‘FROM little things, big things grow’.

So goes the saying, and the title, of a Paul Kelly song.

And that was exactly the theme that emanated from Mark Neeld’s post-match media conference, following his side’s 94-point loss to the West Coast Eagles at the MCG on Saturday. In fact, it’s harder to remember a more positive post-match ‘presser’ from any coach following a near 100-point defeat or from a team that has lost its first three matches by an average of 107 points.

On the back of a 148-point loss to Essendon at the MCG in round two – the club’s third greatest ever loss – Neeld said he simply had to look for ‘little wins’, which he found following an extraordinary week.

“This week at our football club, I reckon we learnt so much about each other and some of the things we went through. I was asked by the 3AW lads ‘was it the worst week of your life?’ I tried to explain to them that it was an amazing week,” Neeld said.

“Craigy (Neil Craig) and I on Monday night met 10 volunteers who arrived at our footy club, who told us that they didn’t have any money to spare, and they couldn’t tip in any money to help us pay back whatever financial things were written in the paper that day. But what they gave us was three hours of their time.

“They got on the phone and they rang up some members who hadn’t renewed from the previous year and pleaded with them and they got 30 people to sign up.”

That ‘little win’ earlier in the week was backed up by a competitive first half against West Coast. Granted, the Demons were poor in the third term – booting 1.1 to 11.3 – but after trailing by just 10 points against a genuine premiership contender it was another ‘small win’ on the back of a intensely scrutinised week.

The fact that Melbourne was in front at the 19 minute mark of the second term was a genuine tick, given it hadn’t even got close to Essendon – aside from about 15 minutes in the opening term – last weekend.

But for the moment, any ‘little win’ needs to be acknowledged and encouraged, according to Neeld.

“When we arrived at the footy club, it was certainly under the instruction to rebuild the entire football department from the ground up,” he said. 

“We’re still in that mode, and it’s going to be a rollercoaster ride at times. History shows that when you’re dealing with a young group and you’re rebuilding an organisation – that’s what it looks like.

“Did I realise it was going to be this difficult? No, I didn’t. But I don’t think anyone did.”

Neeld suggested another ‘little win’ came from Melbourne’s overnight stay at Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula in the lead up to his side’s clash against West Coast. The Demons escaped the football rat-race for a quick getaway to break the bubble. From that experience, Neeld saw some telling moments and a genuine care for all concerned.

“I sat around and saw some young leaders, like Nathan [Jones], Jack [Grimes] and Jack [Trengove] conduct some serious chat and some serious discussions,” he said.

“That was wonderful to be a part of … some of the things that I heard come out of these guys’ mouths, with the respect given to their teammates and to the club and where they want to go to – that certainly reinforced my belief in these guys.”

The support that has also come from the red and blue faithful wasn’t lost on Neeld either.

He was genuinely heartened by the show of strength from the Melbourne fans who turned up to the club’s Friday training session at Gosch’s Paddock. It was clear that this was also another ‘little win’ for Neeld.

“At training, my hat goes off to the 400 Melbourne supporters who turned up. I must admit, I had a bit of a flutter in my heart when I walked out with Craigy and saw the people there. I said ‘Oh wow, there’s two ways this is going to go’. And then I heard them singing the club song,” he said.

“We’re finding out now that we might not be able to compare with some of the big clubs, in terms of volume and pure number of supporters, but the ones we’ve got - I reckon they understand what the word support means.

“I shared some of the emails [with the players and coaches] … 75 per cent said ‘stick at it, we know where you’re at and we know you’ve started again’, so let’s go. It was a life experience, but a positive one for the footy club.”