He could barely have endured a more difficult week, with the 'he said, he said' race furore involving one of his players and an AFL official.
Coming after a shock loss to the Brisbane Lions and the death of Jim Stynes, it wasn't quite the week he needed.
After Saturday's match in Perth, Neeld described the week's events as 'interesting' before giving an insight into his part in the week's events.
"There's been a lot of articles written ... it feels like I've been in a Seinfeld episode with a whole lot of words about absolutely nothing," Neeld said.
"I was amazed. There were articles in the paper, at least in Melbourne, for five days in a row about an event that never existed."
He said it was impossible to know how the off-field dramas had affected the players but wanted to look forward.
"I just think today there were some certain positives," Neeld said.
"We'll take those out of the game, but certainly use the loss as an educational tool, which I think is really important.
"The morale is good. The players have an ability to understand where they're at.
"You don't condone being beaten by that much, but you've got to use it as an education and give them targets, and continually go through things."
Neeld couldn't help but compliment an Eagles side that looks more and more a genuine premiership chance in 2012.
"They are an outstanding footy side. They're very slick, their ball movement, we all know their defensive structure ... we were all very impressed with the Eagles," he said.
"We don't condone the loss, no one likes to go through that, that's tough yards. But to see a side such as the Eagles up close for a lot of our young players, in the end is going to be a good thing.
"I thought, in particular the first half, there were some passages of play where our ball movement was pretty good.
"I thought that our effort to move the ball quickly, we certainly increased our uncontested possessions, and that was a focus coming into it.
"There were some passages of play where I thought; 'Okay, a few of the young boys are starting to get it'.
"I think in the position we're in, it's just about know your role, play your role and keep educating and keep pushing high AFL standards."
