Earl Hood

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Point taken. Still not sold on Alan though.

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 This email and any attachments may contain information that is personal, confidential, subject to legal or professional privilege and/or copyright. No part of it should be reproduced, adapted or communicated without the prior written consent of the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the recipient to check for and remove viruses. Any personal information in this email must be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender by return email, delete it from your system and destroy any copies. You are not authorised to use, communicate or rely Please consider the environment before printing this email

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.

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.

Alternatively can we just drop the hype on this kid a tad. He is playing well at VFL level I hope like everyone that it means he is a gun but gee over the years how many gunnas have we seen? Schwartz could have been anything but stuffed through injury, Jackovich injury, attitude? Charles injury, neglect, Glenn Lovett injury, jurrah, community meltdown, Warren Dean, knee, Tingay workplace injury, where do I stop on the talent that has for not been fully realised over the years. Let us give him some time and space to make his way into the seniors and treat him like any of the others. If we as a club have got our act together in two years time he will re sign ata fair price.

OK I hear all the sophisticated, complex, club wide arguments from PJ but gee can't we just sack Neeld! That will solve everything.We know it worked wonders when we sacked Daniher and then Bailey (instead of CS). Oh hold on......!

I think even Eddie has worked out that having dysfunctional teams in an 18 team comp eventually costs everyone. Look at how many dud games were played last week. The AFL had manipulated the FIXture in the first 8 or 9 rounds that had the top 8 teams from last year taking each other on so there were numerous blockbusters for the night games and at least competitive matches down the bottom (Dees excluded). From now on there are going to be a lot of one sided matches that does nothing for the AFL brand and Its saleability. Equalisation is in everyone's interests

We have little or no choice but to trust in this man's judgement. If he gets it wrong we are RS. But his advice to give Neeld time is cause for some optimism i believe. I assume PJ has spoken to all stakeholders, assistant coaches, senior players, FD people to ascertain what is really going on. If he has discovered that everyone is working together as a team then why sack the coach unless you have a Paul Roos waiting in the room next door. If on the other hand if PJ had found that assistant coaches were critical of Neeld's methods or senior players were not on board, surely he would have advised immediate action to the board? If everyone is now working together, however inefficiently, given CS's dysfunctional FD structure, you have to stick with it till year's end.

I did not go this week. I could not face the prospect of a likely 150 point drubbing. In some sense the outcome was a win but really how did we get here? My wife went who is a Hawks supporter but at least I dropped her off at the ground but I could not sit through another drubbing from the Hawks. How many would that be? My explanation was why would I go and see team that can't win but also dull! No Javoviches! No schwartes, no Nietzes, etc. nothing to get your enthusiasm. No Robbie Flower off the wing, no Garry Hardeman off half back. That is my problem, we a getting pumped every week but there is no one to inspire! Maybe Howe but that is it. Was

Hold on am I hearing the first reservations on Hogan? His stammering kicking for goal approach! Are we heading toward another NQR recruit? please tell me no!