Deecisive

MFC should kick in and assist DB with his legal defense and costs, he is only incurring these because he was our coach at the time, so is the only reason he requires a lawyer. The failure to protect employees (he was at the time) will make others wonder if MFC will look after them if they have problems. As for the article, interesting there are leaks and of the 800 page report the best the can come up with is referring to secret (weekly) meetings in the VAULT!!!! and 3 minutes of a game we almost won. The number of rotations I find interesting in that the investigators must have asked about injuries etc so should have factored that into the number of rotations, leaking it means the press can have a bit of a field day on it until the MFC responds with the details on injuries etc. How many of these other 800 pages is devoted to the Richmond game. I love the bit where they could not get anyone to confirm that players deliberately fumbled... how can someone make such a stupid statement to believe in the heat of battle where you are just ahead on the scoreboard someone says to themselves that they better fumble so that we can loose. Does anyone really expect that highly competitive players would rollover for what, so MFC can get another pick, does anyone really think players playing for their spot on next years roster thinks that. If the AFL is going to take the last 3 minutes of the Melbourne Richmond game as a benchmark then how would the Carlton/Melbourne game the year before stand scrutiny, surely there must be 30seconds or more of inappropriate activity there. The AFL only opens itself up to further scrutiny taking this approach. sadly melbourne cannot win this, sure we might beat the AFL and not loose draft picks, but other areas where we have received financial assistance will eventually suffer. End of the day someone from the club needs to write up a credible defense and sit down the with AFL and do a deal to close this out before it goes to court, as neither of us wins if that is the case. And if the truth be told no one cares except Caro and a few journo's who have nothing better to do with their time.

The AFL ought to have a look at the Demons win / loss ratio over the last 5 years and see what sort of consistency there is there. We have had crap weak sides for a number of years our form in 2009 is pretty consistent with our form in 2012 when there were no priority draft picks were on the table. Not sure you can same the same level of consistency applied to other teams that after they received their priority picks made the top 4 and 8 in the next couple of years.

The headlines forgot to mention Carlton and Geelong players also Tanked... gives one a sense of deja vu

Oh no "Melbourne Players Tanked at the MCG" could end up in another series by CW or AFL investigation.

The AFL must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that actions taken by the coaches or players was different from those taken by other clubs and that these actions clearly slow an intention to loose games. If they cannot prove the above then it will not stand up in court. Hearsay and the words from disgruntled players need to be validated or else it has little value. If Melbourne took this to court I would feel certain they would be seriously looking at calling coaches, assistance coaches etc to call into question these same actions by other clubs.

Bailey was a so so coach, unfortunately he had a crap team that didnt perform, which resulted in more high draft picks to waste on skinny kids who were not ready to play with the big boys which perpetuated our crappyness. Bailey still had to try to win games with the list he had, somewhere along the season it was evident that we were not going anywhere and he was given the freedom to play younger kids, i.e. his performance at the club was not going to be measured by wins in that year this is not taking this is what every club begins to do to some degree once it sees the season slipping away. He played kids to give them time with the big boys, he tried people out of position, etc.. to give them experience. Just because someone may have made jokes about tanking does not mean he endorsed it, followed their direction,or that the players ever did not try. The actions Bailey has taken have been taken by other teams over the years. If this goes to court Melbourne will be asking why Collingwood's resting players is ok but not for melbourne, etc.. This is a no win situation for the AFL, melbourne will not lie down and take this while other teams have prospered from similar actions.

While Caro and others do not have evidence worth anything the AFL does have email and hard disks etc from the MFC, anyone who sent emails or wrote any docs that could be construed as implying tanking, encouraging tanking, cheering for losses, crowing about getting extra draft picks will be scrutinized as part of their case.

Looking at replays of this years games shows how bad we are, we basically had no structure once we lost Mitch. Our forwards were useless and half the time pushing so far up the ground to help get the ball which just resulted in us kicking it to badly out numbered forwards. Defensive pressure was good at times at other times we had no run or chase. We gave away soft frees the Westcoast game particularly sticks in my mind and our tackling was poor. We got it together in a few games last year for a quarter or two and probably one game the essendon game. Neeld has essentially replaced half of our team with guys who will help address most of these deficiencies. This will make us more competitive, it will allow us to score more and it will result in us winning games. I would see winning 8 games as a fail given our easy draw. 10 would be my bare pass mark and 12 games a decent score.

Been watching the foxtel reruns of some of our games, we have a way to go. Having said that we have recruited well and now have greater depth so that we can stop playing players based on name and make them earn their spots in the team, which should make us a lot more competitive,I would hope that with the soft draw we have and changes in personnel that we could make 10th spot by the end of 2013.

Ou\\\ Oucher I know your trying to be optimistic like most of us but the scores for last year are on the board we were not very good in defense. I gotta say Frawley does worry me, this last year I used to shudder at times when he had the ball, he got caught regularly, his kicking at times was woeful he seemed as if he was often trying to stroll around instead of running when in traffic. I would now rate Tom Mc well ahead of frawley. We often butchered the ball so we were one of the worst teams for oppositions scoring off our turnovers which often meant our defense was often the ones who turned it over or were not marking their players on turnovers. As a unit they had trouble just getting the ball out of defense from kickins. While they are not bad players they ALL need to move up a notch or two for the Dees to be more competitive.

Based on best players, playing at their best. Unfortunately football aint like that, players have crap years and others have sensational years. Injuries and depth are tested, some players mature and get better which will benefit sides like GWS, GC, MFC, and others will age which will hamper GFC, HFC, etc... I would love to see how they ranked everyone last year.

I think this trip away is pivotal in helping so many new players bond together. I wonder if they could do another mini type camp next year before the season starts again possibly up north to further get the team thing going stronger focus on more team work exercises.

Cook was a potential Key position player who could compete with the big men from day 1. he was taken for what he could potentially provide. That potential has not been realised, it does not mean that it cannot be, it just means that Melbourne could not afford to wait for Cook, Gys, Morton and other with enormous potential to realise it. Re the comment that KP players take 5 years, not sure I agree, and hopefully hogan also does not agree. Body shape and maturity really determine if they can be competitive.

Neeld moved on players who did not match his team ethics, style and skill level so would not fit our team. Most of those who we let go had sufficient interest from other clubs to take them as ROOKIES or backup players who will probably play most of their games in the reserves, if they do get a seniors game its because their style fits their new teams style or need. Rivers and Baloney probably being the two exceptions who would normally get regular games. I am more than pleased with all of the trades and pickups.

I'm looking forward to seeing a true team effort, all the players doing the Neeld tough football thing, backing each other up and supporting each other.

Have to respect the direction he wants to take us in. We need to be able to put pressure on the ball carriers to create turnovers, if you dont the top clubs will just run over you with their superior skill. Even the most skillful make mistakes when put under pressure. Its a game plan he started with and he has restructured the list to support that direction, most of his new recruits are hard at the ball and good tacklers from all reports. In February we will see if the team is able to deliver. I believe they will.

He has unfortunately shown that he lacks the discipline and common sense to hold off on the booze even for a couple of weeks. Sadly a wasted talent.

I like many was annoyed in the way LJ left, i did think he appeared ungrateful for the assistance Melbourne had given him, walking out did not seem to be the act of a mature person, but more of a spoilt child. Melbourne had given LJ a lot of assistance so would have probably helped LJ get a trade, the compensation probably would not have been great and may have been so low that we would not have used it but I believe MFC would have done the best by LJ. The fact that LJ walked out on us, must also play into the minds of the Port Adelaide list managers, I am sure if he was a trade there would be no arguments about taking him, his walkout has hurt him big time. One wonders if before he walked out what had Port officials or others said to him. Did he think this was just a matter of turning up and getting picked up. His football career and essentially his life are now on the line, not getting picked by Port will put him back at least a year, court trial may finish him forever, not just because there is a chance that he maybe found guilty and need to serve time but that he may further lose his way and lose even what fitness and desire to play at the elite level.

Well lets just hope self interest gets him interested, someone needs to whisper in his ear have a break out season and your price tag goes up. We get the benefit of at least one good year out of him, and hopefully get decent compensation for him going, and he gets a new club where he can return to a mediocre playing style. Win win situation.

Josh, they have only lost early draft picks, they can still use late pick, rookies and psd to fill holes.

I suggest you have a look at a few more games and tell me how well Cale performed over the year, yes Green had a couple of good games when the year was done and dusted and probably against bottom sides rather than good sides. The premise that a couple of good games from these guys is going to be better than good or even fair games from Dawes, Rodan, Viney, Toumpas and Clark etc.... does seem far fetched. We had so many basic things wrong with our side last year, many of which Neeld is addressing, injuries and luck will obviously still play a part, but i think the INs are far better than the OUTs.

This year was pretty disappointing, Clark's injury and Jarrah's unavailability hurt a lot, fitness was poor, confidence in the team was down and so was their skill and of course our playing list depth was also pretty poor. A lot of our players had shocking years even by our own poor standards. We have to expect that we now have sufficient forwards to carry us though the year with minor injuries and still be functional. We should now have a mid field outfit able to get first purchase of the ball at stoppages and more importantly contribute more goals. In defense we have lost rivers but picked up a few handy players who could do well. I believe this team is far better balanced that the teams we had a couple of years ago when we took it up to collingwood. For those who believe in the money ball theory, its about how many goals can we get out of each of our players and how many we stop the opposition from scoring. Looking at the old foxtel reruns of this season the stand out stat for Melbourne was the cost of turnovers, if we can halve this we will be in my opinion a 5-6 better side on that alone. All the other areas that we should see improvement should get us a lot more wins in the coming years. I think my vote for a top 8 spot is ambitious but achievable.

Looks like he went out for coffee and ice for their drinks.

recruiting is done by the Football dept, so laying the blame at the feet of two people seems a bit silly. I would expect coaches and others would also have had a say in what types of players we wanted. The recruiters would have made recommendations based on that, it would still need the coaches tick. I think we can all agree this years draft is heavily influenced by Neeld in who and what he wanted. I cannot see any coach allowing some other bozo choose his players without his strong input. Our past drafts were done without purpose or plan it was about a group of guys trying to pick out what they thought were under rated but talented players that other teams may not have seen, as it turns out they did not see the talent with just cause. Injuries and just our game style may have also contributed to some of our duds being duds, in other sides they may have done better.

Any way for those discussing Hannath, he looks a likely prospect and worth having as an additional ruckman possibly key position player.