It was an interesting 60 minutes. Entered the chat with the view he would not be coach of Melbourne Footy Club next year, and while furnished with information and context not previously known, finished it with the same view, though not as strongly held.
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Neeld passionately provided a defence of all matters which have happened under his watch. "I don't understand what the fuss is about," he said early in the conversation.
He added: "My brief was to re-start the club, that was made clear to us. No disrespect to the past, but we were told to change direction. It is going to take three to five years."
Neeld encouraged by hard-at-it Demons
And he offered later: "I don't actually understand the fuss. The message and job description and timeframe - I’m doing what we should be doing."
Neeld spoke on-the-record for the entire time, but he did not want the conversation recorded for use on TV.
A resilient and good man, Neeld is in trouble. Though contracted to the end of 2014, there is not even a guarantee he will see out the remainder of this season.
Of his five wins in the AFL, three have been against GWS, one each against Gold Coast and Essendon. There have been many horrific losses.
With the AFL-endorsed Peter Jackson now at the helm as CEO of Melbourne, and with a clear licence to make change, Neeld is far from safe.
But if he's worried about his status or the turmoil which has enshrouded his short, 30-match time at the club he is not admitting it.
"The thing I struggle with is the effect it has on my wife and mum," he said.
The decision to appoint the unproven Jack Trengove and Jack Grimes as co-captains while in their early 20s was strongly defended.
"I have every confidence that, over time, they will be among the best (leaders)," he said.
Even Melbourne's highly questionable actions during last year's trade and draft period were presented as the right decision for the Demons.
Back then, as the player transactions unfolded, I described the approach as 'scattergun'.
I still have that view, that bringing David Rodan, Shannon Byrnes, Cam Pedersen and Tom Gillies into the club was never going to amount to anything, and would only rob younger listed talent of game-day development.
Neeld bristled back then with the scattergun word, and he did again last week, maintaining the decisions were sound.
That Rodan, for instance, was recruited to allow chop-outs for younger midfielders Jack Viney and Jimmy Toumpas, and that he and Byrnes had been "brilliant" during the pre-season with their teaching of those two and other young players.
Much emphasis was placed on the securing of Jesse Hogan as a 17-year-old and the anticipated big impact he will have from next season when he will be allowed to play AFL.
And other youngsters in Viney, Toumpas, Dean Terlich, Michael Evans, Dom Barry, Dean Kent all get a mention at some stage. "The kids, they are going to be good," Neeld says regularly.
Asked for proof that he and Melbourne were headed the right way, at one stage Neeld said: "Sometimes the last thing about change is the scoreboard."
Is there conviction you and the club are on the right track? "Absolutely."
Anything you would change from the time you started? "No, not one thing."
What if the club didn’t let you see out your contract? "I'd be absolutely shocked."
Making tough calls is second nature to Jackson, who has placed every single person at Melbourne on notice.
He is a tough and successful businessman, Jackson. He has already delved into the Demons' books, and discovered a really big operating loss (between $1.5 and $2 million) is to come on the 2013 season, and that 2014 is already looking very bleak.
Can he "sell" the club with Neeld as coach?
That, ultimately, is his main question as he delves deeper into the Demons' myriad problems.
We think not. Neeld thinks yes. But when it's all said and done, he's got, at best, 14 matches of footy to convince Jackson that his words will be reflected in his players' actions.
Twitter: @barrettdamian, @AFL
