Apocalypse XXXI

I don't believe that anyone is doing Junior or the club any favours by dredging out this stuff ad infinitum.

Junior was 33 years old, slowing down appreciably and had spent most of the last half of the season recovering from a hamstring injury. It was a fair call on the part of the football department to pull the plug. Unfortunately, the way it was handled by Dean Bailey was poor and this has been acknowledged long ago.

If Junior wants to honour his commitments with GWS then so be it.

There's no need to make political statements about he situation. It's pretty much irrelevant now.

It's not just the injuries but the inability to run out games or to run and chase during games.

A fail to me.

Is it 4.4.28 to 22.18.150 every time we play Norf?

WJ I seldom disagree with you.

Can you please show me the proof that it has any effect on the MFC?

We play poorly almost every week what has Darwin got to do with it.

The results this year show when we play a good side we get done by a large margin it does not matter

where the game is, IMO it is the quality of the team we are playing

How did we go the week after we played in Darwin this year?

Oh so you mean they bring players into junior squads without checking them out, or trialling them, right, thought that was the case.....

...facts?.......let's just keep twisting everything till the rumour fits, so many budding modern journalists on this site

If you know how the system works hundreds of kids come under the attention of the Under 18 clubs and those introduced at under 16 level, whilst they do come under the scrutiny of the under 18 coach, are usually looked after by assistants. In Fitzpatrick's case, I suggest that Neeld could not have made up his mind about the kid's future AFL potential as a 15/16 year old while he was suffering from CFS.

I'm actually supporting your argument and not that of the rumour mongers who want to place every ill of the club perceived or otherwise at the feet of Mark Neeld.

This thread is really deteriorating. Shouldn't it be placed in the general board?

He coached Jack in 2007. Was appointed to Collingwood in 08. It's not rubbish.

Please let's get our facts right.

Neeld was the coach of the Western Jets Under 18 team in 2007. Jack Fitzpatrick turned 16 that year and was in the middle of an ongoing battle with chronic fatigue syndrome (an illness he now has under control). How many games do you think he played under Neeld and how on earth do you think he would have made any assessment of the young Jack in those circumstances?

timD, on 26 Apr 2013 - 08:44, said:

Smears about Neeld are real and certainly affected him and Davey, for example.

So the smears are real after all. In your opinion, how did they get started?

Staying the course requires discipline and strength. Going by this forum, that is something that's in short supply among the supporting group for who it's easier to tear down than to build.

So who are we going to boo this afternoon?

Been off the board for a couple of days, got sick of negativity ...

Somebody asked about Dom Barry, spoke to him, injured , hamstring (I think that is what he pointed to)

Thanks for clearing that up Satyriconhome. I too, am thoroughly sick of the negativity and the nastiness of some of the posters directed on this site to the Melbourne Football Club. The lies and the nitpicking is making me thoroughly sick.

The performance of the Casey team was heartening and I hope that it marks a turning point in the club's fortunes.

And the Suns and Geelong.

You might want to add both the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne to the list now as well because Bates served them as club doctor before he came to Melbourne. Their corporate governance must now be under scrutiny.

Come to think of it, Neeld, Misson, Craig and others worked for other clubs too so we need to bring them into the web as well.

Yeah, I'll bite. I once was team manager for one of my son's Under 19 side in the amateurs. We were graded to play in the highest section in the competition against the traditionally stronger clubs. We lost our first game by 16 goals and our second by 22.

Our coach, who was a former Hawk who played under John Kennedy believed that in order for the players to bond as a team, it was important not only to work hard at training (and that he did) but also for them to get to know each other socially, so they would get together at a different pub after each game (drinking in strict moderation) and talk to each other about their footy and other things. He came up with numerous other ideas that were all designed to ensure that every member of the team was a mate and it worked (cost us a bit in expenses though).

By the middle of the year, we came close to beating the team that thrashed us in the first game (they kicked 0.13 with the wind in the first quarter the second time) and drew in the wet with the mob that beat us by 22 goals in round 2 (at their home ground). We finished the year with 7½ wins and in 6th place which would have been unimaginable when looking back at the end of round 2.

It's not exactly the same in the professional cauldron of AFL but I'm glad the guys are out watching sport and enjoying themselves. There's plenty of time for them to train and that sort of bonding will help them on the field. Read any book on team coaching and you'll realise that you can't turn a group of robots into a successful combination.

Did you ever take the team to Sorrento?

All that for $2 million plus in CEO wages?

Hmmm ... seems worth it.

There's a 6 month termination clause. The cost will be minimal and probably covered by the AFL which is calling the shots ATM.

A good performance today definitely puts him the team for round 1 barring injury.

It would really be a good story if he could raise the bar and live up to the promise of years ago to finally become a top line player. Good for him and good for us.

I hope with all that organisation that there's at least a programme or list of players' numbers.

He did get 8 tackles in the match, the most in the match.

Granted that tackling is a very important part of the game but with someone who is playing Scully's role, it's little wonder he manages so many tackles. I'd prefer my mids to be first to the ball where they can cause more damage to the opposition.

Once the season was shot, I think we went into games with priorities other than the result. Preparing young players for the future, experimenting with positions - all of the things teams have done when confronted with that situation since time immemorial.

Let's face it, we were rubbish in 2009 and Bailey did what the boss said teams in that situation could do. If it were otherwise, the AFL wouldn't be struggling with the charges.

Yes, three, and I went to about 7 or 8 last season.

Let me clarify my comments.

I have little problem with what we are trying to do to enhance our list . The decisions around Hogan, Viney, Toumpas and our other recruits this year I think have been better quality than in the immediate past.

My doubt is I have not seen any evidence that Neeld and his team have the leadership qualities to get the maximum out of middle ranking players. Apart from Jones, can you name one player with more than 40 games to his name when Neeld arrived who has improved in performance terms under the present regime. I can't. In fact, most of them have gone backwards. I think that was the biggest reason for our abysmal performance last year. Say what you like about Neal Danihar but he did manage to extract maximum performance out of a mediocre list. I think the jury is out on this current regime.

In corporate terms it is called Leadership. Producing a champion team rather than team of champions, the Swans being the most obvious example. What I am saying is that unless there is substantial improvement this year in this direction we will not improve overall.

I very much hope I am wrong, but I fear I am not, and rusted on long term Demon fanatics like me, if they are honest with themselves deep down they would agree.

Actually, I don't agree. Daniher was good in the early days of his coaching regime but he was a spent force after five or six seasons and should have been replaced at that time. In his last few years at the club we went backwards in every facet and then, under Bailey we nosedived completely. There was not much player development in his time. One or two improved, the rest remained static or went backward. Last year was a weeding out process and Neeld cleaned house.

I can see improvement coming - not necessarily radical or substantial improvement but gradual. That's a reasonable expectation given our young list.

I know this should be on the tanking thread, but I can't come to grips with us in any way accepting us being labelled cheats. There are just too many ramifications. I hope our Board is tough on this.

How can you be accused of cheating when all you are doing is following what the CEO of the organisation says was OK?

Surely, if there are any penalties, however concocted, Demetriou must resign forthwith.

As a resident in the area, this item in our local paper, the Cranbourne Star, is encouraging:-

Partnership spanning three decades

Andrew Demetriou on drugs -

"If you think you can run the gauntlet, wake up to yourself because you will be caught."

The AFL on tanking -

"If you think you can run the gauntlet, wake up to yourself because you will be caught - but only if the name of your club begins with the letter M."

I notice that some around here are writing letters and sending emails to Wilson and the Age. You're wasting your time - the Age is struggling across the board but the fact that people are responding (even negatively) suggests to them that their policy of unleashing a feral Wilson is working to attract more interest and readership.

Instead, it would be better to write to the advertisers of the Age whose product appears on any page where a Wilson article appears, that you will be patronising their competitors and not purchasing their product as long as she remains their chief football writer.

Is this an exaggeration or has anyone noticed Davey doing better at training?

Aaron Davey back in frame at Melbourne Demons

"After a slow start to the pre-season, the Melbourne veteran turned heads with his performance on the club's Darwin training camp, thrusting him back into calculations for early-season senior selection."

This is no exaggeration at all if we're going on the way he presents and his training performance. It's a credit to him and the work he's put in during the "off season". Let's hope that he can prove himself in the place that matters ultimately being the football field in the heat of battle. At least the All Star Game on Friday night will give us a glimpse of what he might show us in 2013.

I wonder how much this Franklin puts contract talks on hold is going to affect Hawthorn's ultimate outcome in 2013?

To a lesser extent, there will be the Daisy Thomas issue at Collingwood and will the fact that Colin Sylvia becomes a FA at the end of the year affect us?