official is not lost on me. Get that boy a jumper and some boots!

Seriously, this is ridiculous. You can't please all the people all the time. Jolly has gone on to do well, best of luck to him. I heard from a good source that Greg Doyle wasn't happy under Balmey. Lets dig that up too. I agree with Ox on this. All this is doing is making Jolly look silly, especially as he comes to the end of his career. People have a short memory in footy especially to players that have moved around from club to club. Is there not an argument that says that perhaps Darren Jolly might not be a keeper since 2 clubs have let him move on? If he was on our list right now and we got rumblings of his 'poor me' attitude we'd all be lining up to kick him out the door. It was clearly the best thing that ever happened to him, yet he wants to whine about it almost a decade later.

Brilliantly well stated! This and this alone is why I'm critical of Neeld. You can't walk in to any organization and say you're doing it all wrong but don't worry I'll show you the right way, or show you the door. It's really poor management. A good manager gets the best from their available resources. You'd be hard pressed to make that argument on Neelds behalf. It worries me that our experienced players will walk, but who'll want to come and replace them? We look a terrible mess.