SO, AFTER another bitterly disappointing result, the noise remains around the Melbourne Football Club.

A certain amount can be ignored from within, but the overwhelming external force demands that some will be heard – regardless of the situation.

This certainly struck a chord with acting co-captain Nathan Jones, who spoke about the club’s situation following Melbourne’s 95-point loss to Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday.

“It’s difficult and it’s hard to ignore it completely. We’re aware of it, but you just have to ignore the papers you read and the TV shows you watch,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“It’s a tough one, because in some circumstances, it’s warranted and I understand the frustrations from the supporters and people who want to see the club move forward.

“You’ve got to look at it in realistic circumstances, and I think I deal with it. I’m able to accept the realistic nature of where we are as a group, so it’s easy for me to understand that and it’s harder for people out of the footy club to grasp that.”

For coach Mark Neeld, the scrutiny has been immense.

But despite being caught in the heat of it all, he remains steadfast that his revamped list can make a genuine long-term impact.

“The talented group of young players who walked through the door last November has a terrific attitude to want to be good,” he said.

“They have a good work ethic and good leadership equals hope and a way out.”

Neeld reiterated that standards had to be set when he arrived at the club and that it simply had to address key areas, which are still being built on today.  

“Our first priority was training standards and AFL lifestyle,” he said.

“Our second one was player leadership and our third one was recruiting.

“Within the recruiting, [we said] ‘go young’.”

Neeld said the long term plan started with last year’s recruiting, when Melbourne selected Jesse Hogan (eligible for 2014) and Jimmy Toumpas.

“If the criteria was to win 12 games by now, I don’t think we would’ve taken Jesse Hogan at pick 3 and we sure as hell wouldn’t have taken a kid who’d had two hip operations at pick 4 (Jimmy Toumpas),” he said.

“Again, that’s the internal and external constant communication.

“As much as I like you blokes (the media), I don’t have as much communication with you guys as I do with the board.”

Pressed further, Neeld said he had a “really clear vision” of the club and where it was heading.      

“We haven’t hidden that from anybody. We believe we’re assembling a really good list that will take us forward,” he said.

“We’re not hiding from the fact that we’re particularly upset to get beaten by that much, but we’re realistic as well. We’re running around with a development team of [an average of] 50 [matches per players]. We want to get better than that.

“Most people are pretty realistic.”