A QUESTION was posed to coach Mark Neeld post-match on Sunday evening.

How should we (ie. the media/football public) judge Melbourne after the side’s 60 point loss to Gold Coast Suns at the MCG, and its sixth loss of the season?

For Neeld, he couldn’t hide the reality of the situation, but was resolute in his belief to get the job done for the future.  

“Certainly, there’s been some ups and downs. We thought we were clearly making some inroads, but today we didn’t. We took those two steps back,” he said.

“Big picture stuff – again, we’ve taken the field with around 50 games of experience. You’re talking in terms of AFL experience – that’s nursery stuff … and people know we’re going to have some ups and downs.

“We’re clearly in a development phase. For supporters to hear that it’s a second rebuild – it is what it is – and you can’t dress that up any other way, but the majority of people get that and understand that.”

Soon after, Neeld was asked if he had the talent at his disposal. He mentioned several names, such as new/young Demons Jack Viney, Matt Jones, Dean Terlich, Michael Evans and Max Gawn as those to give hope for the future. But he was also realistic about where the club’s list is at.

“There has been a lot of talk this week from different clubs about ‘how long does it take a player to develop in the AFL?’ What the coaches are saying is ‘somewhere between three and five years’. That’s 60 to 100 games,” Neeld said.

“We don’t have the 150 to 200-game players, but we’re educating the next batch and that’s where it’s at.”

Neeld added he was “absolutely” still up for the fight, and was capable of dragging the club out of its current position.

“Everyone knows in 18 months since you’ve been here, with some of the things that have happened at the footy club – it’s been a life experience for all of us,” he said.

“But we’re still here and we’re up for it – absolutely up for it.”

Neeld was also confident that new chief executive Peter Jackson had the experience, nous and leadership to understand and rectify the situation.

“He’s a very insightful guy and he’s got a lot of experience. Certainly, already in a week, working with Peter has broadened everyone’s minds and that was certainly one of the discussions he had with me,” he said of the 13-year former Essendon chief executive.

“Coaches and players – we all have the type of personality where at times, you think you’re bullet proof and I’ll get in here [in a media conference] and you guys will ask me ‘did this affect the performance?’ We think we’re doing the right thing by saying ‘of course not, don’t be ridiculous, we are professional and we keep our mind on the job and we come out with all of those quotes’.

“But Peter challenged [us by saying] ‘we might be football coaches and we might be experienced footy players like Nathan [Jones] and we do what we can to keep the eye on the ball, so to speak’. But he made me think about some things that happened. We’re also human.”

Neeld said Jackson’s judgment of the club – and ultimately his forecast to make changes across the Demons – would be done methodically and with as much information as possible.

“Some of the work that he’s doing, he’s very educated and experienced - he’s seen it all before and some of the questions that he’s asking are the correct ones, no doubt. He’s not a 10 game CEO. He’s seen a lot of this stuff before,” he said

“He said to me that he’s really excited by the challenge, and he’s a very truthful guy. I don’t want to be self-indulgent, but I got to sit in a room during the week with Peter Jackson and Neil Craig to talk about footy and footy experiences and how it all works.

“They’re the types of guys who will get as much information as they possibly can, before making decisions and before saying ‘this is the structure that we need’. The best decisions with regards to structures are made in that manner.”