Melbourne powerbroker Geoff Freeman says the stricken club can play finals in three years

THE POWERBROKER: NEW Melbourne powerbroker Geoff Freeman has declared the stricken club can play finals within three years.

Michael Warner

2 min read

June 17, 2013 - 9:14PM

HeraldSun

NEW Melbourne powerbroker Geoff Freeman has declared the stricken club can play finals within three years.

Freeman told the Herald Sun he would be "staggered" if the club's dramatic rebuild did not reap results.

"If we're not looking at finals football and being inside the final eight within a couple of years - two to three years at maximum - I'll be staggered," Freeman said.

Neeld never won over the players

"We will be very competitive. This playing group has the nucleus of a very, very good side.

"And we will be doing everything we can to add to it and enhance the group."

Freeman, 65, is expected to assume the Melbourne presidency on his return from a pre-planned overseas trip in six weeks.

He has travelled to southern France as part of his recovery from respiratory illness.

The Demons continued their purge yesterday by sacking coach Mark Neeld with 18 months to run on his contract.

It follows the departure of president Don McLardy on Friday and chief executive Cameron Schwab in April.

A new general manager of football operations is also being pursued and at least two more directors are considering their futures.

Demons two years in hell

"We are going to get this football club and this football department right. And we've got the fortitude and the guts to do it," Freeman said.

"We are not going to shirk any hard decisions that need to be made.

"We have been working feverishly over the past month to get things right. We can't afford to make any more mistakes with big decisions. And we are not hesitating to make the right decisions."

Asked about the behind-the-scenes involvement of the AFL, Freeman said: "I think the AFL are very supportive - they like what they are seeing."

He said he was "completely on the same page" as new chief executive Peter Jackson and his clinical approach to rebuilding the club.

Freeman also took aim at would-be president Jeff Kennett.

"I think a great deal of Jeff, I'm one of his great admirers and he is a friend," Freeman said. "Having said that, I don't think he is in any way qualified or appropriate to be president of Melbourne.

Moneyball was a joke

"I can't believe that from 35,000 members of the club we can't find a suitable candidate to be president, whether that is me or someone else.

"It would be an indictment on the Melbourne Football Club community if we couldn't choose one of our own. This club needs unity going forward, not divisiveness."

Kennett yesterday conceded his push to take over the club was fading.

"I'm getting messages from the AFL that they're not prepared to have me there," Kennett told 3AW.

"That's probably personality-based more than anything else.

"I will lay you London to a brick that the AFL will appoint people they're comfortable with and therefore the governance issue that is the relationship between the board and its CEO will be forever compromised.