COACH Mark Neeld says scrutiny on his future is “absolutely” part of being a senior AFL coach.

Speaking to The Coach’s Office on DeeTV, Neeld said he couldn’t control “the external noise” and was simply focused on coaching the third least experienced side, in terms of games experience, in the competition.

“My role at the football club is to coach the football side – to coach a developing football side,” he said.

“I’ve got a year and a half of a contract to go, which is the first stage of redeveloping the footy club, and I intend to uphold my end of the bargain.

“My job is to coach a footy team and a club, and I can’t control those external noises.”

Neeld said he was optimistic about the club’s future prospects, highlighting some recent performances in the VFL.

“Jesse Hogan, who can’t play yet, kicked five goals and we’ve got another young player, who has missed a lot through illness and injury in Jack Fitzpatrick, and he’s had a really good month. He’s going to put his name up for senior selection this week,” he said.

“We’ve got guys like Dean Kent who went back into the VFL and played particularly well, and we know that we’ve got guys like [Jimmy] Toumpas and [Jack] Viney on our injury list, along with Mitch [Clark], and when they all come together and come through, there’s certainly the makings of a really strong competitive outfit.

“We’re privy to the changes, in terms of the player application from Monday to Friday that other people don’t see, but we are bringing a developing side together in one go and that’s the role.”

Neeld said this Sunday’s clash against top of the table team Hawthorn was a great challenge for the Demons.

“They’re certainly a well respected outfit, and have got some very experienced players - the opportunity for our boys to go out against them for two hours is the best development that we can get.”

Meanwhile, Neeld spoke about the situation that occurred during the second quarter of last Sunday’s 90-point loss to Fremantle at Patersons Stadium, when the Melbourne coaches’ box lost communication to its interchange bench.

 “It changes what you’re doing, but it has no impact on the outcome of the game. In terms of utilising every available minute, when we are coaching a developing side, you need every available minute to make them better. We just lost a little bit of that because it’s very difficult to see down there,” he said.

“It created, again, some challenges that happen from time to time in the AFL. The positive would be that our IT boys had to perform some IT miracles under extreme pressure and one day they might have to do that as the side moves up the ladder, so it’s probably good practice for them.

“It’s not an ideal situation, but again you’ve just got to be flexible and roll with it.”