Luke Beveridge says the onus is on players to make decisions on the field without runners

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says the extra restrictions on runners this season have already shown they will create “challenges” after his side’s narrow loss to Gold Coast.

Lachie Hunter spills a mark with pressure from Suns youngster Izak Rankine. Picture: Getty Images

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says the extra restrictions on runners this season have already shown they will create “challenges” after his side suffered a narrow defeat to Gold Coast Suns on Sunday night.

The Bulldogs lost the lead courtesy of a Will Powell goal with 4min 15sec left in the last quarter and were unable to kick another major from there as they went down by five points.

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Under new AFL rules this year, runners can enter the ground only after a goal and must return to the bench before play restarts, Beveridge saying that was something that would particularly test teams in close matches.

“It’s a scenario that every team prepares for, whether you’re slightly behind or just in front,” Beveridge said of the tight finish.

“The difficult thing now is we’ve got to try and rely on our players to be real leaders out there so we’ve got to prepare them for that because we can’t get messages out there to them from the bench.

“So we’ll face our challenges. Every team will with that, whereas historically you could get to them and help them in their decision making.

“That’s something to look at throughout the course of the week and whether we could have got that ball out into the open a little bit more.”

Bulldogs midfielder Jack Macrae is tackled by Gold Coast’s Lachie Weller. Picture: Getty Images

Beveridge said there were “some real positives” to come out of the match despite the loss, conditions not helping the Bulldogs’ cause.

“We just didn’t use the ball as we would have liked,” Beveridge said.

“It’s pretty slippery and it’s windy and all of that. Both sides had to deal with it and both sides were a bit compromised there.”

The Bulldogs played two fewer players than the Suns — who had an eight-man bench — to try and get more conditioning into more players.

Beveridge said he was particularly impressed with 2018 Rising Star nominee Aaron Naughton (17 disposals, eight marks) and his intercept game as well a host of new recruits.

“(It was a) good opportunity to give Bailey Smith a run and get Bailey Williams running into the team and Will Hayes and it’s good for Taylor Duryea and Sam Lloyd to play their first game for the football club,” Beveridge said.

“(We were) a bit rusty but lots of positives.”

Originally published as Luke Beveridge says the onus is on players to make decisions on the field without runners