‘Records are made to be broken’: Ted Whitten Jnr speaks on Luke Beveridge’s Bulldogs coaching record
Luke Beveridge will pass Ted Whitten Sr. this Sunday on the Dogs’ all-time games coached list. And the son of the legend says Bevo deserves his place at the top of the Bulldog tree.
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The son of legendary Bulldog Ted Whitten Sr. says Luke Beveridge deserves to be rated the most successful coach in the club’s history as he prepares to break a longstanding record.
Beveridge will coach his 229th match against Greater Western Sydney on Sunday, as the Bulldogs look to shore up a finals spot in Ballarat.
That will take him past Australian Football Hall of Fame Legend and club icon Whitten as the longest serving coach in Footscray/Western Bulldogs history.
Whitten’s son, Ted Jr., said his father would have happily handed over the coaching longevity mantle and would have been proud of what Beveridge had done for the club across the past decade.
“Dad used to always say ‘records are meant to be broken’,” Ted Whitten Jr said this week.
“He would have been happy to hand it over, I’m sure.”
Beveridge was playing at the Bulldogs when Whitten Sr. died, aged 62, after a battle with prostate cancer, 29 years ago last week.
“I guess the longevity of Bevo’s coaching career will prove that in the long-term,” Ted Jr. said when asked if thought Beveridge had been the club’s most successful coach.
“Dad coached in the 1961 grand final, but he couldn’t get them over the line. The Hawks rolled them pretty easily.
“Dad was there in ‘54 when Charlie Sutton coached them to a flag.
“I’m pretty sure Dad and Charlie would be rapt with what Bevo has done with the club, like all the supporters are.
“He has done a great job, the fact that he brought a premiership to the club (in 2016) was just unbelievable. He has had his detractors but he has proven them all wrong.
“He is hanging in there and the side is playing as well as it has for some time.”
Beveridge is the only Bulldogs coach to have taken the club to multiple grand finals – a win in 2016 and runners-up in 2021.
He has coached the most finals for the club (12) and his 56.58% win/loss ledger is the highest for the Bulldogs for those who have coached 100 or more games.
Whitten Jr. said Beveridge, who started the year under external pressure despite having a contract for next year, could yet lead the Dogs deep into the second half of this decade as the club chases a third VFL-AFL premiership.
“The way he has the team playing at the moment, who knows what the results might be come September,” Whitten Jr. said.
“Going forward, as long as he can keep bringing on the young kids and they are recruiting the right players, it looks like we can have some more success.
“This is a young man’s game and you can see that with what Hawthorn has been doing. They have come on leaps and bounds this year.
“The Bulldogs have got some great young players and the future looks pretty bright. Let’s go Bevo!”
Ted Whitten Jr. was also a star in his own right, playing 144 games for Footscray in the 1970s.
Originally published as ‘Records are made to be broken’: Ted Whitten Jnr speaks on Luke Beveridge’s Bulldogs coaching record
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