Pledging commitment
IT WAS St Kilda coach Ross Lyon who last week said he wanted to see his club through its "rough patch"; now Melbourne coach Dean Bailey and Western Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade have joined the chorus and sung about their own futures.

Bailey and Eade are out of contract at the end of the season; Bailey after four years at Melbourne and Eade following seven at the Kennel.

The reality both coaches face is their sides have lost momentum after showing promise over the past few seasons. The Demons have stalled after rising to 12th last year while the Dogs are currently 11th on the ladder after playing in three consecutive preliminary finals. 

Bailey told the Herald Sun he remained confident he was "doing the right thing for the Melbourne footy club". He also said he intended to be a part of it after this year and would continue to coach with the best "long-term" interests in mind.

Bailey said he didn't need to seek reassurance from Jim Stynes' administration and denied perceived tension between himself and the president. Eade, however, said he still felt the support of the David Smorgon and Simon Garlick-run hierarchy.

Eade told The Footy Show he wanted to remain at the club beyond this year even if the Dogs missed the eight.

With another five coaches - Brett Ratten, Alastair Clarkson, John Worsfold, Michael Voss and Guy McKenna - out of contract at the end of the season, plus the fact Mick Malthouse and Paul Roos will be without senior jobs - the talk regarding the coaching merry-go-round won't go away anytime soon.

Too much, too young
On the topic of coaches, Ratten told The Age in a candid interview he had tried to take on too much at Carlton in recent years and needed to focus more on his job at hand.

He spoke of the Blues' round 18 loss to Collingwood last year as a turning point when he realised he had become too removed from his players while attempting to help mend the club's culture along with its on-field success.

Ratten has coached from the sidelines ever since that 48-point defeat, and says he moved his Visy Park office downstairs over the summer to be closer to his players.

The trend of coaching from the boundary is something many clubs have looked into; Richmond being one with Damien Hardwick and Adelaide another with Neil Craig.

While Collingwood's Malthouse often ventures down to the sidelines shortly before each break, he admitted on radio recently he couldn't afford to implement his directions full-time from the field as he would lose sight of 174cm midfielder Jarryd Blair when he was running down the opposite wing.

Another bout between Demetriou and Kennett   
On the topic of boxing, we're up to about round 97 between AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou and Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett, with the latter this week calling the head of the League "a benevolent dictator".

Kennett claimed on 3AW on Thursday club presidents had little say in the national competition and Demetriou was the one pulling the main strings.

On his regular 3AW spot on Friday morning, Demetriou laughed off Kennett's claims and said the Hawthorn president was being "tongue-in-cheek" and "quite cute".

He also refuted Kennett's claims the presidents' input into the running of the competition was limited, and that the AFL was overstaffed.

Demetriou said he had taken no offence from Kennett's latest attack on the AFL and admitted he would actually miss the former politician when he retired at the season's end.

He even said Kennett could come to the AFL and pinch his CEO role, to "take the dictatorship to another level".

Tongue in cheek, of course.

In short
Lenny Hayes has had more surgery on his recently reconstructed knee but is not expected to be set back by the operation. His aim remains to play round one next year.

The Herald Sun reports the Magpies will struggle to keep their premiership-winning stable together next year with half of its 2010 winning team to come out of contract.

Veteran West Coast ruckman Dean Cox told The Australian it would be difficult for any player to influence a spot-fix on any kind of exotic betting type.

The Age says the AFL fixture is emerging as a key part of discussions about equalisation and ensuring clubs don't become financially disadvantaged owing to their schedule.

One sleep to go until Metricon Stadium opens its doors for its first game between Gold Coast and captain Gary Ablett's former club Geelong. Cats' defender Darren Milburn told SEN it will be a team effort to stop the Brownlow medallist.

Richmond is back in Darwin for the first time in 12 years for the clash with Port Adelaide on Saturday night, and Brett Deledio - who has never played in the Northern Territory - told the Northern Territory News the Tigers were ready after working with humidity chambers in the lead up to the game.

Essendon part-time forwards coach Scott Lucas is expected to leave his role at the club after being appointed general manager of Phoenix management company, The Age reports. 

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL