Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams has praised new Melbourne coach Dean Bailey as 'a great communicator and a good teacher, analyst and tactician'.

"So he's got all the things, (and) he's also coached in his own right," Williams said of his former assistant who has left the Power immediately to prepare for his three-year contract with the Demons.

"He's been development coach, done the backline and the midfield now. He's worked with some really good other coaches, and he's been in a club that's had to endure some tough times, and Melbourne, like us, don't have great resources just to go out and spend on everything, so being able to pick the eyes out of the best stuff and deliver that to the resources behind the players would be important."

When asked at the outset of his regular Friday media conference why Bailey was not at Port's training session, Williams said: "I'm not sure if I'm here to announce Dean as the Melbourne coach, but he is.

"We talked to him this morning. It's a great appointment by them and he's very worthy of the job. We're very happy for him but obviously it means he doesn't coach with us any more.

"Luckily we've had in place … Matthew Primus has been working hand in hand with him with the rucks and the midfield, doing every meeting and every bit of training together, so Matty steps up into that position and we're very happy for him to take over.

"It's a little deja vu because Alastair (Clarkson, now Hawthorn's coach) … in 2004 the same thing happened, so hopefully we get the same result (the AFL premiership). That'd be beautiful and only time will tell. But Dean's done a terrific job for our club and we certainly wish him all the best."

Asked if Port would lack coaching experience on its panel, Williams said: "Not particularly. Peter Rhode is there as well with us, and we'll make sure we've got enough coverage as far as experience is concerned. The coaching group has worked really well this year and I'm sure we'll be able to cover Dean's loss with Matty stepping up."

Williams described Bailey's appointment as 'a nice thing for the (Port) organisation', and he added: "I think a lot of people respect what we've done and how we educate our players. We claim to be, and we want to be seen as, the best football school in