Western Bulldogs has learned some tough lessons from last year’s finals battering
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says it was the ‘elephant in the room’, the day his team was belted by the Giants. He knows clubs will be coming after them again this year.
Bulldogs
Don't miss out on the headlines from Bulldogs. Followed categories will be added to My News.
As a football coach, Luke Beveridge uses all kinds of themes, theories and historical figures to send a message to his players.
In the shadow of his team’s last serious performance — the belting by GWS in the elimination final last year — he might like to use a quote from Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s founding fathers.
“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”
The Bulldogs lost plenty in the loss to the Giants, not least the match.
They also lost a bit of their soul. Soft Dogs is not a term usually associated with Beveridge teams, but soft they were on that first weekend of the 2019 finals.
You remember the game. The Giants won by 61 points and Marcus Bontempelli, the Bulldogs’ new captain, was bumped and crunched and harassed throughout a combative afternoon.
The Bulldogs certainly remember it — because they were embarrassed by it.
Much like Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy was embarrassed when North Melbourne hard man Mick Martyn dragged James Hird by the collar around the MCG at the height of their rivalry in 1998.
Watch every match of every round of the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE & On-Demand with KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
It was a moment in time that Sheedy would never let his players forget.
“It’s definitely worth touching on,’’ Beveridge said of last year’s final.
“My emotions went from anger at what transpired. We knew what was going to happen based on what happened with Bonty and Nick Haynes (they clashed in Round 22).
“Our players knew it, but most of them didn’t understand what was transpiring and the ones that did know, they didn’t do enough.
“Unlike Sheeds, I’ve gone about it a different way.
“The players are the ones who are talking about it, not me. And that’s all that matters.’’
The coach introduced the conversation, but then listened to the players’ response.
“It was a pretty big elephant in the room. Ultimately we didn’t play footy. They beat us at the game and they beat us with the off-the-ball stuff.
“We’re going to confront every team every week who feel like they can scratch that.
“We probably had it against North in the first Marsh game.
“It’s going to be there. There’s no use saying it won’t because it will be there. We know it’s coming, so ultimately we’ve got to steel ourselves and be ready for it.
“And that has been a focus. It’s a focus every year because every team wants to be that team, but in the end you reflect on what a shame (the loss to the Giants) was. We progressed to the final series and our game went away from us in such an important game.”
The Dogs had no answer to the Giants, but learnt a lesson.
“I said to (GWS coach) Leon Cameron, it would’ve been one of the great coaching feats of all time if they won the flag. They weren’t going well, then they played the game on an edge which they hadn’t probably played ever and they almost won the flag.
“Maybe it’s not sustainable, but I don’t think they would’ve made the Grand Final if they didn’t get themselves to that peak of intensity and the physical edge.
“It’s two things for me. It’s being able to play a harder brand before the combat off the ball, we still need to be good at that. And two, all we’ve done is prepare the players for that.”
A POTENT LIST
The Bulldogs are one of the teams being spruiked ahead of the season.
It doesn’t mean much in March and that’s why Beveridge isn’t spruiking them from the rooftop of Footscray’s Plough Hotel.
There is an anticipation, though: Just what can his team accomplish?
Beveridge is more confident this year than the past three years because, he says, his team has changed and matured and they have recruited strongly.
“It’s going to be a different team this year,” he said.
“We’ve got more capable taller key position players than we’ve ever had. Our challenge is to use them in the right way.”
At his disposal in the forward 50 are Aaron Naughton, Josh Bruce, Josh Schache and Lewis Young.
In the back half, it’s Alex Keath, Ryan Gardner, Zaine Cordy, Easton Wood and Jackson Trengove.
“The other thing to consider is Tim English. He’s a Jimmy Stynes and a Dean Cox, and how we capitalise on his stuff front and square is important. Tim’s not just going to play in the ruck. He’s still a young man who won’t just grind against Grundy and Gawn. He will play forward at times.”
Depth is welcomed. The midfield is potent and growing still. While Lachie Hunter has one wing position, the other is up for grabs. Lin Jong probably had it but is injured. Maybe it’s Jason Johannisen or Matthew Suckling.
“We’ve got handful of blokes sniffing around. Maybe Roarke Smith,” Beveridge said.
In the forward 50m, Sam Lloyd, Bailey Dale, Tory Dickson, Toby McLean and draftees Cody Weightman, Rhylee West, Ben Cavarra and Laitham Vandermeer will fight for spots.
Who would’ve thought the list would need such replenishment after the 2016 flag?
THE AFTERMATH
What happened to the Bulldogs after that glorious September — two missed finals and second-half of the season surge last year to finish eighth — has been well discussed.
Beveridge says his players and club have been resilient in the face of high external expectations.
“Everyone was expecting after ’16 that the distinct probability is we’d forge a sustainable period of success,” he said.
“The reality unfortunately is we got shot in the foot on a number of fronts: injury and a handful of our group not being able to manage the expectation around performance.
“When I look back at ’16, if you look at the expression on the players’ faces, it’s partly a look of jubilation but mostly a look of surprise.”
Suddenly, their unique game style was dissected, some of their core competitive players were injured, mental health became an issue, and more often than any other team in the past three years, the Bulldogs fielded the youngest team of the round.
“There was a period of inconsistency to sustain the level of performance and physically we weren’t able to,’’ Beveridge said.
No Libba. And injuries to Liam Picken, Dale Morris, Clay Smith and Wood hurt.
“We needed that core and we became vulnerable. We’re re-establishing that and we’re not quite there yet, but the signs are good.”
Through 2018 and half of 2019, the questions came. Has Beveridge lost the players? Did the players lose themselves?
SELF DOUBT
Beveridge told the Herald Sun this week that he felt vulnerable midway through last season.
It was a new frontier for Beveridge, whose coaching career until then was pathed with premierships — St Bede’s in the ammos, Collingwood, Hawthorn as an assistant and then with the Bulldogs.
He says he’s a better coach now than he was three years ago.
“I’ve been through a period I’ve been unaccustomed to. I’ve been really fortunate to have so much success in my coaching. It was foreign for me as coach. I don’t feel like I have made too many blues at all. I felt like was I constant, stable and my challenge was to convince other people things were going to be all right.”
This year, Beveridge sees promise.
“I believe our players are now more equipped to really lead the charge and take us forward. There’s more certainty there. They get it. There’s a really god emotional connection among them. I feel they are driving each other more so than what I’ve seen and that’s going to help.”
The football world got a taste last year. At the bye, the Bulldogs were 4-7 and came home 8-3 and played finals. In the final six weeks, they were highest-scoring team in the competition, a miracle for the Bulldogs.
“We were under pressure. I’m proud of the players. It’s been a long time since a team has come from so far back and then made the finals. We just believed in what we were doing rather than what people were telling us.”
THE REAL BEVO
This is a rare Beveridge interview. There’s a mystique about him that’s common with football people who don’t speak about themselves.
He’s the Dustin Martin of coaching. Private and, he says, paranoid.
“I do two press conferences every week and that’s a lot for me.
“I’m paranoid about what I might say. I always feel, whatever our narrative is at the moment or has been recently, because we haven’t been successful, I don’t think we’re worthy of telling the story. We’ll tell it if we’re successful.”
The paranoia exists because he’s always aware of what the players might think about what he says.
“They are your most important relationship and if you lose them, you’re in trouble. I’ve always said, and it’s not unique to me, but you can build a relationship and friendship over a lifetime but you can lose it in 30 seconds by something you say or do, and I’m always checking myself over that.’’
There’s a bit of Benjamin Franklin in that.
Originally published as Western Bulldogs has learned some tough lessons from last year’s finals battering
Shock scenario in Bailey Smith stalemate
Bailey Smith’s Western Bulldogs exit has set up a potentially rare scenario that could deliver a shock result as Geelong’s offer hits a stalemate.
Trading places? How the biggest AFL deals will get done
Almost every AFL club is poised to get busy this trade period. See who your club is looking at, who they should be chasing and how they will get their deals done in our ultimate guide.