‘Pointing the finger’: Bulldogs hunt source of leak amid press conference attack

The Western Bulldogs are trying to get to the bottom of the real reason coach Luke Beveridge launched a “disgraceful” attack on a reporter.

Luke Beveridge during his post match press conference tirade. Picture: Twitter

The Western Bulldogs want to find out how news of Lachie Hunter’s omission was leaked this week as coach Luke Beveridge comes under fire for his press conference attack on a journalist.

Fox Footy’s Tom Morris reported on Monday Hunter would be left out of the side for Wednesday night’s grand final rematch against Melbourne. Hunter eventually played in the loss to the Demons, coming into the 22 at the last minute to replace Jason Johannisen, who had a leg issue flare up in the warm-up.

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Beveridge was furious team selection news had been leaked and blasted Morris at Wednesday’s post-match press conference in a tirade branded “disgraceful” and “disgusting” by footy fans.

The coach issued an apology for his conduct on Thursday night and the club announced it will make a $20,000 donation to youth mental health charity Orygen.

Dogs CEO Ameet Bains revealed the club called Morris on Thursday morning to apologise, but said Beveridge himself had not personally reached out to the journalist.

Beveridge acknowledged there was an issue within the club for the Hunter situation to be made public, adding it was something the Bulldogs needed to address.

Asked on Thursday night if the club was concerned with leaks, Bains told 3AW’s Sportsday they wanted to investigate further how Hunter’s omission was passed onto a journalist before game day.

“That is something that we clearly need to run our attention to and have been frankly for the past few days,” Bains said.

“The reality of it with all clubs, and we see a lot of these things happening particularly around selection I think.

Luke Beveridge launched a vicious spray at a journalist after losing to Melbourne. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“Most clubs if not all clubs across the year, that information gets shared across the large playing group who then at different times talk to family, talk to friends, talk to managers, talk to partners, so the circle as to who might have that knowledge over time grows exponentially.

“So it does become very difficult, (but) there’s nothing to suggest anyone is doing this maliciously either, which is the thing we need to keep in mind.

“An innocent conservation can often lead to things.”

Triple premiership player Jonathan Brown told Fox Footy on Wednesday: “As soon as you start pointing the finger at leakages within the football club, the concern is it causes distrust.

“All of a sudden – within the organisation we’re talking about – now people are going: ‘Hang on a minute, are you revealing information? Are you revealing information?’ That was alarm bells …”