Back in the chair
After 166 matches as Adelaide coach from 2004-11, Neil Craig was back in the top job, leading Melbourne for the first time, following the departure of Mark Neeld. Despite a couple of years since coaching the Crows for the last time, Craig said the “chair’s tough to sit in” still. “It hasn’t changed. It’s the same emotions and same feelings,” he said. “With Mark finishing – it’s been a big week for Mark. I’ve got great empathy for him in what he’s going through. But for myself, the hardest coaches I’ve had over the time have [all] had a thing called experience, so having done it for seven years previously, to sit in and do it, [I was] probably the appropriate person for the next 11 weeks.” Craig said he still “loves AFL footy. It’s the best competition in the world. I’ve always gravitated towards high performance sport – Australian football in general, but AFL in particular has been very good to me, individually to me as a person. Whether AFL senior coaching is still for me, I guess that’s part of personal indulgence – to use the next 10 weeks to actually get more clarity on that. Whoever sits in the chair next year, you have to have the passion to do it. It’s the passion and enthusiasm that you need that keeps coming up. It’s a tough industry, so that’ll work itself out.”

Craig empathises with Neeld
Given Craig has experienced the demands and pressures at the highest level, he has “great empathy” for what Neeld has gone through in recent times. “What he’s gone through in the public arena – high performance sport is a bit like that, but it doesn’t make it right,” he said. “I also feel for the players … Jack Watts has had four coaches in five years. No, you don’t want to expose players to that. That’s not what high performance sport is about. I have great empathy for them - I want to care for them for the rest of the year and we need to play some better footy, because that’s where the real enjoyment comes – from playing fiercely competitive footy.”

Coach impressed with youngsters
A handful of players, including Jimmy Toumpas, Tom McDonald, Jake Spencer and Jack Watts earned strong praise from Craig post-match, although he said it was imperative that they continued to develop not just individuals, but as a team. “Jimmy [Toumpas] is slowly adjusting to the speed of the game. He’ll be a fine player, Jimmy Toumpas,” he said. “Don’t worry about Tom McDonald. He’ll be a long term player for this football club, Tommy McDonald. We all know where Nick [Riewoldt] stands in the competition, so he (McDonald) was good [on Riewoldt]. I thought Jake Spencer in the ruck was pretty good today. I thought Jack [Watts] was very good in his role as well. You can argue that on our development of individuals, but we need to also develop as a team, because individuals are not going to win it for us … we need to make sure we develop as a team – that’s part of our development as a club as well.”

Clisby impresses on debut
The boy from Broken Hill produced a fine first-up performance, winning 24 disposals from defence. The 23 year-old said he “didn’t expect to play that well”, but he was delighted to don the red and blue and is hoping it will be the start of a strong future at the club. “I just wanted to go out there and play my role for the team and hopefully get a good result,” he said. “I ended up getting the ball in my hands a lot more than I thought I would, so I just want to improve on that going forward. I want to turn one game into many.”

Garland continues his consistent form
Garland has produced a consistent season for the Demons and could be right up there in the club’s best and fairest voting for the Keith ‘Bluey’ Truscott Memorial Trophy. His past three matches have been particularly good. Against the Saints, he was awarded 144 Champion Data points – easily the most for the Demons as their best performer. He had 28 disposals, one shy of his career best 29 against Gold Coast in round 23, 2011. He has also continued to develop as a leader in 2013.