AFL news 2025: Luke Beveridge opens up on future with Western Bulldogs

The Bulldogs are playing terrific football, but on-field results might not keep Luke Beveridge at the club in 2026. He tells Jay Clark what could decide the huge contract call.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says a decision on his contract will boil down to more than just the club’s on-field results this season.

While the club and the coach have not set a form time line on a call on his future, Dogs’ powerbrokers could wait until season’s end to formalise a decision.

Beveridge was adamant he was comfortable with how things sat, but said an extension would not all come down to ladder positions or finals wins, but factor in some off-field issues as well.

Luke Beveridge is unsure whether he will stay at the Bulldogs next year. Picture: Getty Images

The club has endured a turbulent year including the cloud over Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s future which has threatened to become a significant distraction.

Ugle-Hagan is currently on a flexible training arrangement, but he could also take a period of leave after his next series of meetings with AFL and club officials.

“The club and I are on the same page, knowing it probably doesn’t hinge on wins and losses,” Beveridge said.

Asked what else he and the club would consider in his contract decision, Beveridge said “drama”.

“I don’t know what circle the drama lands in,” he said.

“I think if it (the season) is too dramatic, it (the decision) could go either way.”

It suggests Beveridge and the club will perhaps consider the emotional toll or distraction of some of the off-field issues in his extension.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said off-field drama at the Demons including Joel Smith’s drugs suspension and the board brawl hung a cloud over the club for three years and had a significant impact on the players and staff.

Simon Goodwin is well aware how much off-field drama can impact a football club. Picture: Getty Images

“There has been a real heaviness and it seeps into your footy club,” Goodwin told the Herald Sun.

“You are distracted. You feel it, you live it. As much as you want to avoid it, it is reality.”

Beveridge, who is in his 11th season at Whitten Oval, said he sent the players a text message explaining his position in a bid to eliminate any confusion over his situation.

“I sent them a message a couple of weeks ago when some of the talk started about me possibly being of interest to other clubs,” he said.

“I said, ‘Hey boys, I am going nowhere next year’. I said I’m only coaching you and nowhere else next year and I needed them to know that’.

“That was about three weeks ago. I think it was helpful. The players found it worthwhile.”

Originally published as AFL news 2025: Luke Beveridge opens up on future with Western Bulldogs