Speaking on the back of his side’s 69-point loss against the Adelaide Crows at the MCG, Neeld said it needed to keep persisting with its long term plans for sustained success in the future.
“We need to put as many games as we can into our younger kids, and they need another tough pre-season,” he said.
“The ability to play four quarters against men and guys that have been around for a while - you just need those severely hardened bodies and we don’t have enough at the moment.”
Reflecting on the loss against the Crows, Neeld said the Adelaide side it played was vastly different to the one coached by Neil Craig, now Melbourne’s director of sports performance.
“Adelaide has changed the way that they play. That sort of stuff is really for the finals, when you’re battling top four - you can tinker with that,” he said.
“We’re still back with a young group, instilling the necessity to ingrain a few basic fundamentals, which aren’t there yet and we’ll get that over time.
“Realistically, you’re talking about tricks and tactics, but when you’re coaching an inexperienced side up against that - we chose not to go down that path.”
Neeld said he was pleased with his side’s first quarter effort. But he praised Adelaide on its performance, in particular key forwards Taylor Walker and Kurt Tippett, plus ruckman Sam Jacobs.
“Some of the first quarter was as good as we’ve gone about it for a while,” he said.
“I didn’t enjoy it from an opposition coach’s point of view, but from a football follower, I thought [Sam] Jacobs’ ruck work was outstanding.
“He’ll cause some trouble in September, if he can deliver that to those midfielders. He had plus 15 hit outs to advantage - that’s a reasonable day at the office - but that’s for the opposition.”
