Neeld says Dees must focus on long-term

24 May 2012, 11:43 am   -   Source: AAP

Seeking quick fixes to Melbourne's AFL problems is wrong, and they are heading in the right direction long-term, says under-fire coach Mark Neeld.

Melbourne coach Mark Neeld says the embattled Demons must resist the temptation to seek knee-jerk quick fixes to their AFL problems.

Neeld insisted on Thursday he has the right long-term vision for the Demons, the right game-plan and players capable of carrying it out, despite his team being winless in their first eight matches this season.

The Demons - and in many quarters Neeld - have come in for fierce criticism this week following the team's woeful performance in their 101-point hammering by Sydney last weekend.

Neeld, who received public backing from club president Don McLardy this week, says short-term measures and chopping and changing week by week is not the way forward.

Instead he is adamant the Demons are headed in the right direction, his young captains Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove are the right men for the job, and his players are learning how to properly execute his tactics.

"You guys (media) get to analyse every Saturday what is a short-term result. We're certainly focusing on the performances on the weekend, but what we're focusing on is behaviours and actions which are going to lead to change," Neeld said on Thursday.

"If we jump from scoreboard to scoreboard and make short-term reactions, the chances of having sustained change for the better diminish."

This weekend the Demons face a fired-up Carlton - also criticised after a drubbing by Adelaide last Sunday but in a sounder place both on the ladder and in terms of player quality.

Neeld admitted the performance against the Swans was unacceptable, but believed it wasn't a major backward step for the Demons going into Sunday's clash with Carlton at the MCG.

"Because it's eight weeks into what's going to be a long time ... it's an ongoing process," Neeld said.

"The week before against the Hawks, the second and the last quarters were a step back and on the weekend, the way we rebounded from that was not good.

"We've had two and a half games we thought were really poor efforts, but in among that there's been some competitive efforts we've been pleased with.

"We don't think we're as far away as clearly the general feeling is."

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube