Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge remains silent on club’s pursuit of former defender Liam Jones
The AFL has dropped its vax mandate for 2023 and that means one unvaccinated player is on every club’s radar.
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Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says his club is being “vigilant” in efforts to improve its list but wouldn’t bite on talk the club is chasing anti-vaccination defender Liam Jones.
Amid reports Bulldogs football manager Chris Grant reportedly met with Jones, who opted out of his Carlton contract for this season after refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19, Beveridge opted for silence on Wednesday.
The AFL last week ended its compulsory vaccine mandate, leaving Jones, 31, free to return in 2023 and it’s understood Essendon is one of the clubs chasing his services.
Jones, who has been playing in Queensland with Palm Beach-Currumbin, began his career at the Bulldogs in 2010, but Beveridge said he wouldn’t comment on any players the club was chasing.
“You know Liam’s manager lives a few doors up from Chris Grant so someone’s obviously seen him walking into his manager’s place and assumed it was Granty’s place,” Beveridge said of the reported meeting.
“With any potential acquisition players, I’ll always be silent during the year just out of respect for our own playing group. Any overtures, or anything that‘s in the pipeline from a list management perspective, I’m always silent on.
But Beveridge said the Bulldogs would likely be looking for a key defender, like Jones, ahead of next season.
“Rest assured we‘re quite vigilant behind the scenes in what we might be doing at the end of the year and even now, but I don’t want to be specific around needs,” he said.
“There‘s a lot of commentary around where we might be able to improve our group and you’d imagine we might be thinking along similar lines.”
The Bulldogs should welcome back both star forward Aaron Naughton and key midfielder Lachie Hunter for Saturday’s showdown with Melbourne.
The pair will train on Thursday to prove their fitness after overcoming Covid and Beveridge said the week off could have benefited Naughton in particular.
“He’s played every game and you see him week to week with a bandage on his knee,” Beveridge said.
“He’s had some knocks but he’s kept coming up. Hopefully, he’s freshened up a little bit.”
Originally published as Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge remains silent on club’s pursuit of former defender Liam Jones
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