AFL 2024: Luke Beveridge speaks for the first time about tension at the Bulldogs and the six-week review

For the first time since the contentious summer review was completed, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has addressed the club’s issues – and what fuelled them.

Luke Beveridge has admitted the “shock” of losing Rohan Smith as one of his lieutenants late last year fuelled tensions with executive director of football Chris Grant, but the Western Bulldogs coach said the contentious summer review had proven a “cathartic” experience.

As the Bulldogs prepare to embark on a crucial 2024 for the club and potentially the coach, Beveridge detailed for the first time how those tensions personally affected him and why the six-week review into football operations can be a significant step in the club’s evolution.

“The review didn’t happen because there was any tension between the players and I; the review happened because of the results from last year, and some obvious tensions within the management structure of our (football) operations area,” Beveridge said.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge and executive director of football Chris Grant. Picture: Michael Dodge

Speaking exclusively to this masthead and for the first time since the review was announced late last year and finalised in late January, Beveridge:

● MAINTAINED working environments did not have to be “the Garden of Eden” but said he fully embraced the findings of the review – conducted by respected football administrator Peter Jackson – as a way forward for individuals and for the club

● INSISTED those tensions had dissipated, in part due to Jackson’s recommendations of role and responsibility changes, including Matthew Egan’s elevation to a general manager of football operations role, to whom Beveridge now reports

● EMPHATICALLY denied he had ever lost the confidence of sections of the Bulldogs’ playing group, insisting he would “finish up” if that ever happened

● DISMISSED suggestions he had gone “missing” in terms of the media in the off-season

● AND stressed his love of coaching – and his energy for the Bulldogs’ job – was as strong as ever heading into his 10th season at the helm.

The Bulldogs missed the finals last season, after a series of narrow losses late in the year, ramping up the pressure on the club, and the coach, who is contracted until the end of 2025.

Beveridge is not fazed by the rumblings about his future, saying he is confident there will be a swift turnaround in the club’s fortunes.

But he conceded those 2023 tensions with Grant “absolutely” related to a decision to move club great Smith on from an assistant coaching role he’d had for more than a decade.

“It was a real shock to us,” he said. “Getting past that was part of the process …. Absolutely it was part of the challenge, (but) we have moved on from that now.”

While he does not shy away from the tensions he had with Grant late last year, he says the restructuring of key roles out of the review had taken the heat out of the situation.

Beveridge has spoken for the first time since the club’s review. Picture: Morgan Hancock/Getty Images

Grant retained his role but with more of an elevated focus on executive leadership and strategy, while Egan’s position sees him take on operational responsibilities for the football department.

“It is not there (now),” Beveridge said of those tensions.

“Chris and I get on fine, it is just that the working relationship now is very different, which is important for all of us.

“We see each other every day, but as far as the planning, the strategic aspect of what we do, the core footy elements and the day-to-day coaching and performance focus, (it) is something that Chris has moved away from into more strategic things.

“The interaction isn’t like it was.

“We both sat down with the executive … and talked about our roles moving forward.”

Beveridge said Egan had become “a buffer” for him in terms of his overall responsibilities, which “definitely lightens the load”.

“There are a lot of things happening in the hierarchy of a football club that the coach is exposed to, so now Matt provides a little bit of a buffer for me,” he said.

“It frees yourself up for the personalised aspect of the role, and having (more) conversations not just about performance but also about life.”

Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli said this week Egan’s appointment had eased some of Beveridge’s overall workload which meant the coach had seemed even more connected to his players heading into 2024.

The coach said he felt his relationship with his players had always been strong, saying: “I have never ever had an issue where I felt like I had lost the players … (if that happened) I would just finish up.”

Read part one of Glenn McFarlane’s exclusive interview with Luke Beveridge from online 12PM tomorrow.

Originally published as AFL 2024: Luke Beveridge speaks for the first time about tension at the Bulldogs and the six-week review