New strategy and innovation coach Dean Bailey says he’s impressed at how quickly coach Brenton Sanderson has put his stamp on the Crows after only a few months at the helm.
Bailey was headhunted to join Adelaide’s new-look coaching group after parting ways with former club Melbourne, where he was the senior coach for four seasons, in the middle of last year.
Part of the experienced coach’s role is to provide support to coaching newcomer Sanderson, but Bailey said there was no confusion over who was calling the shots at West Lakes.
“Sando’s come in with a clear way he wants to play, so I’m assisting him in rolling out what he wants,” Bailey said after training on Thursday.
“There wouldn’t be too many players and coaches here, who don’t understand what he wants.
“He’s been very impressive and the players are feeding off his energy and his vibe.
“Although he’s brought some ideas from Geelong with him, he’s been very specific on what he wants and has put his own stamp on it as well.
“Football is an absolute focus for him. He lives and breathes it and that’s a fantastic attitude to have.
“He can probably learn from some of the things I didn’t do so well as a coach.
“Being time-efficient is probably the key.
“When you start as a senior coach, you’re into it 24-7 and you can generally get caught up in the day-to-day running of it.
“There will be other things along the way that hopefully I can pre-empt before they happen for him.
“There are some ideas I’ve thrown at him, but at the end of the day he makes the decisions and he’s the one determining what we do.”
Bailey resisted overtures from clubs in Victoria and also Port Adelaide, where he was an assistant under former coach Mark Williams, to join Sanderson at Adelaide.
The former Demons boss said he was enjoying his new role, which includes a range of responsibilities from assisting in game plan design and training planning to opposition analysis alongside the Club’s new pro scout Rob Harding.
“When I was at Melbourne, I spoke to Sando about coming across to Melbourne after he missed out on the Geelong coaching job, so he returned the favour by getting me here,” Bailey said.
“My role is broad in its demands, which is great - the busier I am, the happier I am.
“I assist Sando and the other coaches as well and challenging them on what they do, which I think is also important.
“Adelaide is a very good club, a well-run club and well resourced.
“I’m very happy to be here and really excited about what these young players are going to produce.”
The Crows trained for two hours at Max Basheer Reserve on Thursday morning.
As has been the norm this summer, the session involved a number of competitive drills.
An everyday niggle involving forward Taylor Walker and defender Matt Jaensch was construed as spiteful by a small section of the media, who suggested the pair - good friends away from the field - traded blows.
However, Walker and Jaensch laughed off the hype with the pair, and several teammates taking to Twitter to joke about the exchange.
