AFL 2024: Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge stubborn on late change prospects

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge reveals why he will stake the Bulldogs’ teetering campaign on a makeshift defensive combination.

Rory Lobb will lead the Western Bulldogs backline against Carlton twin towers Charlie Curnow and Harry McKay on Saturday. Picture: Daniel Pockett / Getty Images

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is adamant he will stick to a makeshift key defensive pairing of Rory Lobb and Buku Khamis in Saturday’s crucial clash against Carlton.

Beveridge said he was unlikely to recall specialist backman Alex Keath as a late inclusion as the Bulldogs gamble on the Blues withdrawing one of the talls named on Thursday night.

Coleman Medal leader Charlie Curnow and in-form ruckman Tom De Koning are both battling soreness, but Carlton counterpart Michael Voss said on Friday he expected them both to play.

It would leave the Bulldogs with just Lobb, Khamis and 191cm recruit Nick Coffield against a three-pronged Blues forward line, with Marc Pittonet taking the No.1 ruck duties.

The Marvel Stadium clash is the first of a gruelling three-game stretch where the Bulldogs must win at least one game to keep their finals hopes alive, with away trips to Geelong and Sydney to follow.

Despite being fit, coach Luke Beveridge says there is not enough trust in Alex Keath’s body to play him against Carlton on Saturday. Picture: Morgan Hancock / Getty Images

Beveridge said his side would keep a “narrow focus” despite the ramifications for the top eight as he defended the decision to leave out Keath five weeks after he tore his hamstring in the loss to Brisbane.

“He’s going to play (VFL). We just felt that coming off his injury and the way he went out of the game, it’s really risky,” Beveridge said.

“We need to make sure that everyone who’s playing this week at the start of the game is definitely going to get through, barring any significant mishaps.

‘When you consider the challenge of playing on their key forwards and how prolific they’ve been over the last few years, we took a pretty commonsense approach to it in the end.”

The Bulldogs coach thought Carlton would withdraw one of its talls closer to the game and said he was unlikely to adjust his own side.

“Our history has been that we haven’t made any late changes, we haven’t sort of postured to do that,” Beveridge said.

“The way they’ve picked their emergencies, with a midfielder and two small forwards, we sort of anticipate that one of their bigs is coming out … otherwise they’re quite tall in their front end.

Beveridge said the Bulldogs midfield was ‘stinging’ after they were thrashed by Port Adelaide in round 18. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

“We anticipate that they’ll probably make a change … we’re likely to stay unchanged.”

Beveridge said the Bulldogs’ experienced midfield was still “stinging” after they were steamrolled by Port Adelaide last week, and he put the onus on his on-ballers and forwards to ease the pressure on the undermanned backline.

“It’ll definitely be what’s happening from the 12 to 14 up the field that are going to help our key defenders on those big boys, and that’s priority one for us – to make sure our team defensive system works better than it has done last week,” he said.

“There’s always a dent to the pride when you lower your colours, and obviously Port’s midfield are quite youthful when you compare them to some of the more established mids in the game at the moment.

“That’s one of our ongoing challenges, to stabilise and make sure we’re really reliable through not just the lines but the roles within them.”

Beveridge lamented the onslaught of injuries, including to important talls Aaron Naughton and Liam Jones, which hit after the Bulldogs had almost assembled their complete list over the mid-season bye.

“In the competition, everyone’s dealing with some adversity here and there,” he said.

“Our players know that we came back from the bye and we had 41 players on the track – it seems like, ‘this is good, we’re trampolining into the back third of the year with a pretty healthy squad’.

“Two weeks later we’ve got 11 or 12 on the sidelines again.”

Originally published as AFL 2024: Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge stubborn on late change prospects