Dean Bailey

Dean Bailey (18 January 1967 – 11 March 2014) was an Australian rules football player and coach.

He played for the Essendon Football Club and was the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club, as well as an assistant coach at Essendon and Port Adelaide and the Strategy & Innovation Coach at the Adelaide Football Club (Adelaide Crows).

Bailey became senior coach of Mount Gravatt Football Club in Queensland at the end of the 1997 season, In 1998, In his first season as senior coach, he guided Mt Gravatt to fourth place.

In 1999, he coached Mt Gravatt to third position in his second and final year.

At the end of the 1999 season, Bailey became an assistant coach in the position of development coach at the Essendon Football Club under senior coach Kevin Sheedy and helped the club to their 2000 premiership.

In his second year back with the Dons, they again made the 2001 Grand Final, except this time they lost to the Brisbane Lions by 26 points.

Bailey left the Essendon Football Club at the end of the 2001 season.

Bailey joined the Port Adelaide Football Club in 2002 as an assistant coach under senior coach Mark Williams, a position he held in guiding the club to the 2004 premiership.

The club found some form again in the following weeks, beating Essendon in round 15, narrowly losing to Fremantle in round 16 (after a huge comeback) and winning again in round 17, thrashing 2005 premiers Sydney by 73 points.

A 10-point win over struggling Brisbane at the Gabba and then Richmond at the MCG followed.

After Port Adelaide lost the 2007 Grand Final, Bailey left the Port Adelaide Football club at the end of the 2007 season.

At the end of the 2007 season, he was appointed as the senior coach of the Melbourne Football Club for the 2008 season.

Bailey replaced Melbourne Football Club caretaker senior coach Mark Riley, who replaced Neale Daniher, after Daniher resigned in the middle of the 2007 season.

The 2008 season started badly for Bailey, with the Demons losing their first six games by lopsided margins before winning its first match of the season against Fremantle in round seven.

Things did not get better, as the Demons under Bailey lost the next six games, however they won their second game in Round 14 against Brisbane.

Then they lost the next five games and won their third game in Round 20 against West Coast.

Melbourne under Bailey finished 16th in the last position on the ladder at the end of the 2008 season, claiming the wooden spoon with three wins and 19 losses.

The 2009 season started with three losses for the Demons under Bailey, before an inspiring and unexpected win by eight points against Richmond in their round four clash at the MCG.

At the mid-way point of the 2009 season, the Demons under Bailey sat last on the ladder with one win and eleven losses, but Bailey retained his commitment to youth and gave many youngsters on Melbourne's list valuable experience over the first half of the year.

The club under Bailey, finished the 2009 season with four wins and 18 losses and finished last on the ladder for the wooden spoon again in the second consecutive year running.

The 2010 season for the Demons under Bailey began with a first round-loss to Hawthorn by 56 points in which the playing group and Bailey were criticised in the media for their on-field performance.

But the Demons bounced back in their second game of the season, losing to eventual premier Collingwood by just one point.

Round three saw the Demons chalk up their first victory of the season, a 16-point victory over the Adelaide Crows.

This was followed by big victories over Richmond and the Brisbane Lions, the latter considered to be a major upset at that point of 2010, as the Lions were undefeated at the time, and fielded big name players including Brown and Fevola.

Despite elevated expectations the Demons then went on to lose their next three games.

A narrow victory over Port Adelaide in round 9 however gave fans something to celebrate.

Again the club suffered several more losses following the win, as well as a nail biting draw to Collingwood in the annual Queens Birthday Clash.

The 2011 season saw the Demons under Bailey, experience great fluctuations in form.

Starting the season with a draw against Sydney, the team was well beaten by Hawthorn in the second round, despite leading at half time.

Consecutive victories followed, with a narrow win over the Brisbane Lions, and league newcomers Gold Coast by 90 points.

Following a bye, the club suffered a 54-point defeat at the hands of West Coast, before bouncing back the following week, thrashing Adelaide by 96 points, recording their biggest ever victory against them.

It was also their biggest win under Dean Bailey to date.

Three losses followed, followed by a surprise victory over Essendon.

The traditional Queen's Birthday clash, which had been drawn the previous year, turned into a blow out with Collingwood winning by 88 points, the biggest margin in a Queen's Birthday clash to date.

The Demons then went on to record another massive turnaround, recording their biggest ever victory over Fremantle, by 89 points the following week.

This was followed up with a victory over.

Ultimately the Demons under Bailey finished 12th on the ladder at season's end, a somewhat huge improvement from the past two seasons.

Bailey died of lung cancer on 11 March 2014.

Bailey played 53 games for Essendon, mainly as a centreman.

He wore guernsey numbers 42 and 31, and preceded Dustin Fletcher in wearing the latter number.