FIND out what’s being said about the club in the major daily newspapers on Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Herald Sun
Manager hints Scully will stay
By Jay Clark
TOM Scully's manager Alastair Lynch has provided the strongest indication yet the gun on-baller will re-sign with Melbourne. The 20-year-old is out of contract and has reportedly been offered $1 million a season by Greater Western Sydney. But when asked on Fox Sports' On The Couch if Demon fans could be optimistic about Scully staying at Melbourne, Lynch said: "You should be optimistic, yeah."
Bailey bans finals talk for Dees
By AAP
MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey has banished talk of finals despite his side's rise into the top eight. Bailey says consistency and winning matches remain his side's main motivators, and if they achieve those things, their eventual ladder position will take care of itself. The Demons beat fellow finals aspirants Richmond at the weekend and can take a huge step towards cementing a top eight spot by beating the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium on Friday night. "You can write whatever you like (about finals), we're worried about this Friday night," Bailey said.
The Age
Bailey on Etihad losses: much hoodoo about nothing
By Martin Blake
IN THE modern world of football, ground hoodoos really ought to have disappeared as the players travel more and the grounds become more homogenised. But they have not. Take Melbourne's issues with the Docklands. The Demons now have lost 10 straight at Etihad Stadium since 2007, a streak that is the longest in that particular venue's 11-year history. Coach Dean Bailey was talking it down yesterday but if the Demons get up over Western Bulldogs on Friday night, there is little doubt the players will make mention of it in their celebrations. It is one of those monkey-on-the-back statistics that, at the very least, is annoying. In all likelihood, it amounts to nothing more than the fact that Melbourne has been rebuilding in that period and is unlikely to beat anyone at any venue. Bailey said as much yesterday. ''We're a club that's gone 16th, 16th and 12th so when you're finishing where we have, I'm not sure whether any stats in the last three or four years are going to be promising for us,'' he said.
Watts the debate? Top two to deliver in spades
By Will Brodie
SOMETIMES an "either/or" debate provides an "all of the above" conclusion. When assessing the relative merits of 2008's No.1 draft pick, Melbourne's Jack Watts and the No.2, West Coast's Nick Naitanui, pundits inevitably choose one over the other. But it could be that both deliver similar value for their respective teams in years to come. In an industry where only one of seventeen teams is deemed to have succeeded each year, brutal rankings of players are the norm. One player is better than the other. Team A should have picked Joe Bloggs before they picked Joe Schmo. We like to have a pecking order, as much to have a scapegoat if our team doesn't improve enough. But is there a player taken below this pair who is potentially more valuable? The third pick in 2008, Stephen Hill outperformed Naitanui and Watts in his first two seasons, but he is struggling to find top form in 2011. He is a midfielder, and big men always take longer to develop - Watts and NicNat have arguably got greater scope for improvement. Pick four Hamish Hartlett has barely got on the field due to chronic hamstring woes, and has only just started showing his much-hyped qualities in the Port Adelaide engine room.
