Luke Beveridge praises players' resilience, declares Bulldogs ‘in the mix’

An AFL coach under fire early in the season has praised his players and announced his side is firmly in the finals mix.

Luke Beveridge says a mindset of being hard for any opposition to play against has held the Dogs in good stead over the past two months. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says he is grateful to his players for overcoming a horror start to the season and believes his side is firmly “in the mix” as a finals threat.

Beveridge was the subject of heavy scrutiny when the Bulldogs began the season with two heavy losses to Melbourne and St Kilda, but six wins from their last seven matches have supporters and pundits singing a different tune.

He said the Dogs had “designs” on a top four spot heading into every season but now had significant belief after a month that included a thumping victory over Fremantle in Perth and a resilient win against a desperate opponent in Carlton.

“We were under pressure round 2 – I’m grateful, we all are, for what the players have done to create some momentum now in our season and really put us in the mix,” Beveridge said.

Luke Beveridge says a mindset of being hard for any opposition to play against has held the Dogs in good stead over the past two months. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

“(The run of form) makes us feel like we’ve now got an opportunity to be productive in a little bit more of a significant way to continue to try to climb.

“It is only round 9 so I don’t want to start talking about the pointy end of the season … we’ve got designs on (a top four spot), whether we can get there is another thing.”

Beveridge said determination to be “hard to play against” for any opposition had been crucial to the Bulldogs’ form, as they faced starkly different conditions over the next fortnight, with clashes against Adelaide in Ballarat this week and Gold Coast in Darwin in round 11.

“I know some of the teams down the bottom are being talked down, but we approach it as we’re vulnerable week to week as much as we believe in ourselves,” he said.

Category B rookie James O’Donnell will likely play in the AFL again this week, according to Beveridge. Picture: Michael Willson / Getty Images

“We’ve got to stifle the speed with which they are capable of moving it, which they showed in Adelaide this week.

“I would’ve thought (Ballarat) might be a bit more of a scrappy, surge-type contested game at ground level.”

Beveridge said the Bulldogs would “wait and see” with the fitness of key defender Josh Bruce, who is no certainty to come back in at the senior level after strong performances by the key defensive trio of Liam Jones, Alex Keath and Ryan Gardner against the Blues.

“He’ll train today Josh – he was absolutely going well enough and starting to settle in our backline when we lost him in the Port Adelaide game,” he said.

“Whether he plays this week, most likely not, but we’ll cover that off after training.

“We have got some depth through there now and it’s been important for us. It’s been a little bit of a revolving door when you consider Josh and Tim O’Brien coming in, playing well and going out.”

Beveridge said 197cm debutant James O’Donnell was very likely to remain in the side to face the Crows.