Coach Mark Neeld’s player-first approach driving South Barwon towards success

More than a decade on from Mark Neeld’s time at Melbourne, the way South Barwon’s players speak about him couldn’t be further from the picture a former Demon painted.

South Barwon coach Mark Neeld congratulates his players Picture: Mike Dugdale

Former Melbourne player Cale Morton recently recounted his first interactions with Mark Neeld when he joined Melbourne in 2011.

The No. 4 pick from the 2007 AFL draft questioned his brutal coaching methods on

The Watch podcast in June.

“I do remember when he came into the football club and he would have meetings with individual players,” Morton said.

“He would tell them, ‘I don’t rate you, I don’t think you’re a good player’. And he said that to a few of us at the time, me included, before he had even run a coaching session.

“And I’ll never forget thinking, ‘this is a bizarre way to coach a football club, but I’m all in.

“If you don’t rate me and that is your strategy to tell me that, I hope this works. It obviously backfired.”

More than a decade on, the way South Barwon’s players speak about Neeld couldn’t be further from the picture Morton painted.

Taking the reins of South Barwon at the end of 2022 after they missed the finals, Neeld has led a young list to back-to-back grand finals, with the Swans striving for premiership redemption against 2023 grand final opponents Leopold on Friday.

Swans captain Matt Caldow, whose father is close friends with Neeld, was the one who initially lured him to the club.

The key forward lauded the significant impact Neeld has had, adopting a player-led approach that has similarities to the way Geelong Football Club goes about its business.

Football GFNL preliminary final between South Barwon and St JosephÕs. South Barwon coach Mark Neeld and 31 Matthew Caldow Picture: Mark Wilson

“We have a lot of autonomy and control over how games might look or scenarios and I think it is really smart mentorship,” Caldow said.

“I think in the end we have all got to pull from the one direction, so if it coming from the players group it is something we believe in and something we feel strongly about.

“’Neeldy’ just steps in and guides where needed and hands the reins over in a lot of respects.

“It has been amazing to have Neeldy on board, obviously have got a personal connection with him and knew him personally prior to footy. But he has just exceeded my expectations and I think everyone’s coming in.

“The impact he has had on our club has been enormous, the faith he instils in us and his loyalty and commitment is first class.”

Mathieson Medal winner Doyle Madigan feels Neeld approaches each player differently and it has proved effective for his game in particular.

“Obviously he comes in with so much knowledge as he has been through the AFL system, he has been around football his whole life,” Madigan said.

“He comes in and he presents, he is able to get the best out of everybody in terms of what they need in their football.

“We have so many different personalities at the club and he tends to get the best out of them for their football. For me especially he tends to ask what he expects of me and it is never too much, he only asks what he knows we can do. So yeah he has been huge, massive for me.”

Neeld is leading the way off the field, too.

As chief executive of Geelong United he has been central to the creation of their inaugural WNBL team, with Geelong’s journey beginning in a month’s time.

The 53-year-old coached Ocean Grove to four consecutive premierships in the Bellarine from 2000-03.

Now two decades on, he has the chance to add another flag to South Barwon’s stacked mantelpiece.

But regardless of how they go on Friday, Neeld’s coaching philosophy and intimate knowledge of the game will see the Swans contend for years to come.

Originally published as Coach Mark Neeld’s player-first approach driving South Barwon towards success