Western Bulldogs’ president Kylie Watson-Wheeler on Bevo’s new deal, Jamarra and Bont’s futures
At the start of the year, the Bulldogs made the decision to delay the call on Luke Beveridge’s future. What was the reason? What changed? President Kylie Watson-Wheeler opens up.
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Western Bulldogs feel like they are in a sweet spot.
Sparkling new facilities, a new deal for senior coach Luke Beveridge, and significant excitement about the team’s capability after making bold calls to revamp the list.
In 2023, there was a concession from the club’s list management committee the squad had some holes despite playing in a grand final only two years earlier against Melbourne.
And rivals have been able to pick off some key players including Brisbane premiership star Josh Dunkley and then last year, Brownlow Medal favourite Bailey Smith.
But off the back of a two-year extension for the senior coach this week, the Dogs believe they can turn the tables on the competition as a destination club for potential recruits with enough salary cap room to be an active participant in the exchange period over the next few years.
Off the field, the new football management combination of Sam Power and Matthew Egan, replacing Chris Grant, has created a new unity and synergy at the heart of the football operation to support Beveridge.
President Kylie Watson-Wheeler said the club was in a great position as the Dogs attempt to win more silverware.
“We are all in this business to win premierships and if you weren’t aspiring to do that, then I’m not sure you are thinking about it the right way,” Watson-Wheeler said.
“In relation to this group, I would say it is a team which can compete with the best in the competition – they have demonstrated that so far this year.
“I think we will certainly continue to aspire to finish as high on the ladder and as deep into the season as we can.”
Asked whether the club could attract more top-line talent to support its quest in the next few years, Watson-Wheeler said it was clear the Dogs should be considered an attractive option following a $78 million upgrade of Whitten Oval.
“I would like to think so given the energy around the club, and the momentum we have,” she said.
“We have phenomenal new facilities, so I think it would be a club that anyone would feel pretty excited to be a part of.
“There is definitely stability across the entire club from the board to the executive to the coaching staff and the playing group, and also financial stability.
“It’s certainly not something we take for granted and especially for those of us who have been Bulldogs supporters for a long time because that certainty isn’t something we have always had.
“We have trust, respect and robust relationships right across the whole organisation, so I think from that point of view it is a great environment to foster growth and hopefully create a pathway to sustained success.”
Part of that window is the young talent the club has invested in at the expense of some favourite sons, including pick six Ryley Sanders, versatile midfield dynamo Joel Freijah, James O’Donnell and arguably the best young key position player in the game, Sam Darcy.
The son of club great Luke Darcy will make his return against the Saints on Thursday night at Marvel Stadium after pulling off a quicker-than-expected comeback from a serious knee injury.
While the Dogs’ 2023 list had some major flaws – the club’s list management committee believed at the time – there is significant optimism around the Dogs’ current trajectory after a decent start to the season despite key injuries.
But to run deep into finals and avoid another first-round exit, the Dogs have to get hot in the back half of the season.
With confidence high of re-signing captain Marcus Bontempelli, Watson-Wheeler said the club was confident in the upside of its list.
“Some of the younger players who have had an opportunity to take the field at AFL level this season have demonstrated a level of depth in our team, which is quite exciting,” Watson-Wheeler said.
“I feel really positive about that. We have seen a positive result from a broad cross-section of our available playing group taking the field.
“It has created an opportunity for us to be able to show we have that depth and some young key players ready to step up in particular earlier in the season when we had some pretty serious injuries to key players.”
One of the absentees is number one pick and last year’s 43-goal forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan who has recently returned from a stay at a Byron Bay rehabilitation facility after taking indefinitely leave from the club.
He is expected to meet with key officials at the club next week in preparation for talks about a return to training, and potentially, a comeback through the VFL team later in the season.
But the Dogs must first learn more about his physical and mental health, while there are also relationships with his teammates to consider.
Watson-Wheeler lauded Beveridge’s efforts trying to manage the team’s broader interests while also supporting Ugle-Hagan in difficult circumstances.
He is expected to seek a trade at season’s end, but the Dogs will attempt to secure decent compensation after losing gun ballwinner Smith to the Cats for pick 18 last year.
“It’s a challenging situation and the reality is what Jamarra is going through and has gone through is private and it is personal to him,” she said.
“So it is about finding that balance between ensuring we are providing him with what he needs but also recognising it can be challenging leading a football club and leading a team and trying to field the best team possible.
“It is not an easy situation.
“But our support of Jamarra has been unwavering. He is a Bulldogs player and is part of our Bulldogs family and it is important we provide him with the support he has needed.
“We are really pleased to see he is working on himself and his wellbeing.
“We don’t know what his journey back to footy might look like right now and how long it will take.
“He has got quite a process that he has to go through or that he is going through to get himself in the right space.
“Our focus right now is much more on ensuring we provide him with the support to get that done and we don’t want to put any pressure on a return.”
Chief executive Ameet Bains will remain at the club after Sydney Swans’ CEO Tom Harley was on Wednesday night appointed new AFL chief operating officer.
Watson-Wheeler said Bains was an “excellent administrator”.
“Ameet and I have really close relationship. We work incredibly well together,” she said.
“He has done an excellent job and continues to do an excellent job.”
WHY BEVO’S STILL THEIR MAN
Watson-Wheeler says the re-signed coach has done an “extraordinary” job helping reinvent and lead the team in the face of significant list changes and injuries in recent years.
The president has opened up on the decision to sign Beveridge for two more years on the back of a 6-6 start to the season, adamant he is the right man to help deliver the club a second premiership as part of a “pathway to sustained success”.
In particular, the ninth-placed Dogs last year made difficult decisions to drop from the senior team and trade premiership stars Caleb Daniel and Jack Macrae, as well as gun midfielder Bailey Smith.
The contentious selection calls and positional switches have at times attracted stinging criticism of Beveridge who has led the Dogs to finals campaigns in seven of his 10 years in charge and an overall 56 per cent winning record.
While the club has lamented a “flat” performance in the loss to Hawthorn last weekend, Watson-Wheeler said Beveridge was an exceptional coach who had fostered “such a strong connection throughout the whole organisation”.
“We have seen enough over the first half of the season to feel truly comfortable that this is what is best for our club,” Watson-Wheeler told the Herald Sun.
“We were coming off the bye last week and we were certainly flat off the back of that, but what we have seen for the most part is a consistent performance.
“So these decisions don’t come from one game. He is clearly an exceptionally-talented coach.
“The energy that Luke is bringing to the table, the enthusiasm, passion, the skills he has, and the way he motivates his playing group and connects with them as well as his coaching team is really quite extraordinary.
“We have experienced significant change over the last few years and that is everything from our new facility, changes in our coaching staff and the changes we put into place on the back of our review which Peter Jackson conducted at the end of 2023.
“It feels really integrated at the moment and to have now secured our wonderful coach for the next two years is super-exciting.”
The Dogs made the decision at the start of the season to delay a call on his future until the mid-season to “focus on footy” but said the bye recommendation led by Watson-Wheeler, Bulldogs’ great and director Luke Darcy and CEO Ameet Bains “wasn’t difficult at all”.
“’Luke (Beveridge) was a big part of our decision to take this approach,” she said.
“We all mutually agreed that the bye was the right time to make this call for our club and it wasn’t necessarily about taking time, it was about choosing the right time.
“So, I’m really pleased with how this has played out.
“The job he has done is extraordinary and you can see from the outside the bond and the connection within the group is very much led by Bevo.
“We are seeing the fruits of that.”
Beveridge has also clashed with members of the AFL media at times including last month as part of a terse exchange with Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes.
Beveridge told the Herald Sun in April “I’m ultra-protective of my people who don’t have a right of reply”.
Watson-Wheeler said the premiership coach unashamedly put his players and staff first.
“Bevo is a genuine and authentic man. He wears his heart on his sleeve and that is one of the things that makes him special,” she said.
“He is a unique figure in football. He is an object of fascination for the media. He does tend to attract attention which is interesting.
“He is an icon of our club.
“Regardless of what happens in the future he will be someone who is revered at Western Bulldogs for decades to come.”
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Originally published as Western Bulldogs’ president Kylie Watson-Wheeler on Bevo’s new deal, Jamarra and Bont’s futures
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