AFL 2020: Four games in 17 days for Bulldogs is “exciting” new ground

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is selling the idea of four games in 17 days as an adventure to his players who he expects will want to play every match.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge expects his players will want to play every match of the condensed AFL schedule no matter how short the breaks.

The Dogs will embark on an immediate stretch of four games in the next 17 days, starting on Thursday against Gold Coast and including a trip from their Queensland hub to Adelaide, with a “ sense of adventure” according to Beveridge.

He said they were “flying by the seat of our pants” in the ever-changing landscape.

The premiership winner revealed coaches were consulted on the breaks between games, and he said three-days would have been “too extreme” and four days would “really push the envelope”.

But Beveridge was prepared to accept the new reality and stressed to his players in a Wednesday meeting not to get too caught up in the future.

“I would imagine most clubs are looking forward to it. It’s breaking new ground, it’s exciting for the code and that’s the way we will look at it,” Beveridge said.

“We mentioned that we probably should just focus on Thursday night before we get caught up in what’s going to take place because it’s quite exciting, as far as the ladder positibis go too, we’ve got some teams coming up in the top end.

The Bulldogs will play ladder leaders Port Adelaide and then second-placed Brisbane in the next stretch of games.

Beveridge said there was a chance the Bulldogs could use all 45 players on the list but he expected his players would want to play every game.

He said putting the best team out each week would require honesty from players, but didn’t think he would “manage” players to safeguard the near-future.

“Most of them will want to play every game so we‘ll adjust and adapt to the week-to-week situation and how we need to remain strong with our 22,” Beveridge said.

“We‘ll need to make sure there is some honesty in those conversations and the players aren’t saying they are OK when they are not and that is where some of the data and the feedback we are getting from [what we see on the track] will be important to make sure we get some clarity.”

Western Bulldogs training on the Gold Coast . 21/07/2020. Pic: Michael Klein

The Bulldogs will unleash Callum Porter for his first game this week, with the view to give as many players as deserve it a “taste” in the seior team.

While some coaches have called for an extended bench to help cater to the shorter breaks between games, Beveridge offered up a different suggestion to the AFL.

“What I put forward was having two sub type players who could only be introduced if there was a game-ending injury, including concussion, with the proviso any player replaced couldn’t play the next week,” he said.

“That’s mainly to mitigate the risk of the fatigue toll on the players who remain on the ground. We haven’t heard anything on any variations.”

Beveridge also said the past was repeating itself when it came to confusion around the new holding the ball interpretation, which was again in the spotlight after the AFL conceded to mistakes in Monday’s clash between St Kilda and Adelaide.

“At the start of 2017 exactly the same thing happened,” he said.

“The interpretation had changed and the umpires went about doing their best. Around about now, three weeks in to it, the players started to make some noise about whether it was the best thing for them to get the ball first. It’s history repeating itself. By the end of the fourth week we went back to the original interpretation.

“I don’t want to be an “I told you so” guy, but it’s exactly what’s happening.