ALTHOUGH finals are now far from coach Mark Neeld’s mind this season, he is adamant that Melbourne’s last seven rounds of the season are crucial for its future.
Speaking on The Coach’s Office on DeeTV, Neeld said that the Demons were “certainly not going to let the season peter out”.
“We’ve got a lot to play for and ours is certainly a long term plan, so there’s a lot of individual and team things to play for,” he said.
“AFL is what it is - we know that the list will change and there is still two months of senior footy to confirm decisions one way or another.”
Although Neeld has strong thoughts on the list, he said it was far from settled in terms of who remains, and who is delisted at the end of the season.
“We’re certainly working our way through that and we pay the utmost respect to the players here - we’re coaching them really hard and they’re training really hard to develop their games,” he said.
“But the reality of AFL footy is that you must have a minimum of three changes to your list to enable us to pick in the National Draft. All clubs are going through that - a really in-depth list analysis and we’re exactly the same as everyone else.
“It’s a really important seven games for our club and our individual players.”
Neeld said the off-season would be a hectic period, given the introduction of free agency this year. But he said the club will be meticulous in its player recruitment and retention at the season’s end.
“We probably expected an initial spike in player movement, and that’s going to be natural. There are 80-odd players on that list and we’re going through each one like every other club, and trying to formulate if there are any players that fit the criteria to what we need,” he said.
“We’ll make some decisions on a whole lot of things - there’s free agency, trading and there are draft picks and it’s a busy time, October.
“But first and foremost, we’ve got to coach our current list as hard and as properly as we possibly can.”
Looking ahead to Saturday night’s clash against Port Adelaide at TIO Stadium in Darwin, Neeld said the Demons would be forced to make two changes, given the injuries to ruckman Mark Jamar (calf) and speedster Jamie Bennell (knee).
“We need to work out which way we go with our ruck division this week, whether it’s Jake Spencer, Jack Fitzpatrick or Stefan Martin,” he said.
“We’ll have two forced changes - Mark Jamar and Jamie Bennell - and at this stage, we’re hoping they’re the only ones we have to make.
“But as the week progresses, we’ll see how everyone has pulled up and what the plans are, and see what information we can glean as to what Port Adelaide may or may not do. At this stage, we’re hoping that it’s probably just the two changes.”
Neeld said utility Jamie Bennell would undergo knee surgery on Wednesday.
“We’ll give him as much support as we can, and make sure that everything is around him and that he can cope with that,” he said.
“Once the operation settles, we’ll talk to him about what his rehab looks like.”
But Neeld was pleased with the return of defender James Strauss, who gained a late call-up for the first time since suffering a nasty leg break late last season. Neeld said Strauss’ challenge was to back up this round.
“James has been back for a month in the VFL, and he got a late call up on the weekend and we were pleased with what he did,” he said.
“We were quite pleased with his output and he’s a good ball-user, is James.
“It’s good to see someone who suffered quite a serious break in his leg to come back and then cover the way he did.”
Speaking on The Coach’s Office on DeeTV, Neeld said that the Demons were “certainly not going to let the season peter out”.
“We’ve got a lot to play for and ours is certainly a long term plan, so there’s a lot of individual and team things to play for,” he said.
“AFL is what it is - we know that the list will change and there is still two months of senior footy to confirm decisions one way or another.”
Although Neeld has strong thoughts on the list, he said it was far from settled in terms of who remains, and who is delisted at the end of the season.
“We’re certainly working our way through that and we pay the utmost respect to the players here - we’re coaching them really hard and they’re training really hard to develop their games,” he said.
“But the reality of AFL footy is that you must have a minimum of three changes to your list to enable us to pick in the National Draft. All clubs are going through that - a really in-depth list analysis and we’re exactly the same as everyone else.
“It’s a really important seven games for our club and our individual players.”
Neeld said the off-season would be a hectic period, given the introduction of free agency this year. But he said the club will be meticulous in its player recruitment and retention at the season’s end.
“We probably expected an initial spike in player movement, and that’s going to be natural. There are 80-odd players on that list and we’re going through each one like every other club, and trying to formulate if there are any players that fit the criteria to what we need,” he said.
“We’ll make some decisions on a whole lot of things - there’s free agency, trading and there are draft picks and it’s a busy time, October.
“But first and foremost, we’ve got to coach our current list as hard and as properly as we possibly can.”
Looking ahead to Saturday night’s clash against Port Adelaide at TIO Stadium in Darwin, Neeld said the Demons would be forced to make two changes, given the injuries to ruckman Mark Jamar (calf) and speedster Jamie Bennell (knee).
“We need to work out which way we go with our ruck division this week, whether it’s Jake Spencer, Jack Fitzpatrick or Stefan Martin,” he said.
“We’ll have two forced changes - Mark Jamar and Jamie Bennell - and at this stage, we’re hoping they’re the only ones we have to make.
“But as the week progresses, we’ll see how everyone has pulled up and what the plans are, and see what information we can glean as to what Port Adelaide may or may not do. At this stage, we’re hoping that it’s probably just the two changes.”
Neeld said utility Jamie Bennell would undergo knee surgery on Wednesday.
“We’ll give him as much support as we can, and make sure that everything is around him and that he can cope with that,” he said.
“Once the operation settles, we’ll talk to him about what his rehab looks like.”
But Neeld was pleased with the return of defender James Strauss, who gained a late call-up for the first time since suffering a nasty leg break late last season. Neeld said Strauss’ challenge was to back up this round.
“James has been back for a month in the VFL, and he got a late call up on the weekend and we were pleased with what he did,” he said.
“We were quite pleased with his output and he’s a good ball-user, is James.
“It’s good to see someone who suffered quite a serious break in his leg to come back and then cover the way he did.”
