Mick McGuane: Luke Beveridge under pressure, James Sicily should be free to play

James Sicily should never have been thrown to the wolves by the AFL for his actions in Round 1, writes MICK McGUANE, and the Hawks should never have had to go to the tribunal to get a ban overturned.

A bumper game is on the cards at Adelaide Oval on Friday night between two teams searching for a spot in September after missing the cut last years.

Football analyst Mick McGuane takes a close look at both Adelaide and Geelong and pinpoints where the match could be won for each side.

Plus, scroll down for Mick’s strong views about Luke Beveridge and the Western Bulldogs and his Hot Takes ahead of round 2.

MICK’S HOT TAKES

GOOD

Travis Boak. He needs to be applauded for both the player and the person that he is as he prepares for his 350th game. In today’s environment, it’s a mighty effort to continually prepare well and find the competitive urgency required to remain at the top level. Hat’s off.

BAD

Unnecessary goal reviews. Too often we hear goal umpires say they “think it’s a goal” but call for a review anyway. Stop wasting time. If the umpire calls a goal and there’s conclusive evidence that it’s not, it should be picked up by the ARC before the ball gets bounced again in the middle, anyway.

UGLY

The James Sicily circus. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not for kicking. But there is an impact threshold that has to be met to warrant a week’s suspension and Andy McGrath said he didn’t even know Sicily kicked him. That’s hardly ‘medium impact’. It seems to me a tax is often applied with players like Sicily and Toby Greene. This was a case that should have never found its way to the tribunal.

BEVO’S BULLDOGS LACKING BITE AT BOTH ENDS

Mick McGuane says Luke Beveridge needs to change things – and fast – if the Dogs are going to get back on top of their game. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

I’ve got a message for Luke Beveridge: Stop being so stubborn.

If you don’t change your ways — and quickly — you might not see out your current contract which expires at the end of next year.

Bevo’s Bulldogs were incredibly disappointing after making a strong start against Melbourne last week and the issues appear to not only be at both ends of the ground but also across the club.

The side’s biggest challenge right now is stopping an opposition side arresting momentum and kicking consecutive goals — which we again saw the Demons do multiple times last Sunday.

That’s perhaps not a great surprise when you look at the undersized backline that Beveridge rolled out — which is bereft of intercept stars.

Players who can win the ball back in the back half of the ground are worth their weight in gold in the modern game.

Yet, the Bulldogs don’t have enough of them.

Over the past three years, the Western Bulldogs rank 16th in the competition for winning the ball back from the opposition.

Since round 1 last year, Liam Jones has averaged 3.1 intercept marks, Ed Richards has averaged 1.9, Alex Keath 1.7, James O’Donnell 1.2, Taylor Duryea 1.1, Jason Johannisen 1 and Bailey Dale 0.8.

Keath, O’Donnell and Duryea all didn’t feature against the Demons last week, with Lachlan Bramble, Nick Coffield and Buku Khamis selected and asked to play as defenders.

That trio combined for three intercept marks between them against Melbourne.

The solution is staring Beveridge in the face — Aaron Naughton.

But the coach appears too stubborn to pull the lever.

For years I’ve been calling on Naughton to return to defence, where he started his career in 2018 and excelled.

In the final match of his debut year, Naughton grabbed six intercept marks among 12 intercept possessions down back.

Will Luke Beveridge throw Aaron Naughton down back in the face of a paltry showing against the Dees? Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

He looked a future all-Australian key defender — and still can be.

When Naughton was swung forward in 2019, I understood the rationale given the Bulldogs were short of marking options ahead of the ball.

But given the side is now flushed with tall timber up forward, it’s a no-brainer to send Naughton back to help shore up the defence and it will give much needed support to Jones to help increase the chances of winning the ball back off the opposition when they attack.

Who fills Naughton’s role forward? Sam Darcy.

It was another head-scratcher that Darcy was left out of the round 1 side.

Let the kid off the chain. He is competitive and just wants to play AFL footy now.

Just trust him, Bevo!

He’s a 208cm key forward who can also work in tandem with Tim English as a relief ruck.

Just because you lured Rory Lobb to the club on a big contract, it doesn’t mean you have to play him every week to justify your means.

The player who should be in the starting 22 is Caleb Daniel, who was bizarrely made substitute last week before entering the match in the last quarter and having a profound impact.

Caleb Daniel started as the sub in the Bulldogs’ Round 1 game. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

Questionable decisions like that can disillusion your team and Beveridge has to take responsibility for that.

The list of questionable decisions goes on, too.

The Bulldogs would know more about Jack Macrae’s body than the rest of us, but if he felt ready to go last week then why wasn’t he played given the credits he has got in the bank?

There is a growing stench around Whitten Oval.

This is a playing list that should be challenging for a flag – but is unlikely to get near that again unless Beveridge changes his ways, moves some magnets on his whiteboard to benefit the team’s needs and aligns those decisions to the trends of the game so the moves have impact.

I also sense that Beveridge must display more trust and faith in his players rather than playing mind games with them. The trickery is wearing thin.

Just admit the decision to pick players with your speed philosophy didn’t work.

They didn’t break the game open in offence against Melbourne and they definitely didn’t use their speed in defence to chase and tackle opponents when in possession.

To apply only 37 tackles last week was mediocre, but what was worse was that 18 of the team’s 23 players registered 2 tackles of less.

Sorry Bevo, that’s also on you.

Intent and a want to tackle is an attitude and a competitive attitude is invariably an extension of the coach.

Interesting times ahead at the Kennel.

Originally published as Mick McGuane: Luke Beveridge under pressure, James Sicily should be free to play