MELBOURNE just can't shake its bad habits, according to ruckman Jeff White.

The Demons are still grappling with new coach Dean Bailey's game plan as their AFL season disintegrates

"The most important thing for us is to minimise our skill errors, get this great game plan that Dean's got in place (working) and get some confidence from that," White said yesterday. "It's a really, really good exciting game plan, but we've just got to get it right."

He said players were still trying to shake off the strategies engineered by former coach Neale Daniher and it was taking longer than anticipated.

"You can get all the training techniques and all the game styles right out on the track but once you get out on the park you tend to go back to your bad habits," White said. "I think that's what's happening but we're excited about learning a new style … so hopefully it's not too far away."

With Melbourne the only team yet to taste victory this year, White understood that Demons' supporters were struggling to see the positives.

"From people outside it would look that way but from the meetings we're having on the Mondays, we're not far away," he said.

"We made a lot of skill errors the last couple of weeks in the second quarter that cost us six or seven goals against Brisbane and Carlton. If we can minimise that a little bit and bring that back to two or three we'll give ourselves an opportunity."

Fremantle, which lost to reigning premier Geelong by just one point last week, will be without injured defenders Roger Hayden and Antoni Grover, while Steven Dodd is also in doubt and tough midfielder Josh Carr is serving a three-game suspension.

"We'll do our homework on Freo, they played really well the last two weeks against two quality sides and they'll be out to fire up," said White. "They've played really well the last few years at the 'G."

AAP

i read that too this morning. i would like to here the opinions of some of the posters here who have both argued for and against baileys 'game plan'.

it almost sounds as if jeff white was trying to quieten those critics down, but i couldnt imagine he was. it does seem to support what me and jaded have been saying, that the players seem unable to execute what should be a simple plan...

i read that too this morning. i would like to here the opinions of some of the posters here who have both argued for and against baileys 'game plan'.

it almost sounds as if jeff white was trying to quieten those critics down, but i couldnt imagine he was. it does seem to support what me and jaded have been saying, that the players seem unable to execute what should be a simple plan...

Yea lets wait and see the proof in the pudding deanox. I'm trying to be a believer but i just can't fathom how a group of "professional" can be so badly skilled.

Everyone is reading from the same prayer book and is saying exactly the same things from Yoda down to White, Jones, Bruce etc. It sounds like they have bought into it but it looks like they are really bsttling with it.

I think we are all waiting to see the signs of the turn around as we have not seen many at the minute. Winning 3 last quarts when the game is shot is so poor it is not funny, bring on Freo!

I am too trying to come to terms with the skill level. I have never seen it this bad at the footy club, even in 95'-97'. However the new game plan implemented is radical (maybe not for most but for our boys it looks as though it is).

For me it is like a piece worker on an apple farm. Under Daniher the worker pulled of the apples one by one and put them into his bucket, a method which minimized anything going wrong. Under Bailey the worker is gripping the trunk of the tree in both hands and shaking it has hard as as he can, the apples come down faster however many of them drop on his head on the way down.

i read that too this morning. i would like to here the opinions of some of the posters here who have both argued for and against baileys 'game plan'.

it almost sounds as if jeff white was trying to quieten those critics down, but i couldnt imagine he was. it does seem to support what me and jaded have been saying, that the players seem unable to execute what should be a simple plan...

Yeh the way he said 'great game plan' makes it sound like he's trying to get the media off DB's back. The players are all saying its them and not Bailey, so I guess they're all sticking up for him.

Yeh the way he said 'great game plan' makes it sound like he's trying to get the media off DB's back. The players are all saying its them and not Bailey, so I guess they're all sticking up for him.

Maybe its actually the truth??

I think one of our problems over the last 6 years or so is that we've had a team full of footballing dummies. What I mean by that is that when we have possession in traffice they're unable to pick the best option which forces a turn over. How many times have we seen one of our own running through the centre corridor in space only to handball it to someone standing still and about to be gang tackled. Right now the game plan may seem terrible but that would be more due to the lack of ability of our players than anything else.

I'm hoping that Bailey's 'teaching' technique will be more effective that Daniher was, but I'm not expecting an immediate improvement. This year was always going to be a transitional year where the new coaches will work out who to keep and who to delist.

i read that too this morning. i would like to here the opinions of some of the posters here who have both argued for and against baileys 'game plan'.

I'm neither for nor against it. I hope it works. There were 3 things that struck me reading White's comments.

"The most important thing for us is to minimise our skill errors, get this great game plan that Dean's got in place (working) and get some confidence from that,"

Acknowledgement by the players that lack of skill is a big factor.

"It's a really, really good exciting game plan, but we've just got to get it right."

The players either really do believe in it or want to believe in it.

"From people outside it would look that way but from the meetings we're having on the Mondays, we're not far away," he said.

The despair that many supporters are feeling by now isn't shared by the playing group & coach, who are seeing positives at the Monday meetings.

My conclusions? I don't know. I hope White & co are correct. They may well be. Definitely the skills are way below what they need to be. Can training fix it? Probably only partially. All the amount of training in the world won't produce skills in players who just don't have the potential. Is Bailey asking the impossible from the playing group? Dunno; the guy should be realistic, I hope.

Is it a "really, really good exciting game plan"? Again dunno. May be. It'll only be exciting if it actually works. I'm hoping, 'cos there's not much evidence to go on at this stage. If it turns out that it does eventually prove brilliant and exciting like White says, then Bailey's both a genius and you've gotta admire his tenacity and resolve not to flinch in face of the current setbacks. If hindsight proves it would never work, how long do you keep flogging a dead horse? Tough call.

Is the playing & coaching group right to be positive & upbeat at Monday dissection meetings? Depends on stuff they know and we don't.

Good to read White's comments, I think they help clarify some of the questions without providing much in the way of answers.