Earl Hood

Having midfielders who know what they are doing can only help the young kids.

If we had Tapscott and Blease running through the midfield and getting kicks as our best players, they'd learn nothing.

These types learn for Magner and Couch, that is why they are vital to have around.

Not only that, it gives any forwards a chance to kick some goals, as we see with Hogan.

Plus, when Viney was at Casey, he was in the midfield whenever he liked, so it's just a case of us having no other young mids coming through.

Stark might get a run in the there next year, but he needs to put on some size or he'll get flat stanlied.

There is a lot of talk about player development and our poor record in this area. Jet Jackson spoke of our failure in this area last night. Can someone spell out exactly what this development looks like? For the past three years we have been at AMMI with all its state of art facilities, we have Dave Misson flogging them, we train every day with numerous assistant specialist coaches. What are we not developing?

My simple mind thinks that first round picks should be able to manage their own development as long as they have access to reasonabe training regimes. Later draft selections may need mentoring, specialist training and time to develop and then a specific role to play.

Gee wiz we had some great players in the 90's who had to train at Junction Oval with nothing but an oval and some balls to kick. Would Garry Lyon, Nietz, the Ox and Todd Viney not be competitive today because they weren't accessing the elite facilities at AAMI? I don't think so.

PJ talked of player development and culture a la Geelong and Sydney as what we need to replicate. The more I look at the elite teams the more I think young player development is optimised when a club has the luxury to play their young guns for 40 or so games in the VFL and then bring them in for a game with a Stevie J, josh Kelly and Joel Selwood playing around them in a winning side. That is positive player development. Interestingly only a few clubs can meet those criteria, the ones that already have a group of hardened, elite champions to show the way.

Melbourne does not have those resources and one of our big problems has been our lack of hard arsed, talented, experienced leaders from the Daniher era. Once Neitz retired and we sent Junior packing that was about it. We thought our best option was to draft as much young first round draftees as possible. As we know we drafted a succession of kids who had one thing in common, they all needed and were looking for leadership! No ambitious, confident, physically hard draftees for us just nice, supposedly skilled athletes. We continue to pay the price for these drafting decisions. Neeld pissing off the senior group and then losing the likes of Maloney and Rivers just made things worse.

We won!!! At last. Almost threw my phone through the wall in the last 10 mins - the AFL app was the only access I had tonight. But we won!!!!

Did we just hold off breaking our own record of losing from 40 points up in the last quarter against Essendon back in 1993 I think? We were 45 up and all but threw it. Anyway we held on this time but really why is it so hard to get a win around here?

Watched most of this game, it's nice to feel good about a side and watch players playing well for a change.

It's all been said about Hogan. His kicking action is really weird and doesn't look great (I feel like his follow-through is average), but who gives a rat's, really?

Pedersen was outstanding. For whatever reason, he's on the giant list of Melbourne players who have been fine at VFL level but inadequate at AFL level. He looked a class above and a leader today. Played the kind of game we should be seeing consistently from him or Dunn in the seniors.

Magner and Couch are two honest footballers, but Magner's body language was appalling today, and his decision-making at times woeful. Couch's clearance work is fantastic, which obviously Melbourne is crying out for, but his disposal is shocking, truly awful. I can see why neither are getting games, though I do sympathise and at times wonder if we could at least give them a shot in a season which is long gone. It must be tough on them to see some players get rewarded based on one or two noticeable games whilst they consistently go about their business, and when we're battling in the middle, some clearance work would be appreciated. But on what I saw today, the extra speed and intensity of AFL football would be far too much for Couch, whilst Magner's not going anywhere whilst he cracks the sooks like he did today.

What is it about MFC listed players and poor kicking skills? Can't full time professional footballers learn to kick accurately with some practice and advice. I'm not talking elite kicking for distance, trajectory or precision which some have and others never will Have. I am talking about the ability to pass a ball 20 or 30 meters to a target or at least to the target's advantage.

My facebook is lighting up with bombers fans complaining about jab watson being booed. These are the same fans that booed jack watts off. Flogs.

Great win by the bombers. Great game by Jobe and really the WC fans booing him for peptides takes the cake! This is WC isn't

It? Glenn Jackovich, the terminator, Cousins, flatline Fletcher for heavens sake, talk about hypocrisy.

Not really, was there whole time once he set up shop, I went and said hi to him, was very friendly

Well there you go I was there for the first 30 minutes or so and I didn't see Lingy over in the bushes. I was basking in the incredible balmy weather riding my bike back home from the city. While I was waiting for training I rode up to the Collingwood setup and it is fantastic, so open with a running track on the outside of the training oval. I can report to the Victorian Goverment that funded Eddies vision of a training facility that is safe for women, that there was one women running around the track. Who knows how many women were running around the tan where there must be any number of deviants just waiting to jump on them. Thank God for Eddie and the Goverments funding of the Lexsus Centre.

It would be nice to get someone signed up sooner rather than later so they can have a good look at the list and have a god idea should go and what type of player we need to bring on the list. The more I listen to what Jet Jackson has to say about restructuring the club, the more I am thinking who coaches is important but not the be all and end all. We need a competent, experienced coach, we don't

Need a messiah. There has been a lot more wrong with this club than the coaches and I think PJ's comments point to the total lack of direction in the place that is staggering. I think Choco or Eade or what about Ratten could do the job with good assistant coaches and full support of the FD.

I don't understand that argument. We also have pi$$ed away money in recent years, so on that argument we don't deserve financial help. What do we 'deserve'? Deserve is not the right word. If the AFL wants us to not go down the gurgler and be competitive then they should help us in whichever ways achieve that goal most efficiently. If that involves a PP, so be it. To those Demon supporters who say 'we don't deserve it', I say get a hairshirt and do some old fashioned self-whipping if it makes you feel more pure. :>) To other people who say it, I'd just repeat what I said above.

Spot on its not about deserve, it is about how we get competitive ASAP for us as well as everyone else in the AFL. The TV rights in the future and the selling price depend on content and 9 hard fought games worth watching every week. So every time on radio they ask if MFC deserves a priority pick most commentators say no we do not deserve it based on the fact that we have failed. And this seems to based on a mix of tanking allegations and poor drafting. It is all of our own making.

No ones denying we have failed but we did not set out to pick the wrong first round picks did we. We did not deliberately go past a Dangerfield or a Darling like numerous other clubs did. In respect to our top 10 picks in recent years we have played it conservatively and got what was available at the time. Morton, Watts, Scully, Trengrove, Toumpas, Hogan, they are our top 10 picks, is it our fault that we could not pick a Roughead,, Buddy, Cyril, Hodge who were around in earlier drafts. my point is I don't think we deliberately wanted to fail but yes we did not pick the absolute best available at the time. The crystal ball was wrong. For that we must be punished it seems.

Think you'll find Dunn played more in defence last year.

First time I have ever seen him being accused of being smart.

Yeah sorry again too many distractions here at the moment with the Lions vs Wallabies. I meant a smart half back last year. But take your point smart ain't the right word but I did think he may have had a future. In the end I'm not sure why Dunn could not give us a year or two more of service. After 9 years of senior footy you would normally pick up some smarts and poise and be able to competently play a role but no this is MFC. We don't do that here!

Cool story bro.

But I was talking about Pederson and Dunn

Yeah sorry not sure what I was doing here. Got the wrong reply quote. Re Dunn what is going on with him? Last year I thought he had developed into a smart half forward with a hard body and a few smarts. But what happened in the off season? His only future now in my opinion is as a run with mid or maybe a forward.

Holy cow indeed.. these two make baby Jesus cry.

Watts at the moment is a leading forward not a forward who can smash open packs like Clark or maybe a fit Dawes? but he did OK today. What would you expect from a leading forward at MFC today? You just get burnt time and time again. The kicking to a target is Shyte! The kicking to your advantage as the top sides do to make Buddy and co look so good is non existent. In the end Jack got 2, missed a couple but set up a couple so booke even. And there was no help really from Dawes who must have been injured when you compare his lack of run today compared to last time he played.

Without knowing anything other than that article, how can punching someone "because I thigh he was going to punch me" count as self defence?

It's the old street fighters first rule of defence, if an argument starts get in with the first hit. Usually ends the argument immediately. That a jury fell for the evidence presented where the perpetrator has felt threatened so has gone the king hit is sad but no use blaming the judge when its the jury system. The jury system is not perfect but it is much better than any alternative, a bit like democracy really.

This is so pathetic and could be done for most clubs. Forget about it, we have to because there is nothing more to be done. Prendergast (curse that name) is gone and has been replaced by much more capable people. We look forward.

Yes let us look forward and hope to God that our recruiters when they have an early pick say between 1 to 5 and then early second round etc, they look at the players rated at each level in those rounds who have the agression, who have an appetite for the physical contest. Agression, confidence and some skill goes a long way in AFL. Look at tonight's game, the Hawks are loaded with aggressive and skilled players that we can only look at in awe; at how they throw themselves at the contest yet keep getting up and doing it again and again. Is it possible to draft in some talented mongrel? I've been watching VFL/AFL for years and nearly every premiership team has had its fair share of tough, hard, intimidating players. Of course it's more subtle now, looking at The physicality of Luke Hodge the last few weeks I am thinking he is just as physically damaging and as intimidating in games as Lethal was but without the outright brutality of the 70's of course. He somehow stays within the rules but you know his intent is to do damage as he managed again tonight to do to Selwood.

For me it truly goes back to 186. Where the board back flipped on its decision to get rid of Schwab. If Schwab was about to be sacked for meddling in FD matters and proving a divisive figure among the playing group - why then was he key in appointing Neeld and the restructuring of the FD?

Of course Schwab was going to favour the most inexperienced yet disciplinarian coach, of course he was going to set up a FD structure where key personnel were under his thumb. I'm furious that that decision lead us to having one of the worst performing teams in living memory and a world's worst practice FD setup.

Yep Jimmi you have nailed it and so succinctly. I have alluded to the same in previous posts but in a more clumsy way. If only 186 had not happened that day (and I was there at Skilled for the whole disaster, I had travelled down in a Cats spporters car so had no early escape) I suspect we would have dealt with the main problem then and there. Bailey would have served out his contract and we move on.

I note that Patrick Smith on SEN also points back to 186 as a turning point when CS was not sacked and it was all down hill from there. He says the players had gone to McClarty to voice their concerns about the interference by CS and ex coach CC. 186 overturned their case and CS was retained and looking for revenge. The rest is as you say CS playing a big role in chosing a drill Sargent for a coach with orders to sort out the senior playing group. Of course with no support from the CEO when things turned to Shyte. GL was party to all of this, perhaps too dumb to work out what was really playing out in the FD at MFC. Poor Jim if only he had been healthy and at the helm things may be so different!

I am putting all my faith in Jet Jackson to sort this mess out and good riddance to the heads that have to fall to sort out this mess. As someone who works in a medium sized organisation that operates successfully (as judged by our customers) I just don't see why it's so f&&*king difficult to operate a football club and be competitive on the field.

All of what you said is fine. - I guess what myself and others are saying is no matter what your thoughts are on Neeld and his performance, the club continues to mishandle situations and waste the Members time and money. (rebuilding and paying out contracts etc) The same mistakes keep happening over and over. Peter Jackson has made a decision and I do not dispute it, but the reasons outlined in the press conference are pretty average at best, and here is why,

Player retention, Performance and on field competitiveness indicate that either Jackson didn't agree with the board and the direction when Neeld was appointed in 2012 or Neeld was lied to by the board - a rebuilding club can not meet the demands Jackson outlined - so either the club has folded to pressure of the rebuild or other factors were at play

AFL approval was need -. a real sign that there a big problems at board level

People have talked about the evaluation of Neeld and he needed to be sacked based on results - I'd say the board (ex Jackson) should be stood down for turning this club in to a embarrassment it is today - and I will continue to say their performance of the board has been worse then Neeld

This club is embarrassing to support - it will take years for this club to be competitive on field again, I haven't really followed the club that closely off field until 2009ish but the majority of MFC administrations seem to all have the same poor characteristics

Poor decision making

lack of accountability to members

No good faith to former employees

lack of football knowledge of how to be competitive in this industry

No thought on how their decisions affect the clubs image or standings in the market place (tanking, sackings etc)

No strong club folds to speculations and rumours when rebuilding. See Geelong, Hawks and GC (all be it I admit that GC had a big leg up from the AFL)

Neeld was brought in from my understanding because of poor player performance and standards were well below par at AFL level. Now it seems that the players who were below AFL standard have gotten Neeld fired. I am sure Neeld has made mistakes (man management, and media performance etc) but the MFC has basically said we don't want to change by making firing Neeld.

Clearly onfield results are not acceptable and change was needed - but the overall statement made by the club over the past few weeks says to me that the club can't handle change, and we will fold to pressure when the going gets tough just like our players.

There is a saying I've heard in circles around professions in the AFL industry - Put enough pressure on the MFC and they will fold - on and off field. This is unprecedented failure from the whole club and I am furious..

Good work MFC - some people are embarrassed by your continual on field issues and losses - I am embarrassed to support you as you fold to pressure, have zero credibility off field and would have been wound up if you were a public or private entity

The MFC is an embarrassment to the AFL

Yes what a mess! My thinking is that a young assistant coach was brought in with instructions to change the soft culture of the playing group that had developed well before he arrived and under the watch of CS, CC and others in much better positions to have done something about it. Instead they were part of the problem and happy for the new kid to carry the can for change. The Board were obviously in thrall to a smooth talking CS and were next to useless. After the debt demolition thanks to Jim and then the AFL equalisation money that was pumped into the club, I can't help but think it was used as a gravy train for the old boys and we found ourselves with a top heavy admin and a bloated FD with too many people on good salaries but little responsibility. That [censored] up in Shanghai in 2010 was an early sign of club money being [censored] down the drain for what gain? What sponsorships did we pick up from that junket? What inroads have we made into China? Is none the right answer.

Maybe that's because Neeld almost never coached from the bench?

I'm with you though in that I think Craig is a good influence on our players.

I hope you are right. However I am thinking if Neeld and his coaching strategy, performance, whatever was a problem surely Craig was part of that problem as well. I mean what was he doing in the meetings and on game day? We saw him heavily involved at training most days so surely he had some say on training methods, game plans etc. what's going to change now? We need to get the new coach on board ASAP so he can get an early start for next season and also before 5 other clubs are in the market for a new coach which has happened every time before when we were in the market after Daniher, then post Bailey.

Today showed why we should take him with our first pick. 30 disposal 5 clearences and 7 tackles today against Vic Country. 185cm 84 kg inside tough midfielder who is a ball magnet and can push forward and kick goals. Has excellent disposal and will be ready made Ollie Wines like.

Make it happen melbourne!

Well we did not take Ollie why would we look at this bloke? We did not take D Martin, we did not take Scott Selwood, nor Jack Darling, nor a Hurley, we do not take nasty types with talent we only take nice kids in the first round, with talent yes, but no appetite for the contest nd who can't get the ball themselves.

Very few things in life are more frustrating than wasted talent.

He could have been anything.

Yes I remember going to Princess Park in 2009 to see him in the VFL to see what all the talk was about this wizard from Yuendumu. He kicked 5 that day against the Bullants.it was a brillant display. A few weeks later he debuted for the Dees and played another 5 or so games where we saw a player doing things I had never seen before. He did not take so much as take high marks but rather plucked the ball out of the air which he did spectacularly in a game against the Saints.

I remember my sole wish for season 2010 was for Jurrah to play 20 games so we could all see someone really special and unique. Stupid wish of course as he was injured early and never got going that season as I remember it. Oh we'll add him to the list of Demons who never reached their potential.

The tragedy is that the magistrate did not allow the Yuendumu community to resolve the original problem in their own way however barbaric and ill logical that may have seemed to us. A ritual spearing of the guilty party was preferable to the fracturing of the community we have seen since. The outcomes have been far worse. Liam as a tribal elder was always going to get drawn into the mess, unfortunately he has been involved in a litany of domestic problems as well since going back to NT.

i hope he serves his time and can make a new start.

could have sworn there was a General Discussion area for subjects like politics.

Here its about footy

Point taken. Still not sold on Alan though.

Blame Labor mismanagement more than the "stinginess" of those charged with cleaning up the mess.

Gee don't know where to start on that comment. Jeff got in in 1992 I think and Alan got the budget back in surplus a year or two later as the economy started to recover from the 1990/91 recession felt more in Victoria than other states by the failure of the Pyramid collapse and the State Bank of Victoria. The so called mess was cleaned up very early on.. My point is Alan did not know when to open the purse strings after getting the budget back in order, he kept the stinginess going right up to 1999 and they alienated rural Victoria. Fact is Jeff and Alan lost an election no thought they could.

I hope he has got over his obsession with budget surpluses he had when treasurer for Jeff. In the end I always thought his stinginess, especially the lack of funding for regional Victoria cost Jeff the election in 1999.Jeff never seems to have worked this out.

If he takes over as President he will be unloading players and coaching staff left, right and centre to maintain an operating surplus. Forget the win loss ratio it's the accounting balance sheet that counts in any business.

I received this email today from a work colleague. I think he is onto something.

G'day Hood

What a match yesterday! Great effort by the Dees to match it with the mighty Pies, I thought. I was on the edge of my seat in a real nail biter, however the Pies got there in the end. This surprised me at the end because I don’t worry about the score line anymore that’s not important it’s the KPI’s, the 1 percenters I’m looking at.

I’m starting to understand where the coaching staff are coming from, that we need to dig a bit deeper into the statistics to get a picture of what is happening and put events in their context over a relevant time based data set.

I’m analysing things better now that I have started benchmarking our performances against the Geelong 186 disaster of 2011 and I’m seeing real improvements consistently against the Hawks (95) and now the Pies (83). See the trend is down!

I believe my stats tell the real story:

-our hard ball fumbles were up,

- reverse inside 50’s up,

- loose ball misses, we met our season average;

- broken tackles up markedly

- delivery efficiency to the opposition running at 80%,

- the handballs to no one count was at elite levels.

The telling numbers for me though were in the contested/uncontested ball counts. Our number of contested balls observed from a discrete distance count was through the roof as was the number uncontested ball observations from afar.

The knockers can bang on all they want but my benchmarking data telling me we are getting somewhere!

(just not sure where that is)

Regards

Dr Pangloss

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Sorry stuffed up trying to add to bernie's post.

Agree with all you say which got me thinking which is nothing new, this ineptitude has been going on all season.

Why do we only see them training out on the paddock every second day if that. I would have them out on the ground every day for hours to drill in the fr&&king basics. For heavens sake don't tell me they spend every second day analysing in detail from the videos how shite they were? I mean how many videos do you need to see where you didn't run or chase or make position? Forget the bikes or the Gym and weights at this point just get them out on Goshes Paddock everyday in a competitive environment having to get the ball and dispose under pressure, it's called game day simulation. Forget the classroom lets just go man on man- if you have it I am all over you, if my team has it I run off you to space. Is it that hard to be competitive, I am not talking about out-thinking the top sides,just trying to compete one on one and make the opposition earn it. How do you learn to kick to position under pressure, in the classroom or on the field. God I would be keeping it simple from now on.

Few positives: Garland punching above his weight, Fitz, M. Jones, Kent etc showing signs of improvement. But far outweighed by being totally inept at basic football fundamentals. Kicking is deplorable. Handballing to stationary targets and or someone under the pump is doing my nut in. Mark Jamar is the worst. Takes a grab and handballs one meter to a bloke standing still or who gets tackled by the man on the mark. FFS Russian show some leadership. Its so hard to swallow whats going on with this group. If you look at our defensive unit, no-one is an elite kick, in fact some barely go at 50% efficiency (Dunn, Tmac, Terlich, ) so what happens when we get it in defence? Then add to that the inability of the mids to put pressure on the opposition mid group (that has 10 good players rotating through) you get these blow-outs. I just cannot get over the recruiting and developmental mistakes of this club.

Ive been a loyal supporter for 32 years, this is the worst bunch of AFL footballers I've seen. Enough of this having a crack rubbish. I know it sounds harsh, but having two guys like Jordie Mckenzie and previously Clint Bartram not only in the team, but in the leadership group sums this club up to a tee. Accepting and rewarding mediocrity.

I dont know if any coach could do too much with this group before seasons end, but I fear if we dont make a change now, we may lose a couple who actually can play. But I'm starting to run out of hope that this will ever turn around. Until then, keep punching Lads.

You've obviously not seen him play.

I have and he looks good but referring to my post I have seen all those others as well and there are many variables to be negotiated for him to be a star just yet. Let us wait and hope for the best but until then keep lid on it.