Lin Jong opens up on the epic spray he received from Luke Beveridge
Luke Beveridge can be a fiery customer at the best of times. But what happened when he busted one of his players touring a rival club?
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Former Bulldogs midfielder Lin Jong has lifted the lid on his ill-fated 2016 tour of Collingwood’s Olympic Park facilities which brought a spray from his then coach Luke Beveridge.
Jong appeared on the TAB’s Inside 50 podcast this week with Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn, detailing his regrets over what was meant to be a secret visit to Collingwood.
His tour of the Magpies’ home base turned into a back page exclusive from Jay Clark in the Herald Sun, which naturally enough drew the ire of Beveridge.
Jong, who retired at the end of last season, joked that he copped a spray almost as big as Beveridge handed out to reporter Tom Morris in the press conference last week.
“When I got caught touring the Collingwood facilities (in 2016), he called me up and gave me a big old spray,” Jong said on the podcast.
“Thank God it was over the phone or I would have ended in tears just like my end of season review spray.”
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Jong can understand why Beveridge was so mad, insisting he deserved the spray.
He got a “heads-up” from his manager that a disbelieving Beveridge was going to call him after the story appeared in the paper.
“I thought ‘this is end of the world stuff for me’,” Jong said. “He (Beveridge) said: ‘I have just heard, this can’t be true, who would be so stupid to do it’.
“I was like ‘Yeah, mate, I did it’.
“He was like ‘how can I trust you to play with us if you are going to do this sort of thing? How can any of the players trust you’?
“I was like ‘OK, I am an idiot, please forgive me mate!’”
A truce was called by the club’s then list manager Jason McCartney, allowing him to return to the club without recrimination.
“It wasn’t resolved (initially) … Jason McCartney was able to say this happens in modern footy,” he said. “Unfortunately, I got caught out and I probably should’ve done it differently or not done it at all.
“He (Beveridge) played me the next week and the boys made a big joke of it. It was pretty awkward walking into the changerooms. We had a big team meeting and they put a big picture up of me in a Collingwood guernsey with a sleeve tattoo and four teeth missing.”
Jong ended up playing 65 games for the Bulldogs, interrupted by a number of injuries that cost him.
He regrets touring Collingwood six years ago, and is grateful that Beveridge and the Bulldogs allowed him to stay on.
“I am so lucky to have stayed at the Bulldogs - I got to stay there for 10 years and got a lfe membership,” he said.
“I was led astray (in touring Collingwood). He (my manager) sort of said half through the season ‘Collingwood are pretty good, it could be good for you … the Bulldogs are low balling you and this could get the ball rolling a bit’.
“We go through the back entrance … I was sitting in a room with Neil Balme and Nathan Buckley. They were like ‘why don’t we show you the facilities … so we walked into the weights room and the pool, and there were (VFL) players in there.
“The next day it is out in the paper and I am thinking I am not even a good player, why has this made the back page.”
BEVO FACES MEDIA, REVEALS UGLE-HAGAN PLANS
Tim Michell
Luke Beveridge concedes the Western Bulldogs are walking a tightrope with Jamarra Ugle-Hagan as he considers unleashing the No.1 draft pick for the first time this year against Carlton.
Beveridge also revealed on Wednesday he addressed his post-match press conference stoush with Bulldogs players this week as the club tries to move on from the incident.
Ugle-Hagan was initially left out of the Bulldogs’ round 1 team, but was a late inclusion as sub when Jason Johannisen was injured.
Beveridge said Ugle-Hagan’s response to a poor pre-season performance against Essendon had buoyed the club.
“He didn’t have the best outing against Essendon in the pre-season game but then what we have seen the last few weeks… (are) some really credible performances,” he said.
“He’s made some adjustments and that will help at the next level. You’re just looking for little signs from him and the signs have been pretty good the last couple of weeks.”
Ugle-Hagan played five games in his debut season, booting seven goals.
Beveridge said the Bulldogs remained mindful not to rush the 19-year-old.
“You come off the back of last year and you know where you want to be at the end of the home and away and you are continuing to ask yourself, ‘Who’s ready to take your team to the next level?’ he said.
“A young player like (Jamarra), he plays in one of the hardest positions on the ground, is he ready? That’s the question.
“The honest answer is he’s probably not going to propel the team into the upper echelon on his own and through his own steam, but we have got to help him, we have got to nurture him and we have got to give him that exposure where we can.
“We have got to pick the side a little bit for the future, where we can, and it will depend on availability here and there, but also on how he’s going at the lower level.”
Beveridge said Tom Liberatore could be thrown back into the centre square as the Bulldogs prepare to face a beefed-up Carlton midfield buoyed by Sam Walsh’s inclusion.
Liberatore was the AFL’s premier clearance player last season but Beveridge preferred Bailey Smith against the Demons.
“Sometimes you can’t fit four into three, you can’t fit five into four, you can’t fit six into five,” he said.
“We had five mainstays who went through that midfield last week and Tom had a little bit of interruption coming into the start of the season.
“Our primary focus was to make sure we won centre bounce, which we did quite considerably.
“His role will continue to evolve week to week. He might play more midfield minutes on Thursday night, but we’ll wait and see.”
Marcus Bontempelli is expected to play after battling an ankle issue this week.
After the Dogs’ round 1 loss to Melbourne Beveridge responded angrily to former Fox Footy journalist Tom Morris, who reported last week that midfielder Lachie Hunter would be dropped.
The Bulldogs have since released a statement in which the coach apologised for the press conference, during which he accused Morris of “gutter journalism”.
In his first press conference since the fiery exchange, Beveridge said on Wednesday morning he hoped to draw a line in the sand.
“Obviously, I put a statement out and tried to move on pretty quickly,” he said.
“I get that it sort of lingers a little bit and I understand that. But I am good, I’m really good. I’m energised. Really looking forward to Thursday night.”
Beveridge said he had to accept criticism of his state of mind after the press conference, but added he had “never felt healthier”.
“Couldn’t feel more passionate about what I do and the players and I have got a real strong connection. That’s the real thing the matters,” he said.
Asked whether he had spoken to Morris since the incident, Beveridge said: “Obviously we put a statement out, I did something to camera. I’d rather just leave it where it is based on everything that’s happened to him. Nothing to be gained by pouring any petrol on what’s already happened.”
He then added, “let’s just move on” when asked whether he had heard audio of Morris which surfaced online last week before the heated press conference took place.
Skipper Marcus Bontempelli is expected to shake off an ankle concern to face Carlton on Thursday, although Jason Johannisen (calf) will be out for at least two weeks.
Ruckman Stefan Martin is unlikely to play after not featuring in the VFL last weekend.
The Bulldogs agreed to donate $20,000 to youth mental health organisation Orygen, following Beveridge’s tirade.
BEVO’S STRANGE MOVE YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
– Sam Landsberger
Western Bulldogs have been urged to switch onballer Marcus Bontempelli and surprise forward Tom Liberatore after the AFL’s No. 1 clearance player from 2021 went to waste in attack last week.
Liberatore, 29, spent 90 per cent of game time forward in the loss to Melbourne and attended just one centre bounce in what was the biggest shock pulled by coach Luke Beveridge.
Emerging star Bailey Smith (17 centre bounces) appeared to take Liberatore’s place in the centre square and thrived after a third AFL pre-season.
But it was to Liberatore’s detriment, who looked out of sorts at half-forward and unable to impact the grand final rematch.
The stoppage beast who placed third in last year’s best-and-fairest was identified as the No. 1 threat by some clubs as he was tagged by James Harmes (Melbourne) and Caleb Serong (Fremantle).
Fox Footy analyst Leigh Montagna told the Herald Sun that unleashing Bontempelli forward against Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Thursday night was the simplest path for Liberatore to return to the guts.
“For the Dogs to be the biggest threat they can be Liberatore has got to be in the centre bounce and they can afford to play Marcus Bontempelli more in that front-half role,” Montagna said.
“He can still come up to stoppage and still get involved, but play more in that forward half because he’s much more of a forward threat than Liberatore is.”
Liberatore’s 90-10 forward-midfield split last week was in stark contrast to last year, when he played 87 per cent of minutes in the midfield.
Unleashing Bontempelli forward would also ease the reliance on spearhead Aaron Naughton, who will come up against super stopper Jacob Weitering on Thursday.
The Dogs averaged 94.7 points and scored from 46.8 per cent of inside 50s in Rounds 1-21 last season.
But since Josh Bruce suffered a knee injury in round 21 they have averaged just 74 points and scored from only 37.5 per cent of entries.
Weitering comprehensively beat Naughton last year, but the Dogs rode Bruce’s bag of five goals to a comeback victory against the Blues.
“I think Bontempelli needs to kick three and have 25 rather than having 35 in the midfield,” Montagna said.
“You look at the weekend – (Patrick) Cripps kicking three, (Luke) Parker kicking five, Dustin Martin’s done it for so long, (Christian) Petracca does it.
“Bontempelli is the midfielder in that group that has the ability to do damage on the scoreboard, so for the Dogs to be more of a threat he needs to play more in that forward-half role and that allows Libba to go back into what he does best.”
The Dogs are 10-3 when Bontempelli kicks three goals or more.
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