RADIO INTERVIEW WITH NEW COACH DEAN BAILEY

[Demonland 70,166]

New Melbourne coach Dean Bailey was interviewed today on Adelaide Radio Station 5AA by Ken Cunningham and Graham Cornes. Here's the transcript thanks to Krazy Jay:-

5AA: How did you go about applying for the job?

DB: There was an ad in the paper, and like anyone who is looking for a job and looking to further themselves, I just applied for it.

5AA: Did you have someone to put in a good word for you or a personal contact?

DB: Ha, ha ... nah … Nothing as sinister and as interesting as what people might've thought. Saw the ad, applied for it and thought I might have a bit of a chance. It was an email that I got with the advertisement and I rang the HR company in Melbourne and said I saw the ad, they said "We'll send out some questions and take it from there"

5AA: Well done, Dean you beat a hot field!

DB: Yeah, there seemed to be a few people going for it (laughs).

5AA: Give us some idea of the process these days?

DB: Well, they just asked some general questions at first. After I'd sent them back, Chris Harris and Chris Fagan said "Look we'd like to have a chat". It was a very informal chat at Steve's house with Chris Fagan and myself and we just talked footy for a couple of hours. It would be like us three sitting in a room having a quite red and just talking footy. Just a real "get to know you" and obviously the start of the process.

5AA: And what transpired from there?

DB: The second interview they just went back to people and there were four. I guess you could call them questions, that we had to answer in a presentation form. Your week at training, what would you do, how would you set it up, perhaps some things that happened inside the coaches box. They didn't really touch on any game plan issues. That didn't really happen till the final interview. So I presented this in Melbourne …

5AA: And the final interview?

DB: Then at the last interview you had to go through the pre-game discussion. It was actually an Adelaide game, as if I was coaching Melbourne. You had to look at the last two or three games Adelaide had played, analyse their strengths and weaknesses and come up with a strategy and a tactical meeting about who would you play on who and that was quite intense! Then to finish it up you had to do a post-game analysis of the Melbourne v Bulldogs game.

5AA: Goodness, gracious me. I should hope you had a chance to look at them thoroughly?

DB: Yeah absolutely. You were given about a week and a bit to look at two or three of the recent games, in the case of the Adelaide one, it was Adelaide v Carlton, Adelaide v Richmond and Adelaide v Brisbane. The Bulldogs v Melbourne game was like, you play it, they give you a copy of the game to take home and look at, and then you present it.

5AA: So it was pretty intense! Did you have to talk to the panel as though they were your players?

DB: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was very much in one sense a role play where you were trying to educate them off the screen, in both the pre-game and then of course the post-game. In the room was Gary Lyon, Nathan Burke and Peter Schwab and they asked some pretty good football questions. Also there was a psychologist in there who asked more of the psych questions regarding preparing player etc. Which was quite good.

5AA: Gee, Dean when you left that last meeting, how confident were you that you would get the job?

DB: Umm … I was the third person on and Damien Hardwick was up after me. The guys in the room had been there for maybe five hours before my two hour interview so Damien coming in fourth maybe didn't get them quite as alert as I had 'em (laughs). Look, all I did was present, walked out and thought, "well, that seemed to go ok". But I didn't walk out of there thinking I had the job, No....

5AA: Was there any one thing where you though "I've really got these guys" and you sensed that you had them in the palm of your hand?

DB: Nah ... because there's so much information to talk about and the length of the preparation and the length of interview, it was really bouncing around. They'd bring you back to an issue and ask you "What are you gonna do with the match-up here?" or "What are you gonna do there?" So I never felt like "Yep I've got em!" They just kept throwing questions at me for just over an hour. They certainly kept us on our toes, well ... kept me on my toes that's for sure!

5AA: And how did you get the call? How did that happen?

DB: Yeah well, Steve Harris rang me just to let me know that I was the preferred candidate and I said well "That's terrific". My wife was very happy, my two boys were jumping all over the place and so it was pretty exciting for about 30-40 minutes and after that we sort of settled down a bit (laughs)

5AA: Has it been a dream, since your playing days, to one day coach?

DB: I think after I finished playing football in 1992 and I left the AFL and I came across to Glenelg, I found that the coaching, teaching and helping element while you're playing, I actually quite enjoyed it. Choco Williams was coaching for those two years and I got a lot of enjoyment out of watching the young fellas learn and just giving them little bits of advice that they would take on and they'd come up after the match, or the next few matches, and say "Thanks for that". It just felt very rewarding and I thought well, maybe coaching might be something I could be good at.

5AA: When do you move over there?

DB: I think the first week of December after the kids have finished school, the kids and my wife will come over, but I'll be jumping sort of back 'n forth for the next few months.

5AA: What about your assistants? Is that the slate wiped clean and you re-build again or I guess Mark Riley deserves to be there. What about the others?

DB: Well, Chris Connolly has just been made Football Operations so the structure that we wanna go down is probably a couple of weeks away from finalising it. But, I must admit, the Melbourne footy club over the last seven to eight weeks have held their head high and it's a testament to not only Mark but the players to continue on and still put the efforts in which gave them a chance to win games. So there are still some very good elements in the club.

5AA: They haven't got a home. How much of a concern is it to you and how do you overcome that?

DB: Well, obviously two to three years down the track they're moving to the new precinct which I think is just starting to get built. But look, when I walked in at the Junction Oval it smelled like a footy club. It smelled like there'd been a fair bit of sweat on the floor and in the gym and I know it's not the most flashy facility going around, such as what Adelaide and Port Adelaide have got, but it really smelled like a footy club and I reckon' that's an important thing to have! A weight is a weight regardless of how shiny it is boys. It still weighs the same!

5AA: Dean, you met the players yesterday I think it was, How receptive were they?

DB: Yeah, they were quite good. I did ask them whether they knew anything about me or wanted to ask me anything. But as all players do, over time I guess they will be a little bit harder with their questions of me. But look, I spoke to them for about 20 minutes and I spoke to Bohdan Babijczuk for a fair amount of time and I gave him my views on conditioning and how important the time off is and everything. But obviously that was really the first time I had spoken to the players and I spoke to a couple of them individually afterwards and they're fairly excited about next year! Which was a really good vibe I got off them and look some of the senior players are really disappointed about their year, and it was almost that they were embarrassed. (voice raises a touch) But look, there is a hunger amongst some of those senior players there and talking about how disappointing the year has been. Some of the senior boys are talking about coming back for the start of pre-season fitter than they have before and I think that augurs well for a strong break.

5AA: Dean, when will you, if we can use the word, "Overhaul" your list at Melbourne?

DB: Well, Craig Cameron, our list manager and our "Recruiting Guru", I have already put a lot of pressure on him already!

5AA: Have you really?

DB: Oh yeah! We'll sit down in the next couple of weeks and go through it again. Craig's been in the business a long time and he's very well respected and he's certainly got some views and we'll just need to nut those things out. But obviously with the list we'll certainly be making some changes.

5AA: And who do you try and pinch from Port Adelaide? Because you've seen it happen before with Clarkson, obviously you've worked with guys there who must have impressed you. Have you been warned off in that regard?

DB: Ha ha! Maybe I'm gonna pinch 'em from Hawthorn! (A lot of laughing)

5AA: Were you disappointed that you didn't get an interview at Essendon?

DB: No, not really. To be brutally honest with you, I rang them and asked them and they said "Look we don't think you're the sort of high profile coach we're after". Look, I was really impressed with their honesty and I hope they get a coach who best reflects their needs because that's what Melbourne's done. Seriously, I'm not bitter about it at all. I'm absolutely happy where I'm headed! The most important thing is they'll get someone who can actually coach I think! (I like this guy a lot already!)

5AA: And what about Chris Connolly who also applied for the job now becoming the football manager?

DB: We spent a lot of time together Chris and myself. We must have spent four or five hours together. His experience of when he first got to Fremantle and building the club and all those sorts of things are very, very valuable! Particularly where Melbourne's at, so he was really good. Chris really has an enormous passion for the Melbourne Football Club. I know he is a past player and a life member and all that, but he just wants to see this club back to where it should be. And you know, after four or five hours, I spoke to Chris, (Steve) Harris and Paul Gardiner and Chris just ticked a lot of boxes. He was just so overly enthusiastic about it all.. I think he's gonna do a very, very good job!

5AA: Well, thanks very much Dean ... Good luck with the new job and we wish you every success....

DB: Thanks guys.... It's an exciting time for not only myself but for everyone involved at the club!