Effort. It’s the one thing AFL supporters demand from their players at the expense of all else. At times, with a developing side, it’s the only thing.
What Melbourne’s players excreted yesterday was an unforgiveable sin.
The keys are desire. Competitiveness. Work ethic.
Showing the fans a willingness to be better without the ball than they are with it. Chasing. Tackling. Harassing. Players putting their bodies on the line as if their teammates, the club and the game mean something to them.
We all recognise skill errors are going to be made. We acknowledge that new game plans take a while to understand and implement. We’re cognisant of the fact that sometimes players and teams can be a little bit off on a given day.
Adelaide were apathetic. Brisbane were bad.
But Melbourne were utterly uncompetitive against a visiting interstate side, Port Adelaide, that won only five games last year. It was an abject, atrocious display that showed not one iota of the qualities described above.
“I simply want to coach the team that is hardest to play against in the AFL.” This was Mark Neeld’s most telling and memorable statement after he was announced as the Demons’ senior coach in September of 2011.
If his statement is still true, he needs to be filling out job applications for 17 other clubs. Right now, 23 games into his tenure, Melbourne would be lucky to be the hardest team to play against in amateur football.
It’s been two years since Carlton’s Mitch Robinson famously derided the Dees as playing “bruise-free football”, supposedly sparking rage and indignation within the Melbourne camp.
What the hell has changed in the meantime?
The only thing that’s changed, as far as I can tell, is Melbourne supporters have become more dispirited, more disenfranchised, more disappointed in their club.
Load up every damning, negative and condescending word you can think of, and every one could describe this club, and this team.
Disgraceful. Disgusting. Gutless.
Colin Sylvia probably has more talent in his little finger than a lot of players in the AFL, let alone at his club, have in their entire bodies. He was the most experienced Melbourne man on the ground yesterday, in his tenth season of senior football.
His numbers look okay, with 20 touches, six marks and a few tackles. He may well be thinking that it’s not his fault, he did his bit.
But this would be a thought process unworthy of a team game. It is his fault. He didn’t do his bit.
The last quarter, with his team having been blown away, was the ideal time to show some leadership. To show he hadn’t given up. To show he could be an example when the ball was delivered to him with only Tom Jonas, of 13 games experience, as opposition.
Jonas got the better of the one-on-one body contest in the air, found the leather on the ground, released the handball, and followed up his possession with hard running to provide another link in the chain before hitting a target with his kick.
Sylvia was seen dawdling along some metres behind, uninterested.
Anyone can lose a contest. It’s what you do afterwards that defines you. It’s time for this sorry footballer to be dropped to the reserves for a lengthy spell, as he’s symbolic of everything that’s wrong with this football club.
Perhaps more first-gamers like Jack Viney and Matt Jones need promotion.
We’d heard a lot about Viney before his debut, having been pumped up seemingly from birth. He delivered a performance of hardness, heart and passion, attacking each contest with the vigour of a starving animal seeking prey. It was unlike Melbourne in every way.
Viney led the side in contested possessions, doing the work in close, and Jones led them in uncontested, running hard to create options for his teammates on the rare occasions they were able to keep the ball.
Thank goodness that Viney has come along to give the supporters something to cling to. We can only assume a pall of sadness has overcome these pitiable, disconsolate figures, and every member is to be commended for their loyalty in the face of such horror.
They say too much can be read into round one but this can’t be passed off as an aberration.
Earlier this month, Neeld was quoted as saying “We are very bullish about the future.”
Try telling that to your paying members and fans now Mark. Because not a single one of them is.
Ultimate Ella Fan
Guest
I was watching an NFL documentary about famous coach Jimmy Johnson and the selections he made in 1989 that really turned the Dallas Cowboys around. Look at the players Melbourne invested in the last few years... players like Jordie McKenzie??? What's with giving blokes like that a shot in the AFL? He should be playing local football. Just a mediocre side that will finish last this year.
melville
Guest
maybe they finish nintheenth
Nathan of Perth
Guest
"Now they wonder why they have a club without that killer instinct to win and a club that isn’t mentally up to the task." Absolutely spot-on. A coach can teach a hatred of losing during a losing streak, but they cannot do it whilst they are deliberately self-sabotaging. You can't look a person whom you have played out of position in the eyes and say you can't accept that failure. You just can't do it.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Neeld is the man for the job I think, but Melbourne FC desperately, desperately needs a no-joke wave of sackings through the front office and much of the football department. So much poison in the veins of that club from these years of failure. If Neeld gets it before Connolly it will be a DEBACLE and a TRAVESTY.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Oops, should have read your comment before replying to Matt...
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Would have for him to be like Watts where you look at him and think that another team with a harder nosed environment and he might have been someone.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
Have they? Have they REALLY? I'd suggest they've only been building for the past year. The years before that were just self-immolation.
langou
Roar Guru
I don’t often call for people to be sacked however Chris Connolly and anyone else involved in the ‘tanking’ debacle needs to go. The best footy they have played in the last five years was during the middle period of 2009 and what did they do? They decided that having one extra young player was more important than the following 1) Giving Dean Baily a chance to prove his coaching credentials 2) Giving senior players a chance to show they could still play alongside the youngsters 3) Building a winning culture 4) Making youngsters earn their spot 5) Giving players more opportunity to play in their preferred position Now they wonder why they have a club without that killer instinct to win and a club that isn’t mentally up to the task. If they want to change from a losing culture to a winning culture they need to get rid of the blokes who sold the clubs soul for the sake of a 17 year-old who may or may not be a good footballer.
D.Large
Guest
On the money Brendon, Port's effort and hardness were very good I really hope they can push on this year. Wines was fantastic and without question will be a quality player going forward. I'm not entirely sure Port 'unearthed' him though; rather they were poor enough last year to have the fortune of getting to draft him with an early pick.
D.Large
Guest
As a perennial Demon hater since the famous Jordan McMahon goal at the siren in the Rich v Melb game, Sunday's humiliation was just another wonderful day at the office. It is actually inconceivable that this was the performance of a round one team trying to get back respect.
Steele
Guest
I hear you, Gianni. I usually buy my membership at the "G" Round one, however I had freebies yesterday so I put it on hold. After that performance I may not bother at all now. I just can't justify forking out 150 bucks on something that gives me so little in return. #canonlytakesomuch.
congo
Guest
get rid of everyone at the club and start again they are hopeless..
Gianni
Guest
When people ask me what team I go for I'm very reluctant to tell them I'm a "d's supporter". The players Have no idea how it feels to be a supporter. I don't buy a membership because its a waste of money. And to be honest I wouldn't spend $21.50 to watch Melbourne again and I consider that poo change. So in hine say a $1.19 is a ripoff to see any of those players
The Umpire Strikes Back
Guest
Maybe this is all an over reaction. Port may well turn out to be the best team in the comp! If so, the loss won't look that bad. Doesn't anyone remember 2007 when Port started the season by knocking off two favourites? Just a thought.
Radelaide
Guest
It's the culture of the club, it's like if a melbourne and carlton player were vying for the same girl in a night club the dees player would probably give up due to thinking she won't go for me over the confident up himself carlton player and thats the way it will pan out.
Cameron Rose
Expert
Pretty well summed up Brendon. The word about Port was that Hinkley had installed a hard-edge to Port and it was evident based on yesterday's performance. I thought Port would win because they'd set themselves for this in a big way under the new coach. They won every facet of the game, but it's hard to judge based on Melbourne's inspid effort. Port have a genuine chance to go 2-0, and should against GWS. Then it's Adelaide after they've travelled back from Brisbane, so there is a real shot at a flying start. Round 3 will tell us more about Port, and I want to see 100% commitment for 100% of every game. Wines was every bit as impressive as Viney, and no doubt they're games would have been the same even if they swapped sides. Viney had to carry the Dee's, but Wines looks cut from the same cloth. As for Hartlett, I've loved everything about him for some time. He'll be a top ten player in the comp at some stage in his career.
Brendon
Guest
I'm a rabid Port supporter and even I feel quite sorry for Melbourne, but our win yesterday was born out of desperation and a will to regain respect from the rest of the competition, I saw none of this from Melbourne, given the clubs were considered to be around the same level, Ports improvement is a damning indictment on the Demons. Last year by all accounts our training sessions were second rate, players not taking drills seriously, no punishment for skill errors, jogging to the ball etc. This year our training has been at game day intensity with skill errors punished, players being made to turn up on time and a fitness coach that really makes the boys work. One has to wonder how Melbourne train? Maybe Neeld is like Primus, to soft? I heard someone on the radio who was at the game this morning that said that Port were out on the ground early yesterday with an intense warm up, Melbourne came on, did a couple of drills and a few slow jogs and that was it. That screams bad coaching to me. Having said all of that, Port were magnificent and we've unearthed a genuine star in Ollie Wines, get's his own ball and we've got to many other good midfielders now to put a tag on him. We can see the light, I can only hope that Melbourne supporters get to feel the same way, and sooner rather than later.
Brendon
Guest
They've been rebuilding for 5 years
Brendan
Guest
I don't agree with you Cam. Melbourne were worse than you described. I was there.
Cameron Rose
Expert
Hard to know after one match, but Viney already seems like one out of the box, especially in light of his supposed comments in the rooms after the game. Who knows how Trengove, Watts, Grimes, or any of their highly rated draft picks would have performed if taken into a culture like Geelong or Sydney rather than the cancerous Melbourne. Maybe they'd already be considered guns of the comp. Viney may well be the one who has to carry this team on his back to contend a decade from now.