Has Luke Beveridge made the most of the Western Bulldogs' talent, or is he all smoke and mirrors?

[Eastdog]

https://www.theroar.com.au/2023/08/2...e-and-mirrors/


Has Luke Beveridge made the most of the Western Bulldogs' talent, or is he all smoke and mirrors?
Cameron Rose


Luke Beveridge is contracted as Western Bulldogs coach until the end of 2025, for reasons that defy comprehension.

He was extended beyond this season in December last year, having not only gone backwards in 2022 after a grand final in 2021, but after giving up a seven goal lead in an elimination final.

As it stands now the Dogs are right in the middle of no man?s land after losing to West Coast last Sunday, following on as it did from the loss to Hawthorn in Round 22. The Dogs were sitting in the eight after Round 21 and with finals on the line have lost to two of the bottom three teams.

The Dogs have got a history of choking under Beveridge late in the season. Let?s not forget 2021, when the Dogs were on top of the ladder after Round 20 only to lose to Essendon and Hawthorn again in the following two rounds, to end up missing the top four.

Yes, they were able to still make a grand final from fifth position on the ladder, but that?s a snake charmer?s way out. There?s no doubt Beveridge is the master smoke and mirrors coach of our time, swindling his way to a decade long coaching career.

Coaching the Dogs to a premiership in 2016 seems to have given Beveridge the keys to the city and while only six players remain on the list from that flag, another six are plying their trade elsewhere in the AFL ? Jake Stringer, Josh Dunkley and Lachie Hunter couldn?t wait to get out of the joint after being mismanaged, while Zaine Cordy, Jordan Roughead and Joel Hamling were all surplus to requirements as key position defenders, despite the Dogs being hardly over endowed in that area.

Jack Macrae is the latest player to get ?Bevo?d?, taken out of the primarily centre square role that made him a three time All Australian, and shunted out to play as a forward with spells rotating in the middle. Macrae has looked disinterested at stages this season, and has clearly not taken the change well.

Bailey Smith is another player that has been a shell of themselves this year. Can it really be less than 24 months since was kicking four goals in a prelim and three in a semi final, breaking lines as one of the most exciting young players in the competition? His form has gotten worse the longer the season has gone, amid suggestions that he will be looking for a new home this off-season.

In his time at the Dogs, Beveridge has had as much access to top end talent as any coach in the league, and does to this day.

Marcus Bontempelli is rated by many as the best player in the game. Tom Liberatore is seen as the best pure clearance player. Tim English is certainly in the conversation as the best ruckman, and may well be the All Australian ruck this year. Aaron Naughton would command $1M a season on the open market. Cody Weightman is as good as any small forward in the game.

We?ve already mentioned Macrae and Smith. Bailey Dale and Caleb Daniel are All Australians. Adam Treloar has been in the AA squad three times. Plus due to the vagaries of the AFL Academy system and the father-son rules, the Dogs have been gifted a #1 and #2 draft pick in the last three years, with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Sam Darcy respectively.

That is more than half a team worth of the most elite talent there is. Yet, when it comes to coaching this talent day in, day out, and week in, week out, Beveridge has never done better than middle of the road.

And this year in particular, so many lesser lights or lower tier players have either stagnated or gone backwards. Laitham Vandermeer is the first that comes to mind. Alex Keath and Ryan Gardner down back. Josh Bruce is nowhere, and Rory Lobb was always going to be a waste of time. Anthony Scott adds very little, and Lachie McNeil even less.

In nine seasons, Beveridge has never coached the Dogs to a top four finish on the ladder. He?s had them 6th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 7th, 7th, 5th, 8th, and they currently sit 9th with one game to go, and can only finish as high as 8th.

They are essentially North Melbourne under Brad Scott for a decade, except the Dogs were able to get lucky in a finals series or two, and with far more talent than Scott ever had access to at the Kangaroos.

Winning a flag covers all manner of sins, and especially so for a situation like the Dogs were in, with only one premiership in their history when Beveridge arrived at the club.

But the Bulldogs are going nowhere with Beveridge at the helm, and it?s time to cut ties. Presumably they can?t afford to cut him now after ridiculously extending him, and will have to ride it out.

In 2018, I asked whether Beveridge was a fraud that got lucky, whose bag of tricks had no magic left in it, and the question still stands.

Clubs are extremely patient these days, whereas it may pay to do some good old-fashioned bloodletting. Something is wrong at the Dogs under Beveridge, and has been for a while. We can only look at the top. The fish rots from the head.

[Sedat]

Gee that's an ordinary article. Purely designed to justify his earlier article from 5 years ago (which he links in this article, and is akin to a douchbag liking their own tweets or FB posts).

The premise of Bevo not being the right coach for us and having underachieved the last couple of years is fine, but it is a lazy article that is not well researched.

[Axe Man]

I'm not sure who Cameron Rose is or exactly what field he claims to be an "Expert" in, but it definitely isn't in the Western Bulldogs. So many inaccuracies in that drivel.

[1eyedog]

This is a warts and all article.

He's right and wrong.

The commentary around Stringer and Hunter wanting out of the place is amusing and he clearly doesn't have good optics on Jack Macrae but you can't deny the central theme of the article.

We've underperformed.

[Bumper Bulldogs]

At the risk of being on the outer. I agree with his article. We all have many questions about team selections each week. Bevo has always had favourites and loves to play players out of position or try to change them from a HB to a Forward. JJ would be another to this chat. Why has Sweet not got a run. West was looking around to leave. Khamas, Williams, McClean the list goes on.

I love what Bevo has done for us all and the club. However the fact is we all assume something must be wrong and are not closer enough to the inner workings of the organisation so please someone have the decency to take a look and get it fixed.

I can really see us losing Williams, Naughts and English at seasons end. Then how will we fair in years to come.

[Funke disco]

At the risk of being on the outer. I agree with his article. We all have many questions about team selections each week. Bevo has always had favourites and loves to play players out of position or try to change them from a HB to a Forward. JJ would be another to this chat. Why has Sweet not got a run. West was looking around to leave. Khamas, Williams, McClean the list goes on.

I love what Bevo has done for us all and the club. However the fact is we all assume something must be wrong and are not closer enough to the inner workings of the organisation so please someone have the decency to take a look and get it fixed.

I can really see us losing Williams, Naughts and English at seasons end. Then how will we fair in years to come.

If we were to lose Naughts and English in one year then it would or should be more than Bevo losing his job.

[Axe Man]

but you can't deny the central theme of the article.

The central theme of the article is that Bevo can't coach and was lucky to make 2 grand finals and win one. I can absolutely deny that.

[Sedat]

This is a warts and all article.

He's right and wrong.

The commentary around Stringer and Hunter wanting out of the place is amusing and he clearly doesn't have good optics on Jack Macrae but you can't deny the central theme of the article.

We've underperformed.

The central theme of our current situation is pretty obvious though - we have underperformed in 2022 and 2023. Our internal expectations have been to push for top 4 since we lost the 2020 EF. On that metric we were trending in the right direction in 2021 and have underperformed in 2022 and 2023.

But this clown talks about Bevo being a smoke and mirrors man for his entire 9 year tenure at the club. The way he glosses over our finals series in 2016 and 2021 as "a bit lucky" doesn't fit his narrative. End of the day Bevo has a 7-5 record in finals, which stacks up against most coaches in history - you can't whitewash historical facts and water it down as "a bit lucky" because you've got an axe to grind or you wanted to remind the world of a forgettable article you wrote 5 years earlier that probably got 3 clicks. The dismissive way he brushes aside one of the great team finals series of all time in 2021 (at least until the 20 min mark of the 3rd qtr of the GF) as a "snake charmer's way out" is pure horseshit. That's not to talk about many of the obvious inaccuracies and basic lack of research on players he has referenced in the article.

The author has written this article solely to remind everyone about what he wrote in 2018 - it is nothing more than a dick-swinging exercise.

[MrMahatma]

The central theme of the article is that Bevo can't coach and was lucky to make 2 grand finals and win one. I can absolutely deny that.

If a bloke can fluke a flag and a GF, good grief most coaches are completely sh1thouse then cause most haven't done/won't do either.

[Flamethrower]

Most overrated list of all time. Football is a TEAM sport, not a sport of 18 individuals fighting for the same ball at the same time.

Just watch a ball kicked high into the forward line, and Naughton. Ugle Hagan, Lobb, English, Bontempelli and Weightman all compete against each other to try to mark it. Where are the blocks? Where are the crumbers to the front and back of the pack? They are there but they are all wearing opposition jumpers.

[bornadog]

?NO DOUBT?: WHY LUKE BEVERIDGE IS STILL THE MAN FOR THE BULLDOGS - Rodney Eade

Luke Beveridge is the man the Western Bulldogs should stick with in a bid to move forward.

That is the opinion of former Bulldogs coach Rodney Eade who believes there is no reason to move on from the 2016 premiership coach just yet.


There have been multiple calls for the Dogs to part ways with Beveridge after what many perceive to be a failed season which has the club sitting ninth on the ladder ahead of a must-win Round 24 clash with Geelong.


However, Eade suggests Beveridge still has plenty to offer, but only if he can evolve, tweak things on the run and change his messaging.


?I think he should be there, no doubt,? Eade said on SEN?s Whateley.


?They won a flag, I know that was a while ago, but he?s (also) got them to a Grand Final (in 2021).


?The problem with judging players or clubs or coaches is we always look at the negative side, the glass half-empty. I think we should look at the glass half-full about what he has done.


?They haven?t made a top four and people will say that, but that?s not here nor there to a degree.


?I think as a coach, and Chris Grant and maybe Luke Darcy as the directors who know football, is they need to change some things. There?s no doubt.


?Whether that?s changing Luke and the way he goes about it. Whether it?s game plan, whether it?s his message, whether it?s selection, whether it?s a whole range of different things, tactics, whatever the case may be.


?They need change. (Alastair) Clarkson was good at it Hawthorn, changing game styles. You?re actually giving a different message because you?re educating something different, so it keeps the players fresh to a degree.


?All coaches know if you can last seven to 10 years you?ve done a good job. But then it?s a bit like (Damien) Hardwick at Richmond when he?s saying he was running dry.


?It does happen, so as a coach you?ve got to evolve and change things differently.?


Eade, who led the club to Preliminary Finals in 2008, 2009 and 2010, admits the Dogs have not met expectations in what has been a disappointing 2023 campaign.


?The expectations were high, so everyone is disappointed, especially media and certainly supporters,? he added.


?I would think they have a list good enough, not counting injuries, of being certainly in the eight, but probably top six.


?I think your expectations on any team should be higher than what you think. If you think you?re going to make the eight, well, let?s aim for top six. You should have lofty expectations.


?As coaches we go in to modify the narrative to take the heat and pressure off. Maybe it?s a way of protecting the players and the club.


?It?s certainly been a disappointing season. All the figures indicate that the Dogs haven?t got to the level that they expect as well, let alone the supporters and the media.?


However, the Dogs can still save face if they qualify for finals, but in order to do that they have to beat the Cats at GMHBA Stadium and hope Carlton defeats GWS on Sunday night.

[JanLorMill]

However, Eade suggests Beveridge still has plenty to offer, but only if he can evolve, tweak things on the run and change his messaging.

There it is again.

[Hotdog60]

How would Rocket go as senior assist would it be too much of ego clashing.

[JanLorMill]

How would Rocket go as senior assist would it be too much of ego clashing.

I suspect it's not a problem for Rocket. Bevo probably. Who would want a senior assistant job when the senior doesn't listen?

[bornadog]

I suspect it's not a problem for Rocket. Bevo probably. Who would want a senior assistant job when the senior doesn't listen?

Every one makes these accusations but is there proof ?