Earl Hood

The more I read these posts the more I believe CS and Gaz were looking more for a pliable Drill Sargent of a coach such as newby Neeld than they were for an established senior coach such as Clarkson or Lyon. Neeld duly came in with a set of orders to deal with the recalcitrant senior players who had objected to CS and his influence. Add to the conspiracy when we learn from PJ that everyone was reporting thru CS! Classic control freak, micro managing stuff that will paralyse any department. When Clarkson says he wasn't Approached but Gaz says he was, I start to wonder who I should believe. Even Sheedy said when interviewed for the Bailey job that there were too many conditions for his liking! Was CS on that panel?

Older Demon I think I heard this on FC as well. Why take Dawes when we need a mid field! however when I think back what established midfielders were up for grabs? I don't think there were many. What we should have done of course is draft Wines at 4 and not Jim T. We drafted for the future with Hogan and Barry. Wines was ready to go with man's body whereas Jimmy needs time. I hope he turns out to be a gem but MFC does not have time, we need results, we need to be competive now! Wines is also a competitive beast, it is not as if we don't need this type in spades!

Anyone can explain Tapscotts problems? Every time we think we may have a goer they falter. He looks the goods but goes missing every second match. Do we need to move on yet again?

Ayers may be the one. He has been there before and can use an assistant coach to understand the intricacies of the modern game. I think man on man might work well for the first half of next season. Is it that complicated to get competitive? I suspect not. In short we won't attract any super coach I can think of to coach this rabble of a list and club.

Just make it happen and leave open the option of doing a GWS. Yes you can play as well if you are fit to play but we want you as a long term coach.

Could not agree more with expansion clubs, free agency and players on contracts just saying thy want out,MFC and the other smaller, less achieving clubs are in big trouble. The AFL is looking at a two tier league where every second game is a blow out. That will effect the brand and what they can demand for TV rights. The big clubs will just continue to top up with FA recruits to keep them competitive. The lower sides will get what is left and have to pay overs for that as well. The AFL now hates the priority pick after its tanking investigation but I reckon you need a double dose of priorities going to the lower sides to get some equity in the competition.

I think I meant coach Allan Jeans by the way in my earlier message! I had not been aware of the Neil McMullin incident. Thank heavens as it would only add to my pathological, ilogical hatred of the Hawks. You see my problem is my wife is a 35 year hawks member as are her parents and some of my best friends. I struggle to speak though gritted teeth when discussing the latest Hawks win these days. I dread the match in two weeks time!!!

RTU I don't know but if a half decent mid fielder comes up on the radar at the end of the season out of contract or free agency I would chase them. I wonder if that player would be a better option than another untried potential star that we seem to always slide past in the draft for a skinny kind who needs the sort of development that only Geelong and West Coast can deliver.

Yes was it the Giles king hit I remember behind the play where several Melbourne players had the opportunity to put Lethal into next week (Brent Crosswell comes to mind) but all they did was scragg him to the ground?? And of course I remember that when coach Alan Joyce was questioned his response was "I didn't see the incident". Of course Lethal would be a great player today but he might not have played too many games. Nor would have Dipper for that matter.

Must admit I am trembling at the thought of this game. I hate the Hawks for all the things they have done to us over the years since 1987 ( Here I am not even including the king hits from Lethal on Steven Smith and was it Peter Giles?) I think this could be a 200 point blow out because their precision kicking game will tear us to apart. Our battlers no matter their endeavour on the day will struggle big time.

Given outr track record with top 10 draft picks maybe we look at what established mid fielders there are available next year that we could trade for!

If the old adage "any publicity is good publicity" held true, in the last two years Sponsers should have been flocking to us.. What other team has had as much air time for all the wrong reasons, as us? Tanking, floggings on the field, sackings, Danks, no matter what the current controversy is you can be confident that we will be involved. This should be our marketing vision to prospective sponsors!

Is it that hard to run into the 20 meter space in front of every backman trying to find a wy out of our back line? So few times do players run to provide an option; it kills our backman trying to kick out of trouble. It is all about confidence I suppose. .

Matt Jones great game in Melbourne terms I mean. He had go and got down and dirty, nothing flashy just hard work.

The other point about Blease is that even though I have bagged his kicking he is a proactive, attacking player in contrast to our players last week who were reactive at best, witch hats at worst against the Suns. Maybe we should be playing a Kid who at least takes the game on and live with his errors?

Agree we need his skill set in the team but watching Casey today what is going on with his kicking? Blease looked beautifully balanced with the ball today only to repeatedly deliver it straight onto the chest of an opposition player. His kicking action looks brilliant but his aim is appalling.

Could a first year player win the Bluey? This year any thing is possible!

He is guilty of an un disciplined act but sh#t he showed some passion and utter frustration at what was unfolding. From where I was sitting in the Ponsford there was precious little of the same from the others except the Jones's, viney and Howe and few others. At least at times he was proactive in a side full of reactive passengers who were acting like bit players in some type of Sun's training drill. He may never live up to his potential but I don't think we have the luxury to send him packing at years end but then he is free to go if he gets an offer.

Personally I have never liked the Bombers but I am totally sick of Geelong and their father-sons and other freak players they unearth every year. And don't start me on Joel Selwood! If only he had gone to one of the struggling clubs who need his type, such as us or the doggies. No player development was involved with Joel he was A grade from day one. Go Essendon sort of! But I see their getting Bath now so forget it.

Is Hogan to be our Cantana? Minus any flying Karate kicks of course.

Good one but they missed the usual " It is my understanding that (insert name) position is now untenable.......

Reply to Robbie F Can we just stick to the short term this year when we get some early picks. We don't have a long term future at this rate. I dread our coming matches against the top sides, it will be embarrassing. We need to parachute in at least two hard nut midfielder/leader types next season but where they would come from and why they would come here I have no idea? I don't get paid the big bucks to work this out unlike our management. As has been pointed out our players get roughly similar pay to the Hawks and Cats players, I mean does Neeld sit them down to show them a replay of a Hawks match and the frenetic intensity in every match? What do our guys think AFL is about? We all just ask for intensity, tackle, chase, harass. That doesn't take talent just a bit of heart.

We desperately need a long term injury to get Magner on the playing list. I think he is must option for the mid field for matches coming up. He and jordie are needed to stem the carnage when we face the top sides. I don't want Mitch to be the out please.

Anyone remember a game against the bulldogs in 2010 when Scully got 39 possessions and we lost by about 9 points and there were three calls on the goal umpire that cost us 3 goals. It's happened to us before.