MELBOURNE coach Dean Bailey says he has fielded sympathetic calls from several AFL coaches as he endures the Demons’ slow start to 2008.

“I’ve had a few people ring me and offer advice and it’s nice to see other coaches ring you,” Bailey said.

“I’m not going to tell you who’s rang me but they’ve all said ‘I’ve been where you’ve been, we’ve lost games and if you stick at what you’re doing and continue to teach, educate, work with your players and stay united you will turn it around'.”

Bailey said morale among the players was still high, with the leadership group helping Melbourne’s first and second year players through the heavy defeats of the first two rounds.

“The leaders are working hard with the young players. Adem Yze has sat there and gone through with some players their tape and some advice on positioning,” Bailey said.

“Young Cale Morton spends a lot of time with Brad Green and Cameron Bruce. You’ve got a young bloke who wants to learn about it and you’ve got two really good senior players who are prepared to help Cale be a better player.”

Bailey said defenders Matthew Whelan and Jared Rivers would be considered for a return in this week’s match against Geelong.

“We’ll make some changes this week. We’ll probably be looking at players to be given another opportunity and we’ll continue to look for players who are going to be competitive.”

Bailey said the key to playing Geelong was matching them at the contests around the ground.

“In the game last week against Essendon they were very good at the stoppage. Whenever there was a turnover the Geelong players really worked hard for it, pushed hard forward and got the rewards,” he said.

“We went down there in NAB Cup round one. We were OK but we got beaten comfortably. What we’ve learnt is that we’ll probably need to be good at the stoppages this week. They are a very good stoppage team.”

Bailey also denied suggestions that Russell Robertson’s regular television appearances on a commercial network were taking the focus off his football.

“The decision was with Russell. He’s got some special qualities about him, Russell. He’s there to be an AFL footballer and we judge him on the training track and what he does on the ground.”