It seems it’s just a matter of time until Mark Neeld is sacked as coach of the Melbourne Football Club but the main reason it hasn’t happened earlier is because there is no alternative. Here are five coaches the Demons need to flip heaven and hell to sign.
For the past couple of years, young coaches have been targeted across the league. It has been received well with player-coach relations having a large impact on team success.
The Demons attempted it with an untried senior coach when the signed Mark Need and well, look how that turned out.
Going for a coach who will be ‘friends’ with the players will not work at Melbourne. It didn’t work with Neeld which was evident by his players. They are not willing to play for him.
They need to seek external candidates because Todd Viney and Neil Craig can’t do the job. If they could, they’d already be doing it.
Garry Lyon has no experience coaching beyond under-12ss so throwing his name in the hat is a waste of paper.
It’s time to go old school.
It’s time to go with someone with senior coaching experience.
It’s time to go with someone who commands respect.
It’s time to go with someone who has rebuilt a team.
In no particular order, these are five men who meet the criteria.
Mark Thompson
When he walked out on Geelong after winning two flags he said he would never coach again. A few months later, he signed with Essendon and was the highest paid assistant coach the league had ever seen.
Throughout his days, ‘Bomber’ Thompson has often cited the stress of being a senior coach as draining. It was his main reason for leaving Geelong if you believe Essendon did not have a gentleman’s agreement prior to his departure.
Thompson has now proven he’ll sell himself out for the right figure and Melbourne should take advantage of that.
He took over Geelong in 2000 and they made the finals in Thompson’s first season but missed out for the next three.
This was their rebuilding stage when the foundations for the dynasty were built. From there, they Cats just grew bigger and stronger each year.
Rodney Eade
‘Rocket’ Eade was given his nickname based on his aggressive nature. He has no fear of unleashing on players and calling them out if he thinks they are not giving their absolute all. Someone needs to do that at Melbourne.
He is currently holding the Director of Coaching position at Collingwood and it is still yet to be determined what he actually does.
There’s a very good chance he’ll take up an opportunity to coach his third AFL team.
His work in Sydney was good but the team didn’t really need rebuilding. His best work came at the Western Bulldogs when he took over the team when they finished 14th.
They then slowly worked their way up the ladder under Eade to make three consecutive preliminary finals.
Mark Williams
Whoever takes over Melbourne needs to look at them as if they were an expansion team. They will have an incredibly young list once the chunk of mediocre 20-something’s are delisted and Mark Williams is the most experience man when it comes to expansion teams.
He is currently an assistant coach at Richmond but was hard done by not to be given the GWS senior coaching job this year.
As a result, he departed and landed at Tigerland so that is an indication of his desire to gain a senior coaching job once more.
While we’ll never really know how influential ‘Choco’ was at GWS, interviews with their players suggest they had plenty of respect for him and his football knowledge.
His greatest success came at Port Adelaide when he took the team to the 2004 premiership, seven years after they joined the AFL.
When Williams took over in 1999, Port Adelaide made the finals in his first year as coach and the team’s third in the league.
Port Adelaide was highly competitive for seven consecutive years under Williams, missing the finals just once. Williams did plenty with very little at Port Adelaide and Melbourne is in a similar position.
Dean Laidley
He coached North Melbourne from 2003 – 2009 after Dennis Pagan resigned. Laidley took over the Kangaroos during a mass exodus from the club when a handful of club legends departed.
He missed the finals in his first two seasons as coach but got there in his third. In his fifth season, he took the Kangaroos to a preliminary final defeat which was the furthest he ever got. Nonetheless, he rebuilt the team and laid the foundations for the current team.
It is Laidley’s experience as an assistant which gets him on this list though. After his departure from North Melbourne, he joined Port Adelaide as an assistant coach during a time of turmoil at Alberton.
They were rebuilding and doing a terrible job of it which led to the sackings of Mark Williams and Matthew Primus.
After two years there, he joined St Kilda who are in a rebuilding phase and also doing a terrible job of it.
With stints at two other clubs undergoing rebuilding phases and failing to do so, Laidley knows exactly what not to do.
Paul Roos
Many consider him the best coach who has the potential to become available but his acumen is very similar to Neeld. He is a teacher of players and one of the calmest men to ever enter a coaches box.
Roos returned Sydney to finals football in just his second year at the helm and kept them there for the next five. With his youngest son about to finish high school, Roos is open to a return to coaching.
He makes a considerable income as a member of the media and will be one of the priciest targets on this list.
The Paul Roos style of football would be the most unique in the league and the tough nature of it would be a big ask for Melbourne’s small bodies to adapt.
Suggestions that he is the best potential coach available are premature.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
Looking at it from outside, I tend to agree. There isn't a lot the coaching staff can do with the current player group. Give him another two yers to turn the bulk of the list over and see where things sit. If, in mid-2015, Melbourne are not competitive against good tams and winning some games against mid-level then its time to go; but just turning over the coach yet again and starting out a new plan is probably going to lead to the same result. Somebody has to be given some faith and time to develop what is a poor list, albeit performing even worse than ability suggests.
David Lazzaro
Roar Pro
I'm not convinced either way on Mark Neeld's coaching ability. Has there ever been a coach who's had to deal with more controversy and distraction in his first 18 months than Neeld? The passing of the President, the ridiculously long running tanking saga, the clear dissension within the club management and board have, along with a poor recruiting and development program, made his job almost impossible.
Connor
Roar Rookie
At least, sir, you have lived to see a premiership.
Callam P
Roar Pro
Of course Sheedy's achievements greatly exceed everyone you've mentioned. By some way too. Given Sheedy's ability to deflect and experience developing kids he would have been the perfect coach for Melbourne back in 2008. But unfortunately they were too distracted by 'new always being better'.
Seano
Guest
Rocket got his nickname because of the speed he ran in his playing days.
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
None of these people listed are club managers. The Dees problems aren't recent, they are cumulative over a period of a couple of decades. It's the club management that needs a saviour. If you put another coach in then you are addressing the symptoms only.
Chairman Kaga
Guest
Surprised Rupert Murdoch was not mentioned. He is afterall a former Melbourne number 1 ticket holder and stinking rich with the ability to manipulate the entire competition to his whim like he does with governments in Britain and in particular Australia.
Choc
Guest
Compassion for the man (neeld) is all that stops me screaming for his head and he is not alone . Clean out from the top down , mclardy - nice guy - don't need nice guys . We don't need people who feel at home suited up in the long room. We need men of action and we need to pay for them otherwise we are gone. Maybe the 30% of mcc who support the deez could put their hands in their pockets, . We need a coach who has the players respect like we need a captain who has the teams respect , not 2 juniors . Leigh Matthews sign him up now ! Neeld can stay on ins support role - he is still learning his trade
Dean
Guest
The problem with a no-compromise coach like ROos or Eade is that so many of the team are inept and there is so little depth. To drop somebody for not towing the line only means you bring in an untried 18-19 yr old who's probably struggling to get a kick in the VFL. Team performances get worse and everyone looks worse. It's basically what Neeld's doing, because it's the only remedy. Thompson wouldn't bother, he quit when the cats were at their peak to return to his home club. Why would he then take on the responsibility of the worst team in AFL/VFL history to be pummelled by the media every week? Not a chance, for any money. I agree that Laidley and Ratten would be the best bet, but also with Williams or the other as a very high paid deputy. They're such a rabble, I don't think one coach is enough. If it takes 2 minutes to point out to each player their ineptness for the previous half, you can't compound that for all of the MFC inept 22 by a single person. Williams' experience at GWS would be crucial.
Alfred Chan
Expert
A man certainly worthy of consideration! But, Matthews last coached a game in 2008. Paul Roos is in a very similar situation but is 12 years junior of Matthews who is 61 years old. If you want outright uncompromising, Leigh Matthews is worth his weight in gold. From what I remember of Matthews' days as Brisbane's coach, the uncompromising way is the only way he knows. Melbourne will have the youngest list in the competition and Matthews has not been in constant communication with youngsters for the past five years, where as all the others have held assistant coaching roles around the league where they are still mentors. I wouldn't rule him out though.
Uncle
Guest
I hear what you are all saying. However you can't build a house if you don't have enough bricks ! Take a look at our side. We have had the greatest opportunity to recruit over the last few years with the top draft picks. Take a look at the opposition today with the likes of Kennedy (3 goals), Thomas etc coming into their team because of Collingwood's many, many outs. Where were our recruiter sin the past five years ? Sack them and get some people in who know how to recruit footballers. One good quarter - so what. This seems to be the pattern every week. 2nd quarter no one felt like picking players up because they thought well one quarter is enough ! This seems to be acceptable at the great Melbourne Football Club. As I have said previously, I have followed the Demons for 60 years and I have never seen such pathetic effort for a full game than this year. There has got to be a reason and I think it starts with the coaching staff followed by the recruiting staff. Maybe "Bloody Jeff" is on the right track - bring in some positive thinking and get rid of the complacency of the stiff shirts on the Melbourne Board and get back to the real "ground zero" of what football clubs are all about.
Andy_Roo
Roar Guru
Melbourne need a tough uncompromising coach. Rebuilding the list and weeding out the players who are not good enough is a difficult job and one that only an experienced coach can hope to succeed at. I have one other name to add to the list of possible coaches for the Demons Leigh Matthews.
Connor
Roar Rookie
Cheers. Being a Dees supporter, you have to be positive all the time.
PK1960
Guest
Great to read such incisive, intelligent commentary on the Dees current predicament(Richard). No doubt the culture of the place needs to change dramatically and people who suggest that change will come about by sacking the coach do not understand football clubs as a business. MFC could do a lot worse than trying to learn from successful sports businesses. Although on a much smaller scale, their cousins at MCC have taken all before them in the Premier Cricket season just past. The MCC on field successes were not a fluke but the result of the development of a culture driven by strong leadership and identified values and commitment to those values by all stakeholders from the captain coach to waterboy.
Alfred Chan
Expert
It's a tough time to be a Demon's supporter and it's great to see a fan standing up for Neeld because we all know there's plenty calling for the axe on him. Unfortunately though, the only thing keeping him in the job is his contract and if the Demons sack him right now, it will cost $1m+ in severance which is money the Dees don't have right now. On top of that it will cost about $1m per season to get a coach capable of turning the team around. I will admit his treatment is unfair but the exact same thing happened at Richmond when Terry Wallace was sacked midseason. At least we have not see Neeld on the front page with the title "Death Row" yet. Connor, hang in there and just hope for the best!
Alfred Chan
Expert
Ratten was the next person on my list. There's a lot of similarities between Carlton's abundance of high draft picks and Melbourne's but I don't believe he is anywhere near as revered as the coaches I mentioned. They are all considerably older than Ratten but I don't agree that they are past their prime. They are all still very alert and provide decent insight when speaking to the media. I can't say the same for Kevin Sheedy.... Mick Malthouse is 59 and still one of the best tacticians in the league. The average senior coach age in AFL is quite low in my opinion. I consider American Football to be a more complicated game than Australian Football and more than half of the NFL head coaches are 50+. My point is, I believe the prime coaching age in the AFL is 40-60. Brett Ratten is 41. Dean Laidley is 46. Paul Roos, Mark Thompson are 49. Mark Williams is 54 Rodney Eade is 55.
Strummer Jones
Guest
The old "Barassi saved Sydney" line again. Poor old Eade, Plugger, Cresswell, Maxfield et al should simply have stayed home and watched Barrasi save the club single-handedly (if you consider 12 wins from 44 games as 'saving' a club).
Connor
Roar Rookie
Agreed with your comment about change at the top. Peter Jackson does look like someone who can get things done. I wouldn't say write Neeld off, because he hasn't inherited a very good list. You never know, maybe Neeld might become a coaching great, provided the club and the supporters stick by him.
Richard
Roar Guru
Actually, and I hate to say it as a Collingwood man, but I reckon there is one experienced coach who could do a great job at Melbourne if they first get the club leadership right, and that's Brett Ratten. I have a lot of respect for what he was able to deliver in rebuilding at Carlton. As part of a new leadership and culture at the Dees, he's a man I'd like to have on the team.
Richard
Roar Guru
You're looking backwards and that's no way to go forward. The five you mentioned have already given their best. And anyway I doubt any of the above could do the job at Melbourne any better than Neeld. Mark Thompson success came at Geelong because he had a solid well managed and well led club around him. He's a loose cannon who needs strong managing himself. He wouldn't get that at Melbourne just now. Rodney Eade is a renowned tactician, and has had reasonable success as a coach it's true. But he would have a long battle at Melbourne which is not yet well led and, at his age, I doubt he would enjoy starting again from the beginning. I don't think he has the hunger. Mark Willams was the cause of much divisiveness at both Port Adelaide and GWS. I don't think he's the man you want to appoint to bring your club back together. Dean Laidley is another supposedly renowned tactician who doesn't have the ticker to be a head coach. Paul Roos, his success was because he was the right man at the right time at Sydney. The timing was perfect for him. But he won't take the job because he's a smart man, he knows his limitations and he has no history at Melbourne to make it the right time for him. The change at Melbourne needs to come from the top. They've been stuffing around for a long time now. The appointment of Jackson is a good start. They need to appoint a new Chair, a new Board and get the culture right. I reckon Neeld might have to go in the end. But it's not the time yet to bring in a new coach. And when they do at Melbourne they need to have an eye to the future.