THE PLAYING future of Melbourne forward Russell Robertson remains unclear beyond this year.
Coach Dean Bailey indicated there would be some tough decisions made on several players at season's end, though he would not be drawn on Robertson's career.
"Robbo is an interesting one. His form was OK in the last couple of weeks and all of a sudden you see some opportunities being given to (Ricky) Petterd, (Liam) Jurrah and Matthew Bate has been reasonably consistent," he said from Junction Oval on Wednesday.
"Robbo has generally had the best backman playing on him, but he's out there training and he's certainly not being rested … he's pretty keen to put his best foot forward.
"At the end of the year, we'll sit down and discuss our list management and I'm sure there'll be lots of players discussed and he'll be one of them."
Robertson, who has given Melbourne great service for more than a decade, fought his way back from a serious achilles injury to play 10 matches this season.
This round he is set to join club greats Garry Lyon and Stan Alves on 226 matches – equal 11th on Melbourne's games record list.
He has also kicked 419 goals – fourth overall in Demons history behind David Neitz (631), Norm Smith (546) and Lyon (426).
Bailey said respect and integrity would be shown towards Robertson and any other player when considering their fate.
"When you talk about players' contracts and players' futures, you'd have to understand those types of discussions will be made with Russell and his management, before we sit here and make decisions on players," he said.
"He (Robertson) brings some spirit and life to training … and it's a nice ingredient to have."
However, Bailey indicated part-time midfield coach Scott West could have greater responsibilities or be offered a full-time role from 2010.
The Western Bulldogs champion joined Melbourne in the support role after his retirement as a player at the end of last season.
"I would think Scotty is certainly in our plans moving forward," Bailey said.
Bailey said West was an "exceptional player" who had become an important coaching cog on match days.
"When you've got a player who has just come out playing … very few of them can come straight out of the system and into a situation and feel like he can [pass] some of his knowledge onto our young players," he said.
"That's just a great opportunity for our young players to learn off him.
"He's hands-on, he likes getting involved in the training and he reviews the tape. Even though he is a part-time midfield coach, he is a full-time coach if you like so he's been terrific."
