Inthe first of a four-part series, new
You'vebeen in office for almost 50 days. How have you found it so far?
DB: It's been really good. The people here have been fantastic and withChris Connolly coming on as footy ops [manager] – he's very excited and on thefront foot with a lot of things, so that's really good.
The staff at the Junction Oval have beenfantastic. There are some really good people there and I'm really glad thatthey're still with us, so that's exciting.
The club's in a really exciting opportunityat the moment with our new facilities being built and the chance for us torejuvenate the list, so it's been fantastic. The time has gone very, veryquickly, but I can't wait for the pre-season.
Withso much to organise and prepare for the season ahead, how many hours are youdoing a week at the moment?
DB: A lot. It's not a job I look at and think aboutthe hours I put in. When I say that, we're going to put in a lot of hours in.As far as I'm concerned, you never clock off in AFL footy – you're at it all ofthe time.
Hours are irrelevant. I don't know how manyI do, but it's going to be 100-plus [hours per week], but you're doing a jobyou love and the hours are insignificant. The more hours you can put in it, thebetter we're going to be.
Youmentioned Chris Connolly earlier. How much influence did you have in gettingChris on board as the football operations manager after you both went for the
DB: [
So with Steve's advice, I sat down andspent a full day with Chris and at the end of it, [I realised] he had a hugepassion for the
He's gone through a lot of experience andthe experience he's had is going to be invaluable. The great thing is that hedoes not want to coach – he wants to be the best footy operations manager thathe can and he really has a passion for this club to be back up the ladderagain, competing for finals and the ultimate.
He's working with me and a lot of otherpeople at the Junction Oval to make sure we've got the right structures inplace to go forward, so it was a pretty easy decision in the end.
You'vealso appointed Josh Mahoney and Sean Wellman as assistant coaches – can youtalk about them from your perspective?
DB: I coached them both when I was at Essendon fortwo years, when I was a development coach. Sean Wellman is a very, very smartoperator. As a player, he was a great reader of the play and a great thinker.He was very much a team-man and he was enormously respected at Essendon amongsthis peers.
His values and character – you could notquestion. He's had a couple of years at the Bulldogs, which I think has beenreally good for him, under a very good coaching structure under 'Rocket' Eadeand other assistants at the club.
I spoke to him up at the Draft Camp, wherehe was doing the level three coaches' course and I asked him what he was doing.He said: 'I'll apply for the job'. He then asked for an interview and he gotit, so he's going to be very good for our young backmen in particular. Hisbackline experience will be invaluable – no doubt.
Josh Mahoney, his story is fantastic for abloke who played at a couple of clubs and got delisted. He played at theEssendon reserves, where I was a coach, and for a young man playing in the VFL,he had such a professional attitude. He had an underlying determination to makeit. He was one of those guys you could see was going to make it somehow, untilsomeone gave him a chance.
When he got to Port Adelaide, I spoke to'Choco' [Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams] about him and the club decided itwould give him another go and he's now a premiership player.
He's a very, very smart thinker about thegame. He had a really good input this year with the leadership group and theforward structure at Port. He's a very, very good team-man and a loyal person,so he'll bring a lot of good qualities.
MarkRiley moved on from the club after he missed out on the permanent seniorcoaching position. Did you spend much time together when you came on board and hewas still at the club briefly?
DB: We spoke to 'Bomber' and he was up front withus and we were with him. After about a week together, we both actually reallyenjoyed each others' time at the club. I've got a lot of respect for 'Bomber'.What he and the other coaches did over the last eight weeks was very good,considering what happened with Neale [Daniher] and the situation the club wasin.
The last two-and-a-half weeks with'Bomber', I think we established a very good rapport with each other and he's agreat character. He's going to be a good coach. I think he's going to bringsome really good elements to
Whatdid you make of the whole Chris Judd process?
DB: We did everything we could to get him to
I think he walked out with a betterimpression and understanding of how far
Theclub made a tough call when it traded Travis Johnstone to the
DB: I spoke to a number of people – players andstaff – and we went to enormous lengths in discussing Travis Johnstone. Thiswas not an easy decision to make because he is a very good player. At the endof the day, our priority was getting another first round pick and Travis wasthe person
First round picks are very hard to get, soin that sense you've got to give up a good player to attract a first roundpick. For the development of the
I think one or two of them actually mightrepresent the Melbourne footy club next year and we're looking for playersunder 23 or 24 [years old], so we can build a team that's going to becompetitive every week – not just in three or four years' time.
On the flipside, the club has managed tore-sign two key players – Russell Robertson and Brock McLean – how importantwere those signings?
DB: Along with Brad Miller. Those three players are important. Brock
For what 'Robbo' did last year, booting 42goals from 15 games, he really stood up [despite playing with injury] and thatreally says a lot about 'Robbo' as a person and as a character.
At the moment, Brock McLean seems to besetting himself for a really important year. He's played enough games now totake the next step or two. Most people say: 'Take the next step', but you don'twant to limit them. Let's see if he can take another two steps because he's gotthe qualities and toughness about him.
I think Brad Miller's best footy is stillahead of him in the next two years. I think those three guys' signings arereally good bonuses for us.
On Brad Miller, do you prefer him as aforward or defender?
DB: Both. He has to be able to play at both ends of the ground. It's assimple as that. Over the pre-season we'll get him up to that level where he canplay back or forward. Players need to have versatility at that size these days– at 190 to 194cm. It adds another dimension to their game and I think Brad'sgot that.
How did you find attending the club'sbest-and-fairest, considering it was one of the first opportunities to meet andgreet the supporters and address a large
DB: Considering the year we had, there was a lot of support in the room. Itwas great to see someone like James McDonald win two best and fairests – amassive achievement for James. He's very well respected and I know that fromthe other AFL clubs, particularly at Port Adelaide, because he is a very toughcompetitor. He's got a lot of admiration from clubs. There was also a greattribute to David Neitz, who is obviously a fantastic player.
But I got the feeling from talking to a fewplayers in the room that there was a real desire and eagerness to get on withpre-season and get into next year. With the year the club had, you still feeltainted and you're still washed up in last season, so you can only get rid ofit until you start playing the games.
Coming up in Part II …
Bailey looks ahead and talks about his expectations for 2008.
