COACH Mark Neeld says he was rapt to see forward Aaron Davey produce his best match during his time at the club, when the 2009 best and fairest winner booted three goals against Richmond at the MCG last Sunday.

Speaking on the Coach’s Office, Neeld said Davey had worked hard to return to the type of form he showed in round eight.  

“Aaron has been playing through a lot of pain and injury over the last three years,” he said.

“He’s worked really, really hard with David Misson to get himself in to that physical condition, now that we can see him running out more AFL games.

“This is the first game for the season in the AFL that Aaron has got himself to a fitness level where he didn’t need to be subbed and that’s great. He’s been working his backside off … what we saw on the weekend, we’re hoping we see more of that.”

Neeld said Davey’s performance against the Tigers helped lift the younger players.

“The role that he’s playing with the younger boys – and I don’t want to overplay it to the extent that he’s a development coach, but he’s almost playing that role around the football club,” he said.

“That’s really good, because he’s up for it and he’s enthusiastic, and if he can continue with his fitness regime, it keeps him in the AFL side … and that’s good for everybody.”

Meanwhile, Neeld clarified his ‘three to five years’ comment from last week, when he stressed that it was how long it can take individual players to play at a consistent level – not the length of time it will take the team to rise again.

“People were saying ‘do we have to wait five years?’ he said.

“We were talking about individual players, and the point was made that we had 13 guys under that bracket play on the weekend and we had six [players] play under 10 games on the weekend.

“Our unique situation is that we’re bringing in a whole heap of young players together.”

Neeld said players nearing or around the 100-game mark were also taking their game to another level. He highlighted defender Colin Garland as one example.

“The consistency of Colin Garland – he’s new in that 100-game mark and he’s in the most consistent form of his life,” he said.

“It was about individuals and that’s been misconstrued by a couple of people who are running off saying ‘the whole club needs five years’. You’ve just got to make sure that you get the whole detail of what is said.

“I’ve heard Brendan McCartney talking about that, and Mark Thompson also adding into the debate.”