The heart beats true

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.

In hindsight I would have become an Adelaide supporter, put a lot more money on Black Caviar, and remembered when Mothers Day was. Seriously, not a lot of point to this conversation about the captains. What it really points out is that we lack natural leaders. I do hope the 2 young blokes go to the coaches and board and resign at the end of the year. I think it would signal their desire to do anything for the team to be successful, and potentially allow the club to have a do over and make a more defendable decision.

He took a huge promotion for 3 times what he was earning as an assistant. The club wanted an answer from him quickly so they could act on other free coaches if he was going to drag it out. He hardly 'choose' us as much as we brought into the talk of potential new coaches that swirls around every year. It's a no brainer to take a snr coaching gig. It's fulfillment of your aspiration. Anyone who wanted to do so would jump on it. At what point can we put this down to another bad recruiting decision? Surely we can pin this on Barry Prendergast? ;-)

Did you read his press conference comments yesterday? He's backing away from his hardline, he's backing away from his comments about us being 'the hardest team to play against'. The clubs going backwards and ALL parties need to be held accountable. Stop making excuses for some and not for others. You're pinning your hopes on an unproven coach. Lets have him earn our respect, just like we demand from the players.

Regardless of whether you buy into the 'rebuild' plan for this year or not I think we all have to agree that Neeld is not a good manager. The players don't respect him with their effort because I don't think he respects them. Look at how condescending he was to Mitch Clark in the presser after the Geelong game. He's one of 2 players that are commanding of respect on the entire list! Look at how Richmond players look at Hardwick or Essendon players look at Hird. Both coaches are a part of the team. Ditto the Scott brothers. Neeld is our teacher, our disciplinarian. When things fall apart they fall apart quickly because they feel like they'll be in 'trouble' anyway. I hope he's a master coach because as a manager of people he's proven to be terrible.

Did I ever endorse the players attitude? Read my post again. All I'm saying is that the root cause of a cultural problem at the club persists and needs to be solved for everyone to move on. I clearly said accountability sits with everyone. I'm simply pointing out that the club has players that are proven to be capable of more that aren't delivering under Neeld. The same team minus Mitch Clark won 8 games last year. We are on track for 1-4 wins this year. Have the same players got half the skill all of a sudden, or is there more going on? Like it or not the results speak for themselves, and they are a lot more cringeworthy than my opinion.

I have a theory about the accountability. Last year the players were unhappy about the lack of support given to their then coach by certain elements of the administration. As a result players play the worst game in the clubs history. Coach is sacked, but administration remains. Said administration looks for new coach and a guy comes in and says 'your players are crap and they have a terrible attitude'. Administration loves what they are hearing as it proves they were right. Coach is employed and implements a style that strips players of confidence as they need to 'rebuild'. Again this proves popular with administration, who the coach answers too. Season begins and club looks really poor. Administration again feel like they were 'right' as club looks terrible, which surely must be the players. Reading between the lines it's obvious the players aren't buying into coach, and also have no confidence in themselves which makes them look a lot worse than they are. Club looks poised to clean out list AGAIN at end of year. And who will be left? The same administration that the players felt weren't good for the club to begin with. In short everyone is accountable but the club never fixed the problem. Instead they picked a side and hoped it was right. I think we are seeing that this wasn't the wisest idea. Accountability starts and ends at the top.

I'm not talking about administration. I'm talking about a playing group that arent willing to do the hard work for him because they don't respect him, and some of them are offended by his lack of regard for them. Regardless of how we all feel about this those players will still be at the club for the next 14 weeks. I said it last week and I'll say it again. There is a diffence between being a teacher and being a manager.

"There's always positive things," Neeld said. "I didn't think it was complete capitulation in the second half." Seriously? This is the hard as nails, no-nonsense, common sense coach we needed? I liked him more after Rd. 1. All this crap about how he knew what he was in for is just not true. Why get so upset after that game but then bring up the lack of 'complete capitulation' after a 100 point loss? The guy is winging it and it's really starting to show. He's shocked at how poor the players are, he's shocked at how accepting they are of poor performances, but he's also becoming aware of how out of his league he is. Things are going to get really ugly in the next month. I smell a mutiny.

I'd say it's awesome! I cant believe how talented you are! I think you're in the right place though. Tons of hip hop moguls here on Demonland. Dre found Eminem on here back in the day when he was freestylin about Allen Jackovich's soccer goal against the Roos in 91. Hang in there kid. A record deal is on it's way.

Bad season, but let's give credit where it is due. Mitch Clark and Nathan Jones have given 110% this year. They both looked tired tonight and who can blame them. If we had 22 blokes that tried as hard as they do we'd be a bloody honest team.

Can't wait to see Neeld's press conference. Be interesting to see if we are expected to swallow the same crap from the club, or if he'll go for something more impassioned. I think we are owed some heart from someone. Maybe he is the one.

Thank god that's over. I love the Demons but this is one of the darkest periods in our history.

Honestly, it's an injustice to our effort if we lose by less than 100.

I'll give you a positive. We are the only game on right now and nobody at the footy club can hide from this. If you think we've been under pressure before this year I don't think you've seen anything yet.

186?

If what you're trying to say is that our list are the M. Night Shyamalan of the league then I reckon you're onto something. Good early form that shows huge potential, only to underwhelm time after time once well and truly in the public eye. Or maybe It's more like The Village. Willfully living in an era past afraid to do the work required of the modern era.

Dennis Cometti wasn't a bad player and I reckon he'd bring a lyrical game style and a dry humour to our forwards - who clearly need it with the delivery they get.

Love it. Just throw the cat amongst the pigeons. If we can't nail em on the field lets make it harder off. Long way to go to trade week, but we've made it very obvious to all who will listen that we have cash and we will spend it. I'd say we will hear a lot from experienced players management in the coming months. Good for us (for a change in 2012).

The guy is a bit of flake. To keep making veiled comments on the culture of our club is his way to justify his decision to play for the money. He's a kid, how would he know about the culture of us vs. others? Good luck to him. If he doesn't reach his potential in a hurry the footy world will turn on him fast. That's a lot of pressure that I'm glad isn't on him as a Demon.

RR I'm not sure your point is being made well with comparing hawthorn games in 2010 vs 2012. If they kicked straight Friday night the result would have been very similar. Hardly proves how valuable our defensive game plan is does it?

If this isn't proof that the players are being over corrected then nothing is. Yes, it was attacking footy, but the current game style of kicking down the line to the boundary isn't just proving unsuccessful - it makes for a really dull spectacle. And you can say what you want about belting an interstate team on the G, but you might wanna watch the replay of round 1 2012 and tell me how it looks?

I reckon this will be very interesting to watch. There is a far greater spend on it now, but I wonder how that will translate through to success. I think the clubs and the AFL are talking it up as that's where they are spending. Not sure based on our picks since 2005 if we are proving that the ever expanding spend is worthwhile. I think I need to watch Moneyball tonight.