Without a finals win since 2021, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge knows he’s under pressure

Going into the season in the final year of a contract and with a star-studded injury list has put a premiership-winning coach in the gun.

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has conceded that “stepping off without getting sacked” is rare for AFL coaches as he enters the final season of his contract with a lengthy injury list but energised to regenerate the team.

The 2016 premiership winner has no commitment from the club to continue his tenure beyond 2025 having failed to win a final since going down to Melbourne in the 2021 AFL decider.

Pre-season injuries to captain Marcus Bontempelli, who has a “complex” calf issue and could miss the opening six games, as well as Jason Johannisen, Cody Weightman, Adam Treloar, Liam Jones, Ed Richards, Bailey Dale and the prolonged absence of star forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan due to personal reasons have put the Dogs in the gun ahead of a round 1 clash with North Melbourne.

The Bulldogs will start the season without Marcus Bontempelli. Picture: Steve Bell/Getty Images

It’s a long way from his premiership-winning days and Beveridge conceded the entire club was a different place, but the 54-year-old remained inspired to meet the demands of an “agitated” fan base.

“It’s 10 years now for me, we’ve only got four players left who started with me, and the core staff who are still around, they’re not coaches; our whole coaching roster has just evolved and changed over time, and all the guys who have come and gone have really contributed and influenced the club,” he said.

“And that’s part of the challenge, to be a good manager and bring people together and create a really powerful harmonised environment, which I love as a challenge.

“I’ve still got a real passion for it, I’ve got energy for it, but I understand that the club needs to be strong too around senior coaches and stable, and that’s not easy when you’ve got the media and your supporter base agitated at times.

“I think up until now, our club’s been relatively strong and really supportive, but I live in the real world, and that will run out at some point – or it may not; stepping off without getting sacked is a rarity.”

The Bulldogs rebuild began with the departures of a slew of premiership winners at the end of 2024, including All-Australians Caleb Daniel, who was traded to North Melbourne, and Jack Macrae to St Kilda.

It’s a big year for Luke Beveridge. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Beveridge suggested a change in the “athletic profile” of his team, as the duo became irregular team members, was key to the Bulldogs winning 11 of their last 15 games of the season before losing an elimination final to Hawthorn,

“We went through the early parts of last year and won three out of the first eight,” he told the Dyl and Friends podcast.

“To push the envelope in how we could test the competition we started to strip back time on the ground of players who didn’t necessarily cover it as well as others.

“We started to get a different blend and probably the athletic profile of our team, we maximised.”

The Bulldogs defeated the Hawks in their Community Series clash last weekend despite the injured stars’ absence.

Originally published as Without a finals win since 2021, Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge knows he’s under pressure