With the AFL season starting this Friday, all footy fans would no doubt be excited to have the great game back, slightly earlier than usual.
However it has certainly been tempered by the sad passing of former Essendon player, Melbourne coach and Port and Adelaide assistant, Dean Bailey.
He lost his short battle with cancer at the way too young age of 47 and the footy world has truly lost one of the game’s nice guys.
It could be argued may have been too nice to be a senior AFL coach and succeed as one, which just isn’t right.
All the players that he coached and helped guide, especially the Melbourne ones in his three and a half years at the helm, seemed to love him.
And he gave the impression he loved them too.
His win/loss record as the Demons’ senior Coach wasn’t flash, just 27 per cent and at the end of the day that’s what coaches are generally judged by. But there is so much more to it than that.
Melbourne after a successful but inconsistent ten-year period under Neale Daniher were at a rebuilding phase when he took over in 2008 and in fact they probably hadn’t bottomed out by that stage.
They struggled to be competitive at times in Bailey’s first two years.
Of course the 2009 performances became the centre of tanking allegations particularly late in the season, when the Demons appeared to lose a couple of games they were a good chance of winning to ensure they got the first two picks in that draft.
While an AFL investigation into Melbourne’s practices that season denied tanking existed, Bailey and then football operations manager, Chris Connolly, were both charged with bringing the game into disrepute.
They were suspended from the roles they had in the industry in 2013.
Bailey at the time was senior assistant under Brenton Sanderson at Adelaide and had developed an excellent relationship with the rookie coach in 2012, when the Crows were within a kick of the grand final.
It can easily be argued that Bailey was made a scapegoat as he was under instruction.
He admitted he had a clear eye on the long term future and that was to forget about the wins, but to make sure they got those very early draft picks.
At the moment, their drafting of Tom Scully at pick one (who is now with the Giants) and Jack Trengove at pick two (who is yet to realise his potential) and Jordan Gysberts at number 11 (who has been delisted by both Melbourne and North Melbourne) hasn’t worked and that’s why the club has remained at or near the foot of the ladder for the past seven seasons.
However, they had a plan in 2009 that the football department, the coaching hierarchy and administration all seemed to support.
But Bailey and Connolly were the only ones punished.
Bailey didn’t really have any other choice but to tow the football department’s line and coach in a compromised way to try and secure who the Demons thought at the time were the best young players in the country.
However, there’s a good argument that he was hung out to dry and didn’t get great support from either Melbourne or the AFL.
Adelaide, who lost his coaching services for 2013, were badly affected by the suspension. However, they backed their man and found a role for him in another part of their organisation, while he served his suspension, until the cancer hit.
In many ways, Bailey was on a hiding to nothing at Melbourne.
When he took over more than six years ago, the club still seemed to be run by a close group of friends and ex players.
These included CEO Cameron Schwab, former player and footy department general manager Chris Connolly, another ex-player and board member, Greg Healy, club great who eventually became President, the late Jim Stynes, and another former star player and unofficial powerbroker, Garry Lyon.
Mind you, Bailey had come from the outside. He had experienced success, playing in finals with Essendon and then being an assistant when they dominated the 2000 season.
He was part of the Port Adelaide coaching panel when they won their first flag in 2004.
However, despite the support he received from the players, from the outside it looked like he could never properly belong at Melbourne and that record thrashing at the hands of Geelong in Round 19, 2011 saw his AFL coaching dream end.
Maybe he was better suited as an assistant. The Crows, Port and Essendon certainly rated him in that area.
He was well regarded by the game’s huge media contingent, with that dry wit often coming to the fore.
Among the coaching inner sanctum though he was also highly regarded with many of the game’s current and former coaches popping in to see him to say goodbye over the past few weeks as sadly the battle was being lost.
Dean Bailey hopefully will be remembered forever as one of the game’s nicest and friendliest guys.
RIP Dean!
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