Hi All

On the WA 7 news last night the CEO of the dockers indicated they were interested in getting Scott West as a assistant.

They think they can do it as Harvey is good friend with him.

Scott West has a family and is unlikely to want to move to Perth unless he is offered significantly more coin.

I think Scott West will want to finish what he has started at Melbourne. I am sure he can see the upside in the demon midfield. Probably can't wait to coach Scully and Tengove. I think he will see what great things it will do for his career if he coaches our midfield on the rise.

I would be very suprised if he left to go to Freo.

Melbourne's midfield is about to ignite... Freos is...... is.....is... hmm.. Why would Westie want to abandon this project ( MFC ) to go live amongst the great remote ? Yes Freo might like him.... they probably like lots of things they cant have

Hands off. I think its time to offer Westy a full time roll and let him really get stuck into our midfield. get rid of mahoney if we have too

Scott West has a family and is unlikely to want to move to Perth unless he is offered significantly more coin.

I think Scott West will want to finish what he has started at Melbourne. I am sure he can see the upside in the demon midfield. Probably can't wait to coach Scully and Tengove. I think he will see what great things it will do for his career if he coaches our midfield on the rise.

I would be very suprised if he left to go to Freo.

Firstly, Freo have a far superior capacity to pay West than MFC do.

Freo have had a tough year and are often derided here, sometimes fairly, sometimes unreasonably. As far as there list is concern they have a nucleus of very good young footballers (Hill, Palmer, Ibbotsen) etc around Sandilands and Pavlich. They have cleared out a number of deadwood seniors. For the right money, such a role could be a worthy challenge for West.

Firstly, Freo have a far superior capacity to pay West than MFC do.

Freo have had a tough year and are often derided here, sometimes fairly, sometimes unreasonably. As far as there list is concern they have a nucleus of very good young footballers (Hill, Palmer, Ibbotsen) etc around Sandilands and Pavlich. They have cleared out a number of deadwood seniors. For the right money, such a role could be a worthy challenge for West.

Paying capacity can be influential.

Hands off. I think its time to offer Westy a full time roll and let him really get stuck into our midfield. get rid of mahoney if we have too

There was a little snippet on one of the footy radio stations (MMM or SEN, one of the two) a couple of Sundays ago before the early game, that indicated West was keen for a larger coaching role at Melbourne. If he's being offered a larger role and more money at another club, he'd have to seriously consider it. Leaving the city of Melbourne for Perth would probably be a bigger drawback for a coach than leaving the Dees for Freo.

Edited September 3, 200916 yr by pantaloons

Hands off. I think its time to offer Westy a full time roll and let him really get stuck into our midfield. get rid of mahoney if we have too

Amen. Westy is top-shelf for integrity & character. I think he's more likely to be swayed by the promise of a FT Assistant position rather than the coin. If he's got a solid enough arrangement with the Dees, I'd say he'd stay, especially if he's offered a FT Assistant role here. I believe he'd take the same role here, even if it was less money. But if we haven't locked him in and he's only on a year-by-year arrangement and we're not prepared to offer him FT, he may well take the Freo offer because it's more solid & secure, not because it might be more lucrative. Westy's worth hanging on to for mine.

Westy's worth hanging on to for mine.

Do you know much about him as a coach?

Apart from his playing days I know nothing about West.

Firstly, Freo have a far superior capacity to pay West than MFC do.

Freo have had a tough year and are often derided here, sometimes fairly, sometimes unreasonably. As far as there list is concern they have a nucleus of very good young footballers (Hill, Palmer, Ibbotsen) etc around Sandilands and Pavlich. They have cleared out a number of deadwood seniors. For the right money, such a role could be a worthy challenge for West.

Correct.

Their list is actually not all that dissimilar than ours. Don't get me wrong, I know which one I'd prefer, but they're no Richmond.

Add to this the fact that Westie is far from a proven coach. He ha a part time role with a midfield that was, pretty much, the worst in the league. I'm all for giving him a permanent role, but let's not get overly excited about upping his salary and dropping everything to retain him.

Wellman on the other hand...

Do you know much about him as a coach?

Apart from his playing days I know nothing about West.

Not as a coach. I've lived in the western suburbs for over 25 years and have had a fair amount of community involvement, and the Bulldogs do a lot of work in the community here in various ways, especially schools etc. Like a number of Bulldogs past & present, West has a great reputation out this way, not just as a player, but also as a person.

The reason I'd expect him to have a lot to offer as a midfield coach is because he was such a highly-respected player, but not overly blessed with skills or athleticism, he just had outstanding intelligence & footy smarts, and he was absolutely unbeatable at clearances.

The link in the chain that I don't know about is his communication & teaching ability - how good he is at putting what he was so good at into words and getting it across to others. And I don't know if he'd have the all-round attributes that are needed for coaching, his skills might be confined to midfield. But it's the midfield, especially clearances, where we really need to improve.

I don't know much about Josh Mahoney either, what his capabilities are.

Would be very unfortunate to lose Scott West with Scully and potentially Trengove coming on board next year but oh well, if it happens it happens.

I expect West to become a full time midfield assistant with the Dee's. I thought that was on the cards for next year. Something Bailey said during the season triggered that thought!

My hope is that if Melbourne rate him as a really good young coach then we'll keep him. I don't want the club to lose anyone they want to keep. Really good people are hard to find. There's more coaches and assistant coaches running around the AFL than ever before. I'll bet less than 15% are really good at what they do. If West is, then we have to keep him. We need to become the best again.

Edited September 3, 200916 yr by Roost It

My hope is that if Melbourne rate him as a really good young coach then we'll keep him............................

Exactly! I doubt that any of us here know how well Westy stacks up as a coach ... but our FD, on the other hand, have had a full season to assess him 'on the job'. If their judgement is that we should keep him, and that his asking price is fair given what they believe he has to offer, then I'm confident that he will be a Demon in 2010. If he doesn't match expectations in these areas, then Freo, or whoever else can have him.