Australian Football League side Melbourne Demons coach Mark Neeld's days as coach are numbered after the Demons Friday "took their first significant steps in a complete rebuild" when President Don McLardy and another board member quit their roles, according to Smith & Walsh of THE AUSTRALIAN. The AFL Commission granted Melbourne CEO Peter Jackson its full backing to overhaul all aspects of the financially stricken club, "with the restructure off-field expected to be completed" by Oct. 31. Jackson, who addressed a meeting of the AFL Commission alongside McLardy before he stepped down Friday, "has been assured Melbourne will receive the financial backing to allow him to deliver his plan for the club's revival." AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, who said that "the league would work closely with Jackson in coming months in order to ensure the rebuild is successful, stressed the support was conditional." Demetriou: "Mr. Jackson was very forthright in his assessment of the current status of the club and the overall impact on the AFL competition as a whole" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/15). In Sydney, Warner & McFarlane wrote the AFL said that "it was considering Melbourne's request" for up to A$3M ($2.8M) in emergency funding. Demetriou insisted it would be "highly conditional." Demetriou: "The majority of the conversation was about their financial situation ... at the end he (Jackson) talked about draft assistance" (HERALD SUN, 6/14).
