Demons coach upbeat despite another loss - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Demons coach upbeat despite another loss

By Laine Clark 27/04/2008 07:21:35 PM Comments (0)

A black arm band was worn by Melbourne coach Dean Bailey for their AFL Anzac weekend clash against the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba.

A local wag suggested it was for Bailey's likely demise.

Certainly he looks more and more like the AFL's dead man walking after the win-less Demons' sixth straight loss - a 52-point thumping by the Lions.

Melbourne won the final quarter but had little else to cheer about after the 19.23 (137) to 13.7 (85) loss - a result that would have been much worse if the Lions had kicked straight.

There were schoolboy errors and at times comical turnovers.

But if Bailey was concerned about his long term future, once again he wasn't showing it.

"It is a great challenge, there isn't any doubt about that," Bailey said of the Melbourne coaching job.

"We are in the business of winning games and if you don't, you get scrutinised, you get picked apart which is the way it is."

Asked if he felt any pressure, Bailey said: "I think there is pressure on all coaches. We haven't won a game so there is going to be enormous pressure on us as a club and me as a coach absolutely.

"I enjoy what I do, I enjoy coaching a great club and I am going to enjoy the improvement because we will improve."

The only sign that Bailey wasn't happy came after the game when he kept his side behind closed doors for almost an hour following the final siren.

But Bailey reckons he wasn't giving the Demons a spray.

"I didn't give them a rocket. We just spoke about when we've got the football, being able to work for each other so that we can work the ball forward quicker," he said.

"When you play instinctively and take the first option then you can move the ball quicker, the only way to get better at it is (to) get back to training again and simulate the game at training."

Bailey said his players were still staying positive, saying their Thursday training session had been their best yet.

"There's still a good feeling about the place," he said.

"They want to get to the finishing line, but we've got to play better, longer. You can't just keep saying we did this well for three or four minutes.

"The first two games were just not good enough and the last two or three haven't been good enough either - the only glimmer is that we know what the problem is.

"We know our execution of our kicking and handball is putting us under pressure, we will continue to work on rectifying it."

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