In the third of afour-part series, new Melbourne coach Dean Bailey shares his thoughts on hiscoaching philosophies and how his coaching has evolved from his days at MtGravatt in Queensland through to his newest appointment. He spoke exclusivelyto melbournefc.com.au.

You have beenregarded as a teaching, or a people management coach. How do you see yourself?
DB: I've found working with people is the best way. I'll work very closelywith our coaching staff. We need to listen to the group and the opinions thatare available within the leadership group in particular, and the other players.I can't see how anyone can succeed without putting in the hard work, thephysical work or the mental part of the game.

We need to establish some very strong values, some verystrong ethics and integrity around the place. When you live, play and breatheby those things, you become better people and therefore you become betterplayers.

It's really important players understand they're not in thegame for a long period of time. They probably all know it and have heard itbefore, but at the end of the day, you watch some of the people who come in andout of football and you think: 'Why didn't they play longer or weren't they betterplayers?' If it's not injury, then it comes back to how much you're prepared tobecome a professional player.

Everything you do, every minute of the day, should bebuilding towards being the best person you can be and therefore as great ascontributor as you can for the Melbourne Football Club.

They're the real key things we'll be pushing really hard. Yourbehaviour traits show … whether you're really serious about playing for thisclub – on and off the field.

How do you deal with thedifferent characters within a football club and bringing them together within ateam environment?
DB: The managing of players is a very, very important part of the job. Ifyou think there is only one person who can control everything and who can becorrect all of the time, I'm yet to meet him, but I'd love to.

With the coaches and the players, they've all got to beprepared to work towards each other, so that we all win. You can't be relianton one coach, person, player or goalkicker – you can't afford to do that. Thegame has gone past that and it's got to be evenly spread. When it's your turnto step up, you've got to step up. Your teammates need you to do that.

If you've got 22 players prepared to help each other on theground and help each other at training, the 44 players help each other.

It's amazing how that internal pressure creates a greaterexpectation through the group – they actually inspire themselves and theyactually put pressure on themselves to perform.

The feedback process is going to be very important andthat's really the element of developing a strong morale among the group. Ifyou've got a really strong morale and we get really good crowds to come andsupport us – that's almost like the 19th man on the ground. Strong morale and astrong support from the people that come through and watch us play – that's theextra person you have on the ground.

How do you envisagethe structure of the club's leadership group?
DB: I've come from Port Adelaide where we had a very strong connection inthe last couple of years with 'Leading Teams'. Their philosophy is empoweringplayers, but also ensuring that they are the ones setting the standards. Theyare also involved with the coaches.

One of the areas we should become very good at is thefeedback process – player to coach, coach to player and players (collectively) tothe coaches. As coaches, we need to listen to the players and they need to geta really good understanding of what we're saying as well. Communication is asimportant in football as it is in business, particularly where you've got 44guys who are really determined and really keen to get a game and you can onlyslot 22 players in each week. The communication between both parties is goingto be critical. We need to be open and frank with the players and I'm sure theywill be with us – that's going to be something to look forward to with theleadership part of it and then it will grow from there.

How have you seenyourself evolve as a coach since you started with Mt Gravatt?
DB: The two years in Queensland at Mt Gravatt were really good for me. Youlearn from all of the mistakes you make, particularly as a young coachstarting. I look back at some of the things that we did and I think: 'Ishouldn't have done that and I should've done this'. But it was a really goodgrounding for me in Queensland.

When I got the chance to move down to Essendon for two yearswith Sheeds (Kevin Sheedy) for 2000-01 – that was fantastic. [There was a]sense of internal pressure where the players had to train really well just toget a chance to get picked, because they had no injuries that year andeverything rolled along very well. It rolled along very well because all of theplayers were so determined. They had an inner drive and you could see it andsmell it around the club at training. They were always encouraging and theypushed each other, so the Grand Final win was fantastic for all the work they'ddone. In 2001, they were runner-up to Brisbane,when they won their first of three premierships. That was a great experience.

Joining Port Adelaide and going to an interstate club wasalso a great experience, particularly with the travel factor. That wascompletely different to what I'd been exposed to at Essendon where you went to theMCG or Telstra Dome and played. At Port Adelaide, you had to travel to Brisbane, travel to Perthtwice a year and all of a sudden we were going to Tasmaniaand Darwin inthe same year. That was another challenge for the club. When we traveledinterstate, we had to be competitive and win those games. They were reallyimportant and the preparation and forward scouting were discussed in enormousdetail. That was one of Choco’s (Mark Williams') strength – he was verydetailed about things and it's proven to be very successful.

How important was theMt Gravatt experience, considering the coach has to take on several roles inthat type of position?
DB: You get involved in everything – players' problems for example. We hada couple of players who couldn't train during the week because one of them wasa plumber and he worked on the Gold Coast during the week, although he couldplay with us on the Saturday. He was a good player. He worked all day in manuallabour and then he would train maybe once every fortnight, depending on wherehe was working. You just have to work in with that. He was a fantastic youngfella. You also had other guys who could only train certain days and then youhad some guys who trained Tuesday and Thursday and sometimes on a Monday. Theycouldn't miss it and they were between the firsts and seconds, but they wereputting in the time.

So that was challenging, but you really need to get to knowyour players as quickly as you can. You were managing players as well ascoaching players and I loved every minute of it, but it was certainly a steeplearning curve – no doubt.

When you applied forthe senior coaching role at Melbourne, did you have a coaching presentation readyto go or did you specifically organise it for this position?
DB: The Melbourne job was advertisedand I just put forward my philosophies and how I see the game and that was itreally – it was as simple as that. There were no bells and whistles with it. Iforwarded a plan and luckily for me, they saw some benefit in it.

I didn't have anything [pre-organised]. When you've been inthe game for a long period of time, you actually start to develop some of yourown philosophies. Some of them are shaped by the people you have been with,coached by and coached under, and at the end of the day, unless you add yourflavour to it or unless you add your thinking to it – you're only repeatingwhat other people have done, so it's not really a true reflection of who youare or what you stand for.

The process was long. It certainly took a fair bit of timeon top of my commitments to Port Adelaide at the time, so I'd do everything Icould for Port Adelaide – and I didn't miss anything for them – and theninstead of going to bed, I'd spend another two hours of looking at how I couldwin the Melbourne job.

From yourperspective, what do you think people saw in you, which made them say: 'This isthe man for the Melbourne coaching job?'
DB: I've got no idea. You might have to ask them. I don't know. I'm notsure what tickled their fancy, so to speak.

Generally, how do youview the overall state of the game at the moment?
DB: I love the game and the game will continue to evolve. We'll all tryingto make it a better game. We all have that opinion of it, but we all know thatyou need to be competitive and win games. There aren't too many elements Idon't particularly like. I'm lucky to be involved in it. It's an exciting gameand statistically I think it was a good game for the AFL this year, in terms ofgoals being kicked. The AFL is always trying to make the game a betterspectacle for people to come and watch.

I'm really appreciative of being the Melbourne footy clubcoach going into the club's 150th year. It's really exciting and I hope we canplay some exciting footy. I've come from Port Adelaide and Essendon where weplayed some exciting footy. We have to make we improve our weaknesses and ourareas that we're not particularly strong at.

Where the game's at? Who knows? Where will it be in 12 to 18months time? The game is fantastic to watch, more people watch the game now andif you're a real lover of the game, you'll probably go to some extra games[during the season]. It seems that more people are going to the game and wehope that we can get more people to come and watch Melbourne play – that would be a greatopportunity for us.

As a coach, how doyou view the media's role in today's football?
DB: They've been good so far – we haven't played a game yet! It's anecessary part of the game and I'm sure they all love the game as much as wedo. I'm sure they've all got opinions on the game as much as we do and themedia has got a very important part to play. They're promoting the game, Melbourne, getting oursponsors out there and getting some greater exposure on the club, which will befantastic. They're very important – absolutely.

And myths in football– what stands out to you as a coach?
DB: I don't know. I've normally got the glass three quarters full, so askme in three years’ time because I might have them by then.

Coming up in part four…

Bailey talks about hislife and journey in football.