Melbourne players out of excuses

Colin Sylvia must decide if he wants to be a key player for Melbourne. Source: Herald Sun

MELBOURNE'S players seem to be an extraordinarily sensitive lot.

In 2010 they whispered in corridors and at secret meetings with president Don McLardy as their season turned to rot.

They complained about a split football department, about the actions of chief executive Cameron Schwab and bemoaned the lack of support for coach Dean Bailey.

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Then they effectively had their beloved coach sacked in one foul afternoon in 2011 at Skilled Stadium when their words of support proved empty. In the past 18 months they have had to endure plenty under Bailey's replacement Mark Neeld - support structures they held dear were stripped away and a massive dose of tough love administered.

Eventually, they got their man, with Neeld's downfall expedited by, if not a player revolt, then at least deep dissatisfaction with him on many levels.

Now two coaches are gone, and the Demons are a laughing stock.

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Can it scarcely be possible that the collection of humble champions, premiership players and superstars at Geelong are paid the same $9.139 million salary cap as Melbourne?

It is inarguable the Demons have been let down by poor coaching, a crumbling administration and poor development.

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But enough of the excuses.

The next 10 weeks will show how many players actually value their careers as highly paid professional players.

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Right now, Colin Garland, Nathan Jones, Jeremy Howe and only a handful of others refuse to allow excuses, and poor teammates, and tough circumstances, affect their performance.

Way too many Demons have a kitbag of excuses on show when the going gets tough.

The coach is mean to me. The forward-line delivery isn't good enough. The player development is lacking.

Now it is time for the tail to stop wagging the dog.

Time for the players to realise it is their careers on the line, too.

We hear Jack Watts is under-developed and played out of position.

Yet has Watts ever gone away during the off-season and attacked the weights and training track like a man possessed, taking responsibility for his own career?

Who at Melbourne has done what Jobe Watson did at Essendon, ntsGreinventing his body shape and nteputting the onus on himself to save a career on the fast track to nowhere?

Nathan Jones does that, playing like an animal who could be dropped at any moment, never to return to the AFL.

Does Sam Blease?

Or fellow high-draft pick Luke Tapscott?

Or Cam Pedersen, given a three-year deal but showing no signs of repaying the faith?

Does Colin Sylvia, who is on track to becoming a great wasted talent?

Mark Jamar was All-Australian in 2010, and was apparently mystified when ruck coach David Loats was sacked by Neeld.

But is Jamar happy to coast along on a three-year deal, or does he devote every waking hour to leading this football club?

"Karma is a bitch,'' former Melbourne midfielder Brent Moloney wrote of Neeld's sacking.

Yet Moloney is another who allowed himself to be sucked down into mediocrity under Neeld.

Neeld felt Moloney simply refused to play to any game plan that did not include him getting every hitout from Jamar.

Neeld preached the benefits of a varied midfield setup that also gave Jack Trengove, Jordie McKenzie and the young kids a chance to receive Jamar's centre-square largesse.

Neeld pushed that mantra mid-week.

Moloney continually circumvented it mid-game, demanding his teammates ignore Neeld.

So Neeld pushed him out, never to return.

He might be laughing at Neeld, but now it is Moloney getting tagged out of the game in a weak Brisbane midfield. 

Time for Melbourne's list to grow up.

To realise they better start justifying the inflated pay packets they are handed, or a new coach will simply tear those contracts up and push them out the door.

Fitzroy simply ceased to exist despite fighting to the end.

Melbourne has beaten one club bar the two expansion sides in its past 33 games of football.

Extraordinary.

Does the coach need to take some blame? Sure.

But now he is gone, and the blowtorch turns firmly to a playing list that has nowhere left to hide.

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