I’ve said it time and time again over the past few years: Melbourne is in trouble. It’s sad that I’ve been saying it for so long.
I can’t describe, with all the words in the Macquarie Dictionary, how shocking this once proud club is. Disgusting? Conceited? Abhorrent? Amateur?
Yeah, amateur is probably the most apt description.
And this isn’t about their 60-point thrashing at the hands of the Gold Coast Suns. This is about the last few years.
About a time when a stalwart of the club, a Brownlow Medallist, club president, a larger-than-life figure in Australian and Irish society, lost his battle with cancer.
If the inspirational Jim Stynes couldn’t get these guys motivated, nothing will.
The players don’t seem interested. They look like they’d rather be down at the pub having a chicken parmi and a pale ale than be getting paid $230,000 a year to play the game they love in one of the greatest stadiums in the world on an almost weekly basis.
Nathan Jones and possibly Jack Viney are the only ones who give a toss. Those boys deserve a far better environment in which to ply their trade.
Former Melbourne player Garry Lyon said last year that he wouldn’t want his kids playing football for Port Adelaide and he couldn’t understand why any parent would want their child to play with Port.
Yet I haven’t heard much about how his own club is performing. “Oh yeah, they’re in a bad spot. But I have faith in the people who lead the club,” is about as far as it goes.
Nice one, Gaz.
Port was in trouble, but they’ve always had a strong culture and just needed someone to throw them a rope. What a dramatic turnaround we’ve witnessed. They have new sponsors, a new coach, a new president, 40,000 members, you name it.
The club is gaining back respect and will become a strong team in the competition in the next couple of years.
And sure, Port was belted from pillar to post. They lost coaches.
They had a sub-standard playing list. Their skills were forlorn at best. They weren’t fit enough.
They almost had no option but to concede defeat. But those guys tried their guts out most weeks.
Melbourne is different.
They have a number of capable footballers. Starting from a solid defence which includes former All-Australian James Frawley and co-captain Jack Grimes, leading up to a good midfield with Jones, Colin Sylvia, and the other co-captain Jack Trengove, filtering into a potentially damaging forward line including Chris Dawes and Mitch Clark. Melbourne has something to build a good team around.
But these blokes just don’t want it enough. They’re happy to cruise through their careers, take home a nice sum of cash, and continue to be labelled as AFL footballers.
Then there’s the administration. Do you think a few blokes who have a Master of Business Administration from the University of Melbourne and are a vital source of business for many of the cafés in Southbank can save this club from impending doom?
They need better players. Hungrier players. Players who play for the jumper and not for the sole purpose of making their bank accounts look healthier.
I’d start with cleaning out the recruiting department. All those top picks, yet there are no A-graders running around the place.
Then I’d focus on changing the culture. Coach Mark Neeld needs to be steadfast in his approach. There shouldn’t be any of this “good effort” stuff, but a resolute assault on players’ attitudes and their skills.
Drill into them that complacency and a lack of effort will not be tolerated. Assure that no free passes are to be given.
Just because your name is Mitch Clark and you earn $700,000 a year doesn’t mean that effort can go out the window and you still get a permanent position at full-forward.
And thirdly; give Neeld free reign to do whatever the hell he wants. If he wants to recruit a four-foot gimp to play on the half back flank, so be it. Neeld is a good coach and has been dealt a harsh blow with such an abhorrent list.
Let’s face it: the four-foot gimp would probably put in more of an effort than most players at the club anyway.
That’s how little I think of Melbourne.
I won’t rattle on about Melbourne’s poor crowds. The fact that 14,000 people are willing to sit in the cold Melbourne weather for three hours to watch their team perform with such ineptitude is nothing short of a miracle.
You couldn’t pay me $50 and shout me a beer in the Members Reserve to watch Melbourne play.
If Melbourne get rid of the moronic administration, the inept players, and Garry Lyon, then add a better playing list with an improved attitude, and a confident Neeld, that could see Melbourne possibly make the top 15 in 2014!
And then slowly make their way up the ladder over the next four decades, periodically claiming they’re in a rebuilding stage.
Melbourne being perennial underachievers is so protracted it’s basically a sociological cliché for describing poor attitude and an unwillingness to compete.
When Geelong’s Andrew Mackie sledged North Melbourne by asking his teammates whether they “still get four points for beating these blokes”, he should have saved the sentiment for Melbourne, to reinforce the discontent about how such a terrible team is allowed to compete in a professional competition.
Yeah, I have been harsh, and many of you will throw a few choice words my way. The Roar is an opinion site after all. But I think my opinion is warranted.
I have watched this team astutely, hoping by the grace of Moco, the Samoan Bird King, that they might get into gear.
Barring the last quarter of the match versus Greater Western Sydney, my hopes have been shot down like a quail on an all-boys trip in British Columbia.
Irrespective of my fervent soliloquy on the Melbourne Football Club, the question remains: will they improve?
I wait with bated breath.
Ken black
Guest
To the president resign and let us see if Jeff can improve our club and get rid of the coach and those that selected him. Or legal action will be take.
Warren
Guest
There is an old saying in sport 'The way you train is the way you play' It is quite obvious as a long suffering supporter that the inept preparation, training and structure in the team is the full responsibility of the COACH. Lets pray that Mr Jackson has the will to put us all out of our misery. Mr Neeld has to be retired.
EDsta
Guest
No Rodney is South Australian and it's definitely Parmi here although 'schnitty' is starting to gain popularity as well.
Byron
Guest
I can't watch a game of footy without demons playing like under 15 year olds. We need to help the team we may not be footy coaches but we love footy and melbourne supporters we gonna make a change . 1. We should demand a coach who has more experience and put mark as co coach so he learns. 2. Must fire the board and get better recruiters. 3. Start now or we will never see a grandfinal in our life time. 4. We must do something as fans and supporters we can't expect idiots from melbourne to know what too do for us.
Sam of Pertg
Guest
The draft system no longer ensures that teams that bottom out will benefit and return to the top within 3 or 4 yrs. Expansion teams have certainly taken the cream of the young crop right when Melbourne needed it but the greed of the AFL will ensure they'll struggle for far longer. There's more the AFL can do for struggling sides than give them draft picks, in recent years West Coast and Adelaide have bolted from the bottom 3 to the top 3 in the space of a season, Port Adelaide had been handed all the momentum they need to do the same this year, unfortunately the struggling Melbourne sides don't receive these draws, if the Kangaroos scrape into the 8 and lose their first final by 100+ points they are handed the 2nd toughest draw in the comp meanwhile Sydney and Adelaide the teams that finish premiers and 3rd get softer draws. Why? Because of television tights and the dollar. Sadly the savings and bulldogs have a minimum 18 year cycle before they return to the top, isay minimum because I have to expect that the NSW and Qld sides won be allowed to be out of contention for nearly 2 decades so they'll continually be thrust up top every 5 yrs or so leaving long suffering supporters of lesser Melbourne clubs to wait 25 year cycles or even watch their teams die or be sent to expansion areas
Ben
Guest
You simply stated that melbournes midfield was good, none of this capability to form the basis crap! What does that even mean? Don't change your words around to suit your argument. Regarding malthouses endorsements of Neeld, it's been widely written now that perhaps he does this to bring Nathan Buckley down a peg. I personally think that theory has some legs. Regardless, it is obvious that their is a disconnect with the players and the coach. It's not the results that I'm judging Neeld solely on, it's the complete lack of fight shown, i would have thought that obvious. Having a good football brain doesnt make you a good communicator with young adults either. Your anology about architecture was cute, but irrelevant. If Neeld is the architect then the demons resemble something akin to federation square( ugly to look at and hasnt got better over time!).
Myles Stedman
Roar Guru
You're right, but... *sigh* yawn...I've read this a thousand times before.
Bogga
Guest
What a load of garbage. At what point do the senior players at Melbourne need to take responsibility? Moloney and McLean are better in different environments, but not because of Neeld, but because of the players at Melbourne who keep the toxic culture alive, despite Neelds' or anyone's efforts. It seems pretty obvious when they picked young captains that they knew they needed to change the culture completely. Sack those responsible, but sack them completely from the club, not just to Casey, but payout the contract and tell them not to bother ever turning up again. The only problem is that further exposes the young list to scruitiny which might kill their careers. It also diminshes their value in the trade market (although this point is almost gone because who would take anyone out of that rabble?) All Neeld has to do is identify them and get rid of them.
Bogga
Guest
Brock McLean gives more than any of the current players. Melbourne have nobody to blame but themselves. Their tanking is the most direct cause of their dire situation.
Bogga
Guest
Nobody would take over, it's coaching career suicide. They got the best man for the job. It will take a decade to turn that mob around with the drafting regulations and concessions to the new teams. If I was Melbourne, i'd adopt a similar approach to GWS and GC, in that some retired/delisted players from other clubs are worth more with their experience and hardness than some 3rd round draft pick to add to the ever growing list of 'potential'. Byrnes is a good start, not a great player (or he'd be at a better club) but he knows what it takes to be the best. That guy that went from Geelong to Hawthorn should have been on their radar too. Anyone delisted from Hawthorn, Sydney or Geelong this year should be immediately snapped up. Those guys will have the determination to make it, rather than the assumption that they've made it simply by being drafted in the first place.
Rodney Penny
Roar Pro
I've seen Mark Neeld on Fox Footy talking about how he goes about his business and what he plans to implement. AFL Insider has shown Melbourne's structures and they've looked solid and cogent. Coaching any AFL team is never easy. Mick Malthouse has publicly stated that Neeld has one of the best footy brains he has ever seen. And I know that this may come as a shock to you, but a bloke who's been coaching for decades and has won multiple premierships in the Australian Football League probably has a better understanding of what makes a good coach than you do. Melbourne's midfield, as I said, have the capability to form the basis for a good one. Players like Sylvia, Jones, Viney and Jack Trengove are all capable footballers. They just need to put in more effort and gain some confidence. Once Melbourne start recruiting well, they'll be able to rise up the ladder. And I think you may be the clueless one. You look at results as being the sole determination for a coaches' worth. There are so many variables in sport, well in life really; which means that you need to think abstractly before making absolute statements. Think about it this way: An architect may be able to design a really nice house, but unless you get a team of good builders around you and use quality materials, the house won't be a strong one. The coach needs to be given time to implement his plan, and with a group who actually wants to put in the hard yards. That much is a certainty.
Shmick
Guest
At the pub it's called a "parma". I think that was the point of the comment above.
Ben
Guest
Yes Melbourne are clueless, but so are some of your opinions. On what basis do you conclude that Neeld is a "good coach?". He had it easy at Collingwood and now he's had the opposite. Knowone expected miracles with the current list however the dees have somehow managed to go backwards in his 18 months at the club. That seemed impossible to fathom at the time of his recruitment. And your assessment of melbournes midfield as being good is laughable! Clearly it is the worst midfield in the comp by some margin and that's been clear for some time. The lack or effort is an indictment on the coaches ability to inspire his players.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
MacLardy first!
Nathan of Perth
Guest
At the end of the year they need to move away from youth. Find those desperate for their chance to play on the greatest stage, those on the outer at clubs, fighting to get ahead, those giving their all in the state leagues. Just find players who *want to play*. Half the current playing list doesn't seem to care and you need people who will throw themselves at a chance for glory. At least you know they'll put the effort in or die trying. Better a player with second-rate abilities who will leave it all out on the field than a talented kid who is able to run back to the showers with 50% left in the tank.
Nathan of Perth
Guest
It has to be "My way or the highway" Even if he tells them that even if they think he'll be out the door and they don't have to listen to him, there is nothing to stop him from delisting them mid-way through the year so if they don't shape up they won't last to see the new coach anyway. He needs to excommunicate some players anyway - there are members of that playing group that are a cancer. I can't tell who they are but you can see the effect, insidious and destructive. It reeks of a culture gone wrong and players sabotaging those around them.
Jimbo
Guest
I think if the attitude changed, minus any input from skills, then a remarkable change would occur. Chasing, tackling, harrassing, head over the ball, fanatical desire to win the ball does not take any great skill. A coach should inspire, build his players up, make them positive, feel empowered, make them want to win. it does not matter which way he does it, the players playing for themselves, their grandfather, the coach or their kid sister, the coach must find a way.
Brent Ford
Roar Guru
It's to create a balance, so that the teams who are struggling can get some decent talent. For example St.Kilda at the moment if they continue the way they are going they will get a decent draft pick that will help them hopefully in the future be competitive again. But in no shape or form are they by any means tanking to get the draft pick, as they have been more than competitive this year. Melbourne was just too dumb to realise that people would pick up on what they were doing and it backfired on them big time.
Strummer Jones
Guest
Didnt Dees upset Bombers last year?
Strummer Jones
Guest
Agree. I think his contract finishes up in 2014. I think they might have to keep him on unless there is a player revolt. Realistically though, if the top rated coach in the land took over Melb, I doubt he'd be able to turn this mob around.