Bulldogs beat Geelong in thrilling upset

THE Western Bulldogs may have beat Geelong in an inspiring AFL upset, but coach Luke Beveridge doesn’t want his team to get ahead of themselves.

Bulldogs beat Geelong in thrilling upset.

WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge last night challenged his young team to avoid “moonwalking” backwards after their gutsy upset to Geelong.

The proud coach was thrilled with the even contribution of his team after they overcame the early loss of late inclusion Lin Jong (broken collarbone) to hold on after the final siren in an Etihad Stadium heart-stopper.

Cats swingman Harry Taylor shanked his set-shot after the siren to seal a two-point victory as the Dogs snapped an 11-game losing streak against Geelong dating back to 2009.

Beveridge said last-quarter star Ed Richards has “made some big steps in a very short period of time” and labelled free agent Luke Dahlhaus’s performance one of his best.

Luke Dahlhaus handballs while being tackled by Jordan Murdoch of the Cats during the round 15 AFL match at Etihad Stadium.

“I want all those boys that have that free agent status to play out of their skins to get the best contract for them in the future,” Beveridge said.

“Tonight was a really, really big night for Luke. He spent some time on (Zach) Tuohy to negate his influence a bit.

“He had that dual role of being a defensive forward, but was able to generate statistically and help set us up.”

Beveridge said it was a “meaningful night” although conceded they didn’t set up perfectly at a centre bounce after Gary Ablett cut the margin to three points with 31 seconds remaining.

The Cats won the clearance and fed the ball to Mitch Duncan in space, whose entry was gobbled in a pack by Taylor.

“We left a wing open at one point and Patty Lipinski got there late, but at least they had the peace of mind to get in there late,” Beveridge said.

Mitch Duncan of the Cats marks in front of Zaine Cordy of the Bulldogs during the round 15 AFL match.

“Ultimately you don’t want them to get out into the open like they did for that last kick inside 50m. Up until that point I was generally very proud of what the boys had been able to do.

“I was just hoping the 18 players on the mark didn’t go over the mark. That would’ve been disastrous.

“We’re going through a lot of change and looking for chemistry across the 22 that play each week. We had good chemistry tonight.

“We always know that we need an even contribution from the 22 that play. I couldn’t speak highly enough of every player that played in the red, white and blue tonight.”

Beveridge said debutant Brad Lynch (18 disposals) “didn’t look out of place” and that the return of Dale Morris and Marcus Adams had “made a huge difference” in shoring up the back half.

“We haven’t had access to Picko (Liam Picken), to Clay (Smith), to Libba (Tom Liberatore), to Moz (Dale Morris) — the four combative, contested-type strong players that teammates feed off,” Beveridge said.

The Bulldogs celebrate their win against the Cats.

“We’ve just beaten a very good side. A team we think will be there at the end of the year, so it shows what we’re capable of.

“So long as we don’t back track. So long as we don’t moonwalk from that, we’ve got to keep pushing forward.”

Beveridge said next week’s clash against Hawthorn was a chance to put “another very good side on edge”.