COACH Dean Bailey says the most satisfying part of Melbourne’s 96-point win over Adelaide Crows at the MCG on Sunday was seeing his players perform well.
Bailey stressed the game was all about the players, on the back of a fierce week of scrutiny from certain sections of the media, supporters and football public. He made the point directly at his post-match media conference.
“The game’s about the players. I see five of you writing [down that] the game’s about the players and the rest of you are obviously not sure about it,” he said.
“But they’re (the players) the ones who actually contribute and they’re the ones who lay the tackles and they’re the ones who put their bodies on the line.
“The game’s about them and I was pleased to see them contribute and they’ve had a terrific week at training. They’ve contributed to everything and they’ve worked hard and they got a really good result today.”
Bailey said his team will gain belief from the win, but added that the microscope would continue on the Demons.
“It’ll certainly give them confidence from the game today, but next week we’ll get scrutinised, just like we were 10 days ago and the following week we’ll scrutinised again and the following week we’ll get challenged again,” he said.
“But that’s the nature of the business and we’re all aware of what goes on, but it’s just a matter of us ensuring our standards that we want to reach a main target.”
Bailey understood how the media operated when results such as round six’s loss to West Coast happened.
“The results determine what’s written and what’s said and we’re under no illusion of the events of what took place last week,” he said.
“The players to their credit responded well and we had an even contribution and they were good today.
“They’ve got to be as good next week, because we’re got another opponent and we need to win.”
Bailey stressed the game was all about the players, on the back of a fierce week of scrutiny from certain sections of the media, supporters and football public. He made the point directly at his post-match media conference.
“The game’s about the players. I see five of you writing [down that] the game’s about the players and the rest of you are obviously not sure about it,” he said.
“But they’re (the players) the ones who actually contribute and they’re the ones who lay the tackles and they’re the ones who put their bodies on the line.
“The game’s about them and I was pleased to see them contribute and they’ve had a terrific week at training. They’ve contributed to everything and they’ve worked hard and they got a really good result today.”
Bailey said his team will gain belief from the win, but added that the microscope would continue on the Demons.
“It’ll certainly give them confidence from the game today, but next week we’ll get scrutinised, just like we were 10 days ago and the following week we’ll scrutinised again and the following week we’ll get challenged again,” he said.
“But that’s the nature of the business and we’re all aware of what goes on, but it’s just a matter of us ensuring our standards that we want to reach a main target.”
Bailey understood how the media operated when results such as round six’s loss to West Coast happened.
“The results determine what’s written and what’s said and we’re under no illusion of the events of what took place last week,” he said.
“The players to their credit responded well and we had an even contribution and they were good today.
“They’ve got to be as good next week, because we’re got another opponent and we need to win.”
