Mark Neeld has been guaranteed his job, and Melbourne’s hierarchy have vowed to rally around their embattled coach despite the club producing one of modern AFL’s most inept performances on Saturday night.
The Demons were smashed by 148 points by Essendon at the MCG in a dire display bound to spark a week in a white-hot spotlight.
Most of their players looked hopelessly out of form, some were accused of not trying, and they had virtually no winners on a night they kicked a pitiful 1.1 for the entire second half.
But despite Neeld’s team being battered on every statistical measure and appearing to have regressed on his watch, Melbourne’s most senior off-field figures publicly threw their full support behind the coach on Sunday.
Demons president Don McLardy has vowed Neeld won’t be sacked, saying knee-jerk reactions to the crisis would be counter-productive.
And senior club officials Cameron Schwab and Neil Craig also said they would rally around Neeld, who has another two years left on his contract.
“We’re not going to look at sacking coaches and going down that line at all,” McLardy told the Nine Network’s Sunday Footy Show.
“What we saw last week and this week was a long way from acceptable.
“But we’ve got to be really strong here … I’m certain we’ve got the right team. What we don’t want is instability in our football club.
“One of the key things in a football club is stability and trust in your people – and we have that.
“The worst thing we can do is panic and not trust in the people and the process we’ve got in place.”
A shell-shocked Neeld looked completely without post-match answers for the display – admitting the club was trying to “rebuild a rebuild” after a long period in the wilderness.
Chief executive Schwab admitted the Demons faced a “serious challenge” after their woeful start to the season.
The Demons’ whipping by Essendon followed a 79-point season-opening loss to Port Adelaide the previous week, and the club has also lived through an off-season dogged by tanking allegations stretching back to 2009.
“The one thing he (Neeld) can be confident of is he has our full support,” Schwab told Melbourne radio station Triple M.
Neeld has won just four of his 24 games in charge, with an average losing margin of around 10 goals.
But further strengthening his position was his most likely short-term replacement in the event of a sacking ruling himself out.
Demons sports performance director and former Adelaide coach Craig pledged his full support for Neeld, and ruled out ever taking on another senior coaching role.
Neeld has implored supporters to keep faith and vowed to shuffle underperforming players until he finds a competitive unit.
“I feel what they’re feeling – and that’s no consolation to our supporters,” Neeld said.
“I’m still confident we’ve got a core group of players – they’re working their backsides off to become AFL standard.
“We’ve got to get the whole club going that way.
“That’s a hard thing for supporters to hear, I understand that. We’re having a crack at trying to rebuild a rebuild.
“It’s going to be painful. We just need to find the players that are consistently up for the fight – shuffle them in and shuffle them out.
“There’s no easy way out. That’s clear.”
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.
There’s no disputing that Cam Guthrie will be important against Melbourne, given Patrick Dangerfield is set to miss due to injury.
Collingwood led by a point with minutes to go, Kyle Langford had the chance to be the hero with a set shot, however, he missed, and we saw the first draw of the season.
The AFL has confirmed the right decision was made after a ball ricocheted off a boundary umpire's leg during the third quarter of Melbourne's…
There's an old saying that you should never argue with an idiot, because they'll drag you down to their level and then beat you…
Round 5 of the AFL provided plenty of action, from big scorelines to upset wins and pressure starting to build on some clubs and coaches already.
Brisbane forward Charlie Cameron has been handed a one-match suspension for a dangerous tackle on Jake Lever during the Lions' Thursday night win over…
