MB: Mark thanks for your time. It’s been an incredible week. The celebration and farewell of Jim Stynes has been held and you’re preparing for round one. It’s a remarkable situation and far from the norm for someone about to make their debut as an AFL coach.
MN: No, it’s not the norm, however, when things like this happen, it’s really good to stop and check and understand reality. Football is very much a passion for the supporters and it’s also a passion for the coaches and the players. It is our job, and it is our occupation.
Things such as the passing of someone who is only 45 years of age, who meant a lot to a lot of people, your occupation at times pales into insignificance, when things like this come up - and so it should.
MB: You mentioned how you stop and check for a moment. In an incredibly hectic club environment, have you had the opportunity to reflect on Jim, given you’re a similar age and you’ve played against him and later became colleagues?
Assistant coaches: (L-R) Paul Satterley, Brian Royal, Mark Neeld and Leigh Brown
MN: The outpouring of emotion and tributes that have gone Jim and Sam’s (Stynes) way, everyone I speak to about it - they’ve done the same thing. They’ve had a moment to sit and reflect. We’re not talking about the average footballer.
The outpouring of grief and tributes and thanks for life - he’s touched so many people in so many different ways, in so many different backgrounds from the work that he’s done. From a personal level, when someone passes that you know, you can’t help but reflect a little bit.
MB: How do you think the loss of Jim will impact the club?
MN: The administration part of the football club - they’ll take a significant amount of time to get over Jim’s passing. They worked with him pretty closely for a number of years. He’s made his mark very strongly over there [at the MCG]. Being involved in an onfield performance part of the club - we have a clearly defined role.
On Saturday, we get to go into battle against the Brisbane Lions and we know what our role is. It’s an onfield performance role. In a way, it might be a little bit easier for the players to play their role.
We do feel a lot for his family and other close friends and work colleagues, who don’t have that immediate outlet. Time will tell, and everybody deals with grief and the passing of people in different ways.
MB: Football is so consuming and so many people want your time. How do you gain your own space to deal with situations like Jim’s passing?
Mark Neeld speaks to the players at quarter-time against Hawthorn
MN: Right now, it’s still very much trial and error. I realise the importance of being able to do that. Everyone is quite willing with their advice to say that you need to find time for yourself, find time for your family, and you must find time to be a participant in the wider community.
I’m aware of those bits of advice, but it’s difficult. It’s really difficult. It’s something that no doubt I’m going to get better at.
MB: I’m not sure if there would be too many coaches - let alone a first year senior coach - who have had to deal with the passing of a club legend and the situation Liam Jurrah has faced. How do you deal with these issues?
MN: It’s an interesting start [as a senior coach], but life is what it is. You need to be able to deal with the cards that you’re dealt. My role as a footy coach - that pales into insignificance [compared to] what Sam Stynes and her family are currently going through. It also pales into insignificance against the community issues that Liam Jurrah is dealing with in Yuendumu. I’ll do my job to the best of my ability.
I think because of the media scrutiny and the number of people who use football as an outlet in their daily lives, it comes with massive publicity and sometimes an overstating of importance. I’ve got a really important job for the Melbourne Football Club supporters and followers, but being part of a family that’s just lost a loved one is far more important than what I’m doing.
Liam Jurrah working with the people from his community to try and get their community working together better, than what it is now - that’s far more important in the bigger scheme of life than what I’m doing.
MB: Football is super important to so many. But, is reinforcing the message that it must be kept in perspective, when talking about life, part of your role as senior coach?
Mark Neeld addresses the media in the lead-up to round one
MN: It can be. Being a senior coach - it’s not surprising, but it is different. Everyone looks for you to see what you’re going to do. I had to speak to the players after Jim [passed away]. So they will take a lot from whatever my message is, and how I conduct myself, just as the whole club takes direction from the president and CEO. That’s the role that you’re given.
Therefore, you do need to think very clearly about what your message is going to be. It’s not as simple as getting up there and just delivering what comes straight to the front of your mind. It’s about thinking about what the message will be, and trying to include everyone on that. The grief and emotion, we’ll all deal with it in a different manner.
MB: At 1.45pm on Saturday, you enter the record books as Melbourne’s newest coach. How are you feeling just a couple of days away?
MN: There is a great deal of excitement, apprehension and nervousness - and all of those adjectives that you want to use about Saturday. Reality is that on Saturday there are four points up for grabs and not 12. Everyone likes to start with a win and we’d love to start the season with a win. It’s about the season’s performance and the season after that’s performance. We need to show the steady improvement, and we need to show the development in each of the individual players.
In terms of the job, I’m fortunate with the structure we have here. We have footy manager Josh Mahoney and director of sports performance Neil Craig, who have certainly assisted in these matters, and we have three assistant coaches and three development coaches. A lot of the jobs that these guys do are intense and they’re very time consuming. But they’re of great assistance to the footy program.
It’s just a matter of making sure that everyone knows what they’re doing and making sure they’re doing it. So far, the footy club has put together a structure, which is great to work in.
And, as a group, we’ve only been together for five months, but we will continue to get better at what we do. And we’ll learn one another from a work sense far better as the season goes. I think as a group, we’ve got a great deal of confidence.
MB: This week is a significant milestone for you and your family. Even though you’re probably focused on the task at hand, have you had a chance to reflect on your imminent senior coaching debut with your family?
MN: It is a [significant milestone], absolutely. The feeling [is] that what I do is important, but [it’s] not overstating anything else.
The majority of my family will actually be in Tasmania. Our youngest daughter [Alice] is representing Victoria at the national netball titles on Thursday and in situations like this, it’s far more important for [wife] Sarah and the kids to be there as a mum and sisters, than it is to stay behind and be with Dad while he’s doing his job. The time will come when there is heaps of football.
Again, it is reality and that’s life in a busy family environment.
MB: Although you’ve already made an impact within the club, do you still feel new or firmly entrenched? Or - as silly as it may sound - do you have to stop and check that you’re not at Collingwood anymore, given it can take time to adjust to a new position in a new environment?
Mark Neeld chats with elite performance manager David Misson at training
MN: It can [take a while to adjust]. But very much everything is still new. The reason being is that we’ve gone through a pre-season and things crop up that are new, like our first community camp and then our first interstate trip, and then our first game against a club that had finished top four. All of the little things are different. Right down to this week, we’re discussing if there may be a debutant for Melbourne on Saturday. So there’s a way that’s all dealt with. Everything is new.
I find myself asking questions, as to ‘why would we do that and what’s the purpose?’ In most cases, there is a strong connection to the history of the club and a really legitimate answer. But when you’re new, you’re new. And it’s good to be informed.
Right now, I’m still feeling new. It was the first NAB Cup series. It’s the first home and away game and then round two, it’ll be our first [match] travelling for points. There are schedules that are slightly different to previous organisations, so it takes a bit of time to get used to.
MB: Melbourne has had an arduous pre-season and recently completed its NAB Cup campaign. What was your take on the team’s NAB Cup?
MN: I found it an eye opener, and I also found it very confusing with the amount of analysis, when in reality it’s a practice match series. I felt that, having worked at Collingwood for four years, it used to be the same.
As each year goes by, there is more analysis of trail games. You get less comment from the coaches, and you get less comment from the players. It’s because they understand where the NAB Cup actually sits.
I think personally, right now, the NAB Cup is a component of pre-season. It’s there to try and get players ready for a physical point of view, and as best as they can for round one. We do lean a lot on sports science in that area for information. It’s also there to trial new game styles and a couple of different set plays. At times, it’s there to trial players in unfamiliar positions. I don’t think it warrants the unbelievable analysis that it gets from people outside of the club.
Mark Neeld applies pressure to midfielder Jordan Gysberts
