Pello

Sounds all good and heard it all before - its what a lot of us have been saying for years. Building a winning culture is easy to say and very hard to do. I am not sure what expertise he has in this area - let's hope he has experience in the business world on changing culture. If he doesn't then bring in an expert consultant and let's do it properly. Only this time let's act on the consultant's report!

What if Jack is thinking what position will I play next year under a new coach given that Clarke, Dawes, Hogan, Fitzpatrick and Howe will all be available? What if Jack is thinking that that he may end up in defence and that is a position he doesn't particularly want to play? What if Jack has already been told by the MFC that we will be putting him up for trade at years end in the hope of gaining a quality midfielder? I totally support trading him as long as we get a quality midfielder or high draft pick for him. We have a quality forward line if we can get them all on the park. Our backline is also good for talls. So where does that leave Jack - on the trade table!

This club has a history of putting in insipid performances each year - on average 3-5 per year. Regardless of who is coach and what playing group. Its a cultural thing that has plagued our club for decades. We will come out next week and have a crack but we will fall back to our insipid ways again. Mark my words and count them during the year. Changing culture is not easy and I thought Neeld was the man to do but now I doubt it.

A great man. A huge loss. Thoughts and love to his family.

He can't handle a tag as others have said. But when he is tagged his head drops and basically he's resigned to the fact that today is not going to be his day. When not tagged he is a wonderfully creative player who delivers the ball so well (best in our team). Unfortunately opposition coaches have quickly jumped on that so now at his age with reduced pace if he is not prepared to work hard all the time when he is tagged then he is of no use to the team. Work hard or play for Casey - end of story.

Hope we give him a second chance on the rookie list.

How many more times does he need to stuff up before serious action will be taken? More counselling - yeah that will work. A week here and there and then things return to normal and it all gets forgotten until he stuffs up again. The Stevie Johnson example clearly worked. Missed 6 weeks and wasn't even allowed to train with his team mates during that time. That would have hurt! I can't believe anyone actually believes that the penalty is too harsh for what he did. This penalty should have been dealt out to someone who has NOT offended before. For Sylvia it should have been much harsher and yes the team will suffer - but rebuilding of the club culture is more important than one very good playing missing a few games. So I repeat - how many more times is he "allowed" to mess up before a real penalty is imposed?

Don't forget to mention that Garry Lyon was on the panel that selected Dean Bailey because he did a good powerpoint presentation.

Regardless of how good or bad Mark Neeld ends up being the fact is that once again we have accepted mediocrity. He does not fit the profile that we initially said we wanted - experienced and successful senior coach. We couldn't get Malthouse over the line - the Saints better not get him. We couldn't get Clarkson over the line - always going to be tough but we failed. We couldn't get Lyon over the line - did we go hard enough? Our culture emerges again. Don't expect different results if the culture stays the same.

Firstly the media are in the know more than most of us. Secondly the club wants us to sign up as members and then once we are a member they ask for more money to suppor the cause. This is all well and good but there needs to be a level of transparency from the top office as well. Like all of us I was devastated after the Geelong game but that devastation turned to anger when the loss uncovered all sorts of other issues in the top office. Clearly we don't need to air our dirty laundry but to have the CEO on the verge of being sacked and then reinstated for another year was a joke. The way that leaked out could have been handled much better by the club - even you must concede this RR. Then this "secret" report that we as members help pay for has not been the subject of any comment from the club. We deserve better than that - there needs to be a level of transparency not cover ups! The MFC needs to manage the communication coming out of the club better so members are informed and not left to speculate. Managing communication is the key - not cover ups and not airing all our dirty laundry. There is a balance and the club has failed on this. It all gets back to culture - something I have been banging on about for quite some time. A club with a clear and strong culture would manage this. This topic was about our 50 year scorecard and I put the results back to just one thing - lack of culture. It walked out the door the day Norm Smith walked out.

If it has been acted on then from the outside I have failed to see the results. We as members have been ignored - we don't need to know all of the contents of the report but in the footy business world you not only should be doing the right things but you should be seen to be doing the right things as well and the club has failed miserably on this. We needed to get some well placed tactful feedback from the board giving us belief that all issues raised are being act on. The media have spent some time dwelling on this report and the lack of action by the club. They are in the know more than us and that coupled with the deafening silence from the club is enough for me to conclude that nothing has changed (at least prior to Lyon coming in and doing his own review).

Here's a suggestion RR. Why don't we engage a consultant to review the operations of the club from top to bottom and pay them an exorbitant fee then ignore their findings!

Green should continue with it. Beamer the next captain after him and then maybe JT or JG (if he can stay on the park). I don't think we will have a shortage of leaders in the future but until then lets not try to eat our own!

To change the culture of the club it has got to start from the top down. Certainly the coach must have it (and I think Ross Lyon does) but all officials within the club must live and breathe it. We have a long way to go both on and off the field.

I only said I'd calmed down a little - still seething inside!

Wow - I've been following Melbourne for over 40 years and never seen them win a premiership. But I have seen them lose by 190 points to Fitzroy in 1979 (yes I was there and stayed till the end) and now 186 points (no I wasn't there but watched the entire game sitting on the floor rocking back and forth for 2 hours!) Only a club with an appalling culture can deliver results like this over a sustained period. No matter how bad the list is a club that breeds a culture of having pride in the jumper and the club, and understanding the honour it is in pulling on the red and blue jumper would never allow losses of such a magnitude to occur. Until the culture changes expect more pain and certainly no premierships!

Now that I've calmed down a little I can write with less emotion and not just bag everybody from the coach down to the boot studder. Up until today I believed DB deserved to get another year's extension if we got to 10 1/2 wins. I didn't expect to beat the Hawks, Cats, Blues and Eagles but thought we would be competitive at least to within 10 goals for each of these games! But today has given me a reality check on a few things: 1. Bailey has an inability to develop and deliver a modern game plan. 2. Bailey has an inability to motivate players and inject aggression/hatred of losing into them. 3. Bailey has an inability or lacks the courage to make "big" moves when things go pear shape. He makes the same old moves to try and mitigate a loss but its too predictable and lacks impact. 4. Whilst we have all commended Bailey for his disciplined approach to selecting and playing young players and building a list the reality is that we are a long way from a premiership. If Scully goes we won't have an "A" grade midfielder on the list (or potential) and this coupled with no key forward we are kidding ourselves if we think a premiership is coming our way in 2014/15. Let DB coach the year out but regardless of what happens now he is done and we need to move onto an experienced coach who can deliver the first 3 points raised above.

Forget about Bailey's first 2 years - we know they were development years and we went through the pain we had to go through. At the beginning of last year we expected improvement and we got it so he ticks off that year. This year we needed to see more improvement and what have we got: Round 1 - Draw with the Swan after beating them by 73 points in round 17 2010 (8 months earlier) - fail Round 2 - 45 point loss to Hawthorn after a 21 point loss in round 20 2010 - fail Round 3 - 11 pont win against Brisbane after a 10 point win in round 18 2010 at the Gabba - probably break even given Brown not playing. Round 4 - Versus Gold Coast - doesn't count. Round 6 - 54 point loss to West Coast after a 29 point loss in round 8 2010. Last years game at MCG so will be generous and call this even. Round 7 - 96 point win against Adelaide against a 16 point win at the MCG in round 3 2010 - improved. Round 8 - 41 point loss against North against a 26 point loss in round 6 at Etihad in 2010 - fail. Round 9 - 20 point loss to St. Kilda against a 35 point loss in round 14 in 2010 - improved. Round 10 - 47 point loss to Carlton against a 41 point loss in round 11 2010 - fail. Round 11 - 33 point win against Essendon against a 19 point loss in round 15 2010 - improved. Round 12 - 88 point loss to Collingwood against a draw in round 12 in 2010 - fail It is an interesting analysis to see how we have performed against the same teams last year and the score card is 3 improved performance, 2 even/same and 5 fails. Probably 6 fails given the pathetic WCE peformance but like I said I was trying to be generous and fair. Whilst injuries and other factors are not taken into account it is still hard to justify a Bailey reappointment at this stage given the score card. The next 3 weeks are all winnable and if we don't win 2 of those 3 I think he will be a dead man walking.

I don't like clash jumpers. There's no need for them as long as one team wears white shorts and one wears black. Socks can also be significantly different if that is going to be an issue otherwise leave the jumpers as is. I don't like our white (surrender) jumper. Have we ever won when we've worn it? Probably but not too often I suspect even allowing for our poor recent Win Loss record. I wonder whether Brad Green would have proudly grabbed that jumper during the Crows game if he was wearing that white abomination!

No doubt he is hurting over his performance and "that" moment and will be determined to redeem himself. He is a class player down on form and confidence. He does have the "X" factor when he is up and running so its important to the MFC that he gets his form and confidence back. He has runs on the board from his performances over many years and deserves another chance but if the effort is not there on Friday night then banish him to Casey and perhaps off the list altogether. He simply needs to TRY and if he does that things will start to fall into place. Don't forget we a long injury list and are coming up against a team renowned for their fast and hard running. I think he should line up in a defensive role against Betts or Gartlett. Its much easier to negate than create and hopefully this will give him some confidence and he (and us) can then move on from there. Dropping him to Casey is the last option - I don't think we are there yet!

Expect intensity, pressure on the opposition, tackling etc etc etc. We know they will do all this tomorrow. They might even do it again next week. But mark my words we will be talking about more insipid performance before the year is out.

The stats are surprising. He has so much ability but comes in and out of the game and that is probably due to his fitness. Maybe his off field "socialising" has something to do with it.

Martin was stiff. Not sure who is going to be the back up ruckman tomorrow - maybe Dunn? Agree a big name should have been dropped and that should have been Davey - he can't handle a tag and he needs to go back to the VFL and get his confidence. Also Wona is lucky to be in the side. He's there for his tackling as well as kicking goals and we didn't have a tackle inside the forward 50 last week.

Good call Theo. "Bailey walks around the boundary giving them a pat on the pack, did you see Malthouse get stuck into Dawes the other night on the boundary. There's no back slapping just a steely resolve in his eyes that cuts right through the players. They love him, are scared of him and play for him." That's what we need to change the culture of the club - and only a few have that rare quality!

Horrifying stats - hard to believe we have won two games! As I said in another blog the problem is the culture at the club. The MFC has for years/decades had headlines similar to the ones we are seeing at the moment. I reckon we put out those types of pathetic performances 3 or 4 times a season (every season). In five matches this year we have already put in such a pathetic effort in 1 1/2 games. However, these types of performances are riddled in our history. The problem is the culture around the club - that intangible cancerous psyche that permeates silently throughout the corridors of the club! Maybe a little dramatic - but you get my point. Fixing it is very difficult. But for a start you need a strong minded, tough and uncompromising head coach that has tasted premiership success elsewhere. Malthouse is our man (or perhaps Roos). Certainly no G Lyon or Todd Viney who are great clubman and should be encouraged to be involved in the club but they have not been involved in premierships and can't drive a culture unfamilar to them.