Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon backs Luke Beveridge as Bulldogs coach beyond 2020

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is the right man to lead the club into the future, president Peter Gordon says, but there is no rush on a new deal for the premiership-winning coach.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge speaks to his players. Picture: Getty

Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon has backed Luke Beveridge to be the long-term coach of the club.

Beveridge comes out of contract at the end of next year and despite the team’s inconsistent form over the past three seasons, there is no talk at Whitten Oval of pressure mounting.

While Gordon says there is no rush to start talks on a new deal, the 2016 premiership coach is the right man to lead the emerging group.

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“I expect him to not move and be coach of the Western Bulldogs for a very long time,” an emphatic Gordon told the Herald Sun.

“He’s been a terrific coach for us, he’s got great relationships across the board, top to bottom, and I expect that he’ll be senior coach here for a lot longer than I’ll be president.

“We get on really well and I’m sure when, as both colleagues and friends, when it’s a suitable time for us to have that discussion we’ll do it.

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Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge speaks to his players. Picture: Getty

“There’s no tension in the relationship or any pressure on that from his point of view or mine and I think that’s important to navigate a club through challenging times.”

The Bulldogs are 15th on the ladder but remain in the finals hunt, sitting two games and percentage outside the top eight.

With wins over current top-eight sides Richmond and Brisbane, Gordon believes the Bulldogs can challenge the best teams while getting games into its youngsters.

“I don’t write this season off by any means for the Bulldogs,” Gordon said. “It’s interesting to see the ups and downs — Sydney were really interesting on the weekend and if we win this weekend we go one (win) ahead of them with half the season effectively to come.

“Everyone has got to aim for the finals as long as its possible. You’ve got to put your best food forward every week.

Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon, captain Easton Wood, fan Irene Chatfield and former coach Terry Wheeler pose for a photo as the club marks 30 years since ‘The Fightback’ to avoid merger with Fitzroy. Picture: Getty

“The thing about AFL at the moment is it’s not enough just to tick boxes or KPIs, you’ve got to be better than the competition and it’s increasingly a cutthroat competition with great teams across the board, that’s what competitive balance is all about.

“We haven’t been that far away but for a few results, which could have easily gone the other way, we could have been in the top four.

“We’ve lost games narrowly to Gold Coast and to Carlton, we weren’t that far away from Geelong and Collingwood and we’re getting important games into people who are going to be really important parts of our next 10 years, including kids like Bailey Smith, Tim English and Aaron Naughton. We’ve got really good quality there.”

Western Bulldogs on Wednesday launched a special ‘Fightback’ guernsey, which will be worn in Round 17 to commemorate 30 years since the club’s ‘Fightback’ movement, raising over $1.6 million in 1989 to avoid a merger with Fitzroy.