Demon's hard-line philosophy under scrutiny after disastrous start to season 2013

FRASER Carson was a kind man who offered Melbourne players a shoulder when they needed one.

Demons humbled again

FRASER Carson was a kind man who offered Melbourne players a shoulder when they needed one.

His official position in the Demons' inner sanctum was mental skills coach from December 2009. He was a welfare man. An Irishman. Someone to listen and comfort players in hard times.

When ex-coach Dean Bailey was fired and the club shed what was perceived to be a softer skin in the changeover to a more hard-line football department, Carson was a fish out of water.

His role was changed under the new regime, to something less meaningful in the coaches' box. His communication with the players was suddenly cut off.

After a long and difficult year, Carson, a qualified sports psychologist, was replaced in the player welfare role by Craig Lees, who handles player exits and looks after new draftees' housing needs.

However, some Melbourne players were last year known to have outsourced their own psychological counselling, as the club battled through another disappointing and tumultuous season.

The size, importance and effectiveness of Carson's role depends on who you talk to at Melbourne.

But in an age where club's welfare departments are expanding by the year, what happened with one of Bailey's former key helpers was strange to those who observed his treatment.

At the end of last year, he was gone altogether. Jim Plunkett, who led Ray McLean's Leading Teams program at AAMI Park, also departed. He was another players' man.

The club's doctors, Andrew Daff and Kal Fried, also left, unhappy at certain things when David Misson was brought on board to head the fitness department.

You could call them uncompromising calls, but Melbourne has made plenty of them in the past year and a bit.

After a disastrous 0-3 start to the season, resulting in 79, 148 and 94-point losses, the focus is squarely on the Dees' chiefs again.

Not just coach Mark Neeld.

While he cops the public scrutiny, all aspects of the newly aligned football department is being thoroughly assessed.

It is hard to see how the board and the fans could put up with another defeat today against Greater Western Sydney at the MCG.

Last year, former Dee Tom Scully was put under the blowtorch. Today, it might well be the Giants who do the agitating.

After an encouraging first half against West Coast last week, the Dees will start favourites and, in any case, should win against the second-year Giants.

In Friday's Herald Sun, Hawthorn legend Shane Crawford picked the Giants to win by 40 points.

Such a result would surely bring about catastrophic consequences for football department staff at Melbourne.

New chief executive Peter Jackson, a hard-nosed operator who spent 14 years at Essendon, was brought in to steer the club through troubled times.

President Don McLardy said the club would not shy away from more hard calls and Jackson and Co are casting a close eye.

When Neeld, Neil Craig and Misson came on board, they were asked to stiffen the club culture. Steel the players' mental approach, discipline and commitment.

The introduction of Wattbikes has been central to the club's revamped fitness program, under the direction of Craig, Misson and, for a brief time, cycling guru Charlie Walsh. The bikes were used under Craig at Adelaide but were tipped out quickly by Brenton Sanderson when he took over at AAMI Stadium.

The bikes have been a key tool in the Dees' mission to shed weight, and improve fitness, something the Melbourne hierarchy has been big on.

Under Bailey, players' skinfolds targets were 60 and under. That was changed to 50 in 2012.

If skinfolds were not under 50, players were made to do extra training and risked being left out of the side. The demands and discipline went up a notch, helping correct what defender Colin Garland bluntly said were poor fitness levels under Bailey.

Yet the Dees, who are now at the same level of development as the fledgling GWS Giants, according to Neeld, have been belted in the second half for three games straight. Despite training the house down over summer, it has not shown on the field.

The Demons' board is in a pickle itself. Throughout Thursday night, as the Stephen Dank bombshell dropped, a board member hit the phones, turning to business leaders and friends, asking, maybe out of desperation, what should we do?

Indeed, it's hard to know how Melbourne will get out of this latest supplement mess.

If there is a rule No.1 in the AFL, it is to be transparent with the league, under all circumstances. The club has failed and the AFL is on the warpath.

Some of the players also look like they are at a loss. It might be a tough view to take, but Jack Watts's future is up in the air. Colin Sylvia too.

Sylvia has played two finals in 10 years. With Melbourne not looking likely to figure in September anytime soon, the temptation to move to a club on the verge of the eight, or a flag, must be strong.

Both Watts (who has bowed to his critics and shaved off his controversial beard) and Sylvia are out of contract at the end of the year and negotiations are likely to be put off until late, if not at the end of the season.

As someone close to one of the players said his management is "not exactly rushing to the table".

Defender James Frawley, who is contracted until the end of next season, is also in a tricky spot.

Clubs are making inquiries about Frawley at a rate of knots. They want to know if he is still interested in the Melbourne cause.

The jury looks to be out on that one. He has played 104 games for only 29 wins.

St Kilda's interest is unclear, but Frawley looms as an obvious recruiting target for a club keen on another key defender.

West Coast's Mitch Brown is definitely one they want. But the added appeal of Frawley is that he carries a famous St Kilda surname. His uncle, Danny, is a Saints great.

The board wants to know what's happening with the Dees' player development and morale. Will these contracts be re-signed? A walkout of the club's best talent would be devastating.

Throughout the week, board members met highly-respected talent boss Todd Viney.

It is unclear what was said. But it is known Viney and Neeld had a difference of opinion in review of the club's current list.

Players were marked. Some of it was harsh. Yet that is life at the new Melbourne. Time will tell whether it works.