MELBOURNE'S player payments must be spread fairly as the club fights to re-sign second-year player Tom Scully, coach Dean Bailey says.
CEO Cameron Schwab said on radio on Sunday that the Demons had the financial ability to match the lucrative offer Greater Western Sydney has made to Scully, but he added the football department had to weigh the benefits of keeping the talented young midfielder at such a high price.
Bailey agreed with Schwab's comments.
"We've got to manage our TPP (total player payments) particularly well," he said.
"We've got to make sure our even spread among all our players is fair and reasonable so we get the best list going forward.
"We've got to make sure our list is what we want going forward and we want to retain all of our players who are necessary in the coming future.
"Tom is one of them and we've got to manage that as well as we can so that we have the best chance of being successful. Nothing has changed from that point of view."
Bailey said he took no satisfaction from Sunday's loss to Hawthorn and that the Demons would not accept losing games, even when they were coming up against tough opposition.
"We are disappointed with how we went; we're disappointed with the start, and the number of times we turned the ball over in unpressured situations was not good enough," he said.
"We've gone through the review and we've stated the performance we put forward was certainly below what we expect. We need to lift in those areas."
Melbourne sits in 11th spot, just one win away from the top eight, but Bailey said he would not assess the season's success based on whether the club played finals.
"I will consider this season a failure if our players don't get the right experience during the year," he said. "Our players need to not only play games of footy together but they've got to win quarters and win games together."
Bailey also said Aaron Davey was likely to miss at least another week with a knee injury.
Luke Holmesby covers Melbourne news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_LHolmesby
