It wouldn't have mattered who coached Melbourne. I know I've banged on about it ad nauseum in the past and some on here poo-pah the presence or value of culture in a club but Melbourne bred a culture of cheating and taking shortcuts over a number of years and the current outcome was never going to be any different. We are prime examples of culture change bringing about real change. Back in the 80's we had an arrogance about us that was breathtaking in it's scope, if not unsustainable in the modern day. We assumed the 'right to rule' as if it was born to us and all we needed to do was no more than turn up each season with our fat wallets and our God-given inheritance would remain intact. Well, history shows that the attitude was a cancerous culture that permeated every minute corner of the club and it has taken many failed attempts, false starts, return trips to rehab and just plain old turns of luck before we got a group of hard-working and committed people in charge of our club who actually invested themselves (not just their egos) in making change. And that change has taken us 8 years already and is still nowhere near complete!
Other clubs have tanked in the past, most for a crucial few games in a single season and then reaped the immediate rewards as they addressed a need and got on with the business of winning. Good luck to them. Melbourne however took it to another level and tanked for a number of years, always chasing the next clutch of prized draft picks in the belief that more must be better. The only other clubs I can remember that had such a cheating culture for such a long period were Carlton and Essendon. Carlton cheated the cap and paid the price for many years. Even now, they pay the price with membership levels lower than they should be, supporters less loyal than they should be, team success less than it should be and a reputation that has not recovered and won't do so for many years yet. Essendon cheated the cap through the 90's, got caught at the turn of the century and after their 2000 flag they haven't won since, with the club being embroiled in a number of controversies since. And in that time their power base has gradually eroded and they are still mired in controversy and uncertainty. A negative outcome from the ASADA enquiry will see them trashed as a club for many more years to come.
Some people say that culture is not tangible, not measurable and in the long run not really that important but I believe differently. Culture embraces many things - attitude, respect, effort, teamwork among them - and it is the very cornerstone that underpins the long term viability and success of a football club. When positive attitude becomes second nature, when respect is earned and given unconditionally, when best effort happens all the time, when teamwork is woven into the fabric of the club from the president to the bootstudder, then you have a club that will succeed and succeed often over many years. Whether we like it or not, this is the modern way, not the way of years past with no salary cap, no draft, inequeal zones and a league run by a few powerful presidents instead of an independent commission. And that makes club culture so much more important in the modern era - you can't buy premierships any more, you can't vote yourself an advantage any more, you can't thumb your nose at your opponents any more. Culture beats these hands down, every day.
So it is no surprise to me to see Melbourne where they are and it isn't Neeld's fault or Craig's fault or even the players fault individually, it is a natural consequence of putting cheating over culture. I wonder how many of those Demon supporters that chortled as they sang their song when McMahon kicked that winning goal are still chortling today?
