Former Melbourne coach and Adelaide assistant Dean Bailey dies after cancer battle, aged 47 by: Michelangelo Rucci
From: adelaidenow
March 11, 2014 10:26AM
CROWS senior assistant coach Dean Bailey died this morning.
Bailey, 47, was diagnosed with cancer — that filled one of his lungs — in December.
Adelaide Football Club players, coaches and staff gathered at their West Lakes headquarters at 9.30am today to learn of his death.
The news of Bailey’s death will be met with shock and sadness around the AFL community where Bailey was admired as one of the game’s much-loved men and sharpest tacticians.
Bailey first learned of his predicament after becoming acutely ill late last year before doctors identified his condition as a cancer in the chest area.
Despite being on indefinite leave, Adelaide’s strategy and innovation coach continued to play a role at the club, inspiring the players with visits between treatments.
His passion and dry humour made him a popular figure around West Lakes.
Last month, after it was confirmed that Bailey had returned to hospital, Brodie Smith said the players’ thoughts were constantly with him.
“It’s just a sad and unfortunate event,’’ Smith said.
“He’s such a great coach and such a good guy around the club.”
Some of the players and coaches shaved their heads as a token of support when Bailey was undergoing chemotherapy.
Bailey’s career in AFL football began as a player in the Essendon midfield in 1986. He played 53 senior games until his retirement in 1992. He then turned to coaching with outstanding credentials as one of the game’s deepest thinkers and calmest men in high-pressure matches.
Bailey left Essendon — where he was a development coach — to be a vital part of Port Adelaide’s 2004 AFL premiership triumph as an assistant coach for Mark Williams. Late in the 2007 season, Bailey was appointed Melbourne’s senior coach — a demanding job he kept for 83 games before his departure midway through the 2011 season.
Bailey returned to Adelaide in October 2011 to be the senior member of rookie coach Brenton Sanderson’s panel at West Lakes.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/former-melbourne-coach-and-adelaide-assistant-dean-bailey-dies-after-cancer-battle-aged-47/story-fni5f4l8-1226851178334==================================
RIP
