Luke Beveridge - Our Mastermind

[dogwatch]

I'm actually surprised this is allowed under Australian law.

A lot of stuff that happens every day in Australia may not be allowed under law. It just needs someone to challenge it in the courts. As we know justice is a facility more available to rich individuals and to well-resourced companies so a lot of the time the bluff works. It'd be an interesting test case if it came to a challenge.

I understand why the AFL would require it. They fork out a lot of money supporting clubs and it's a bad look for the AFL and the club (as well as just bad business) to see a few million of that just walk out the door because the club made some poor contract decisions. This is especially true of clubs going through a basket-case phase where they have sustained poor results both on-field and in their finances - the two often go together. If the AFL digs into its pockets to help them out then it doesn't want to see a lot of that money go down the gurgler on a coach sacking.

I wonder whether the AFL has insisted all clubs insert a 6-months maximum payout clause in the senior coach contracts? If so, it wouldn't leave the sacked coach much legal ground to challenge.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

A number of years ago Hardwick was toast. However, instead of sacking him the Tigers completely remade their footy department.

Is this model an option for the Doggies?

The problem is that the club literally just did a review of football operations that as far as I can recall was never made public.

The net result seems to be we brought in Brendan Lade, used the review to paper over the readily apparent cracks and not much else.

It now seems that the review missed the mark by more than Naught and JUH shots on goal last weekend.

Im still not quite off the fence about Bevo future. But it's going to take a monumental turnaround in coaching philosophies and communication to turn this team around. If his weekend presser is any indication his well of inspiration has run dry and we may be better of taking our medicine now and moving on from his era.

 

[doggies ftw]

I'm actually surprised this is allowed under Australian law.

It’s beyond ridiculous really,

Whose manager is signing a contract that locks their client into a position that their employer can terminate with only 6 months pay?

I do wonder if maybe something has already been agreed with Bevo - ie along the lines of we’re extending your contract to protect the club/yourself from media pressure but you’ll walk if certain performance conditions arent met.

But maybe that’s just my wishful thinking that we’re run by competent people.

Because otherwise, no matter what you think of Bev - extending his contract after last season is severely incompetent and really makes no sense under the circumstances

 

[adogsfan5]

Embarrassing stats.

 

[dogwatch]

A new coach is like a change of government.

An old government (or coach) finds it hard to say I stuffed up and so I'm going to back out a lot of those plans and tactics that I put in place. An old government gets bogged down in scandals, sagas and day to day operations and has very little time to stand back and assess how things are going. It also reaches a point where the electorate (players, fans) stops listening so it becomes harder to cut through and to motivate its constituents. Past successes are eventually taken for granted. Brownie points expire. Past failings on the other hand are not forgiven because the pain is still felt.

A new government (coach) has licence to change many of the old things in place. In fact there's a high expectation that they will. They aren't weighed down by the baggage of past errors. For a honeymoon period they can even make mistakes and still blame them on their predecessors. They have had a good period on the sidelines in which to contemplate how the world (AFL) is changing, how they would do things if given the chance, and what they could make of the resources available to them. They have a fresh voice and, while that may eventually become tiresome, for a while they DO cut through. People listen and respond.

This is why it's hard to see any sort of renaissance under Bevo. He's out of fresh ideas, out of credibility, hard to listen to. There's now too much baggage.

He did well for a few years but he said himself at the outset that coaches have a limited shelf life. He needs to reflect on his own wisdom of eight years ago.

 

[Mutt]

It’s beyond ridiculous really,

Whose manager is signing a contract that locks their client into a position that their employer can terminate with only 6 months pay?

I do wonder if maybe something has already been agreed with Bevo - ie along the lines of we’re extending your contract to protect the club/yourself from media pressure but you’ll walk if certain performance conditions arent met.

But maybe that’s just my wishful thinking that we’re run by competent people.

Because otherwise, no matter what you think of Bev - extending his contract after last season is severely incompetent and really makes no sense under the circumstances

My employment contract allows my employer to terminate the contract with 6 weeks as the payout. Executive contracts often specify the maximum payout figure and 6 months is pretty standard for someone on $400k per annum plus (and Bevo is rumored to be on quite a bit more than that.)

 

[dogwatch]

Embarrassing stats.

Put that into graphical form and it stands out like Bulldogs balls ...

 

[Planet Dogs]

What are these key foundations you speak of?

Our club is by far in better condition now than it has been at any time prior to Beveridge coming on board.

Really? Where do you think our assistant coaches rank versus other clubs?
Where do you think our game plan ranks?
How many 3rd round-plus (and rookies) draftees have blossomed in eight years under Beveridge (I can think of two only CB and Dale)?

I could go on.

 

[Norm De Guerre]

Put that into graphical form and it stands out like Bulldogs balls ...

View attachment 1641327

We could turn around our season very quickly. If we play against the Western Bulldogs over the next few weeks.

Oh...wait. We do that already. *!

 

[Mofra]

I'm actually surprised this is allowed under Australian law.

It's more generous than some industries when you consider the average coaching tenure - of course, coaches are contracted and are not employees (although Carlton may have bucked that trend)

 

[X_box_X]

I know things look so much different to start the season, and I'd be surprised if we turned things around, but since 2010, there have been 63 occasions of teams starting 0-2 and only eight times has a team made finals after being winless in the opening two rounds. We make up 25% of those eight occasions, having made finals in 2020 and 2022 after starting 0-2.

Again, I'm not expecting a turnaround, but it would be so Bevo to prove everyone wrong. He has a history of doing this. I know this season looks different (many things don't look right), but in 2020 things looked very bleak also when we lost to Collingwood and St Kilda in the opening two rounds convincingly.

Let's just see what happens. Thursday night is our last chance and I feel we will be desperate to make a statement. Bevo has never started a season 0-3 so let's see what happens. All it will take for us to get our season back on track is winning our next two matches against premiership contenders. Do that and the mood around here will change and our season will hopefully generate some momentum from there.

 

[_Mike_]

I'm actually surprised this is allowed under Australian law.

Not really, freedom to contract and as long as the employment terms are not lower than the minimum standard terms implied under the Fair Work Act there's nothing illegal about it. Pt3-2 of the FWA 2009, Unfair Dismissal does not protect high paid employees over $140,000 as of 2017 (may have been revised since)

 

[doggies ftw]

My employment contract allows my employer to terminate the contract with 6 weeks as the payout. Executive contracts often specify the maximum payout figure and 6 months is pretty standard for someone on $400k per annum plus (and Bevo is rumored to be on quite a bit more than that.)

Fair enough Mutt, maybe that’s the case then.

I just don’t see why a coach would sign a contract that locks them into one place for multiple years when they could be ditched at any time without proper remunition. Unless of course that was their only option and they had to take what they can get to keep employment but we know that’s not the case with Bev as Saints we’re courting him

 

[Charlie Bucket]

Really? Where do you think our assistant coaches rank versus other clubs?
Where do you think our game plan ranks?
How many 3rd round-plus (and rookies) draftees have blossomed in eight years under Beveridge (I can think of two only CB and Dale)?

I could go on.

They aren’t key foundations. That’s football department related.

I see key foundations as club financials, supporter base, social footprint etc.

 

[Dogs_R_Us]

Change has to come from the playing group saying he has lost us. Problem is they have nobody........oh wait, chris grant

I feel so sorry for Bont - he is meant to be the go-between for players and coach. The players gripe to him and I can imagine he would find it very difficult to repeat the complaints to Bevo without feeling rude or disloyal or ungrateful. Then Bevo tells Bont they have decided on a strategy or a team plan that Bont knows won't go down well with the group. (Maybe picking JUH over Schache was an example of the thinking that the players got fed up with.) Bont is a lovely guy, but not a forceful personality, a half a step up from Griffen. I may be wrong because I have no idea what goes on but Bont is not happy.

 

[Sentinel]

Not really, freedom to contract and as long as the employment terms are not lower than the minimum standard terms implied under the Air Work Act there's nothing illegal about it. Pt3-2 of the FWA 2009, Unfair Dismissal does not protect high paid employees over $140,000 as of 2017 (may have been revised since)

Unfair dismissal protection is now capped at $162,000. There's probably a lot more detail within the AFLCA award but specifying a 6 month pay out for dismissal is far above what would be granted in a normal workplace, as you say.

 

[hutchy31]

I feel so sorry for Bont - he is meant to be the go-between for players and coach. The players gripe to him and I can imagine he would find it very difficult to repeat the complaints to Bevo without feeling rude or disloyal or ungrateful. Then Bevo tells Bont they have decided on a strategy or a team plan that Bont knows won't go down well with the group. (Maybe picking JUH over Schache was an example of the thinking that the players got fed up with.) Bont is a lovely guy, but not a forceful personality, a half a step up from Griffen. I may be wrong because I have no idea what goes on but Bont is not happy.

It's awkward, but that's the job. Captaining a good team is probably pretty easy, the tricky thing is what you do when the going gets tough. Don't put your hand up for the job if you don't want to have the pressure and difficult conversations to power.

Fwiw, it doesn't feel to me like Bont will shirk any of that. You could tell his frustrations with his teammates at various times on the weekend, with a particularly exasperated reaction to Crozier not hitting him early on the kick-in being one that sticks in my mind. I'd be surprised if he doesn't have words with the playing group and the coaches across the course of this week, if he hasn't already.

Not sure it will make much of a difference at this point, but you'd hope he is doing that. My guess is we might see a reaction in the first quarter on Thursday, but it dissipates across the game and the Lions cover us comfortably. You can't fix up what we saw on the weekend that easily.

 

[Northernsoul74]

My employment contract allows my employer to terminate the contract with 6 weeks as the payout. Executive contracts often specify the maximum payout figure and 6 months is pretty standard for someone on $400k per annum plus (and Bevo is rumored to be on quite a bit more than that.)

No redundancy?

 

[Mutt]

No redundancy?

Executive public sector contract. No redundancy.

 

[Planet Dogs]

They aren’t key foundations. That’s football department related.

I see key foundations as club financials, supporter base, social footprint etc.

I stated football department foundations, not club foundations: "a footy department that had the key foundations in place"

 

[Optimistic Dog]

Good out for Bevo would be if a Tassie team is announced he could do a Sheedy GWS like role and set up the program and be their first coach.

 

[Dogs54]

It's more generous than some industries when you consider the average coaching tenure - of course, coaches are contracted and are not employees (although Carlton may have bucked that trend)

Sorry I don't understand the contracted and not an employee. I'm a senior employee and contracted under a fixed term agreement.

 

[Dogs54]

Good out for Bevo would be if a Tassie team is announced he could do a Sheedy GWS like role and set up the program and be their first coach.

Not so sure. Once he goes the dirty linen will be aired.

 

[Pocket Terrace]

Embarrassing stats.

I've said for about 4-5 seasons that when we get scored against it is generally the length of the ground. But f*** me, that is abysmal.

Naughton and JUH are likely to have a combined 6-8 set shots each game. With their conversion rate being so low, their misses result in a free 4-5 opportunities per game for the opposition to take the ball the length of the ground without us touching it. The beneficiaries of this are usually small to medium forwards who can get goal side like Charlie Cameron, Jeremey Cameron, Fritsch, Bolton, Pickett. It's predictable.

Having never played beyond local level, I don't profess to have AFL standard strategic nous. There are people on big bucks to do this at the club, so how can this trend have not been addressed years ago? Worryingly, it is actually worse now than ever, telling me that internally it's either being ignored, not recognised or not considered a priority. I don't know which of the three is worse.

Since 2015, rules have come in such as 6-6-6, interchange capping, stand, and no 3rd man up. Other clubs have seemingly worked out ways to flourish within these new rules and play a brand that is dynamic with the footy and hard to score against without it. It's obvious that we haven't. Instead of believing that these rule changes are a conspiracy to stop us and making enemies with the AFL/media, what about controlling what we can control and getting better in all areas?

 

[Charlie Bucket]

I stated football department foundations, not club foundations: "a footy department that had the key foundations in place"

Ahhh, yep