Just four quality players and a range of fringe players and rookies are coming out of contract at the end of 2013.
Free agents Colin Sylvia and Aaron Davey, and youngsters, the enigmatic 22-year-old Jack Watts and 21-year-old beanpole Max Gawn are the high-quality players yet to commit to the club beyond the end of this season, with the likes of James Sellar, Michael Evans and Neville Jetta similarly placed.
Although recently appointed interim CEO Peter Jackson told Triple M radio on Sunday that making the Demons a viable destination for talent to allow them to recruit and retain players would be a focus in the next three months, many of the keys to its playing list are tied to the club beyond the end of this season.
"I've just got to convince people we are going to have a plan that is going to do it and it will be worth hanging around for," Jackson said. "There is nothing more important in the next three months than that."
While discussion around the quality of the list will continue, the signing of co-captain Jack Grimes for three years after round two completed solid progress in retaining core players.
Grimes committed until the end of the 2016, joining Nathan Jones, Jeremy Howe, Sam Blease, Mitch Clark and Mark Jamar, who are tied to the club until the end of 2015.
Speculation surrounds 24-year-old James Frawley, but he remains contracted until the end of 2014 and the All Australian full-back is a solid member of the club's leadership group. It is possible he will be a restricted free agent at the end of next season.
Youngsters Tom McDonald and Jack Viney also have two-year contracts that tie them until 2014 while Jimmy Toumpas committed to the club for three years in February just before his first NAB Cup game.
Apart from Frawley, all were signed under the current coaching group.
Neeld argues that the club has a strong core of young players to build a future on but the absence of a middle tier is hurting its performance at the moment.
While criticism has been directed at the club for letting players go, many of the senior core - apart from Jared Rivers, now at Geelong - had earned a reputation for inconsistency.
When Neeld spoke after the loss to Gold Coast it was clear he understood the ramifications of the lack of effort and the mounting pressure it put on the club.
"We all know with young groups it's a bit of a rollercoaster and you go up and down, but clearly at the moment the bit on the way down is probably just a bit low at the moment," he said.
Much touted pre-draft selection, the 18-year-old Jesse Hogan, is committed to the club until the end of 2015, while Chris Dawes signed a four-year contract when he joined Melbourne.
Injury has meant Dawes and Clark are yet to play together in 2013.
The club also signed Lynden Dunn for two years after he finished the season well in 2012 and, in a surprise to many, gave recruit Cameron Pedersen a three-year contract in the off-season.
The 25-year-old will have time to make up for an ordinary start to his time at the Demons.
Much speculation surrounds the future of Sylvia, with the talented 27-year-old an unrestricted free agent able to accept offers from opposition clubs at season's end. He has played 145 games but just two finals in nine completed seasons at the club.
He has been in good form in the early part of 2013, with his talent evident, but he has only once finished in the top 10 of the club's best and fairest during his career. With a three-game suspension interrupting his flow of solid form, who knows how his season might end?
The club lost free agents Brent Moloney and Rivers to other clubs at the end of 2012.
The 29-year-old Davey has been in and out of the side due to injury and form under Neeld but many believe he could still offer 'x-factor' to a club in a premiership window.
With Jackson now assessing the football department structure and operation, key uncontracted Demons will wait to see what happens, putting their head down and working hard to perform rather than being distracted by external matters.
Jackson understands the situation better than most, telling AFL.com.au before the loss to the Suns why the club remained in a challenging phase:
"When you look at this coaching panel, most of them are relatively inexperienced and then you come through here and most of them are a bunch of new kids," Jackson said. "It's a big challenge when you put those two things together."
