Coach Luke Beveridge & the Dogs - is his time up? Where are they at?

Is Luke Beveridge’s time up at the Bulldogs?

  • Yes

    Votes: 235 84.8%

  • No

    Votes: 42 15.2%
  • Total voters
    277

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bresker

bresker

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Sep 21, 2005
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This is a fevered but articulate debate we’ve been having at the Bulldogs board for some time. It would be great to get some intelligent neutral perspective too. If you’re not intelligent , you can just respond to the poll.

This isn’t a reaction to the round one defeat , so spare me your ‘cmon man! It’s only round ones!’

To his detractors (of which I am one) it feels like he’s been on a steady decline punctuated by a rabbit from the hat GF appearance in 2021.

Our much vaunted midfield is chasing shadows and launching Hail Marys .

Our much vaunted forwards look frustrated .

Our set kicks are terrible.

We’ve got a Dad’s Army defence that looks one injury away from the knackers yard .

The zonal defence system we play results in many Joe the Gooses and loosey goosey Joshy Brucey was yards off Ben Brown , though some think he played well.

We play a slow little fella at full back and expect him to launch our plays when he’s lost all confidence in himself.

We’re boring to watch apart from Naughton.

The fun and enthusiasm seems to have gone .

8 years is a long time for players to hear one voice .

Bev is rumoured to be a weird prickly unit who doesn’t take well to being challenged by players or assistant coaches .


The case for the defence seems to be that he has the runs on the board & he’s done it before .


Ok ok it’s round one ! Stop yelling at me. But my crystal ball tells me it’s going to be an interesting season at the Dogs. Bad interesting .
 
Hinkleys got some exciting recruits this year and a good mix in the midfield.

We got Lobb and Oskar Baker, neither of whom are going to massively shake things up .
 

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I must admit I was surprised to learn that the Bulldogs have never finished in the top 4 in his time as coach (although admittedly they probably would have in 2016 if it wasn’t for a rotten run with injuries). I have no doubt supporters would take a premiership over a swag of top four finishes, but it still suggests they’ve never really been a dominant side during his tenure.

Also seems to love playing his best players out of position and trying to get everybody on field to be as flexible as possible, which I’m not sure has really worked for them.

Out of contract so unless something remarkable happens this year then it looks a good time to bring somebody fresh into the role in my opinion.
 
Bulldogs list is vastly overrated. Aside from Bont, they have no A-Grader on their books (no, Naughton ain't no A grader in my book), they have a decimated and aging backline and have holes all over their list that would make Swiss cheese blush.

Admittedly a lot of their list management issues should be partly blamed at Bevo, but the Dogs draft and trading in the last 5 Yeats has been appalling, apart from F/S prospects like Darcy and Weightman, they have not drafted and or developed a quality kid at all.
 
-----------------------------Chuck Sutton---sacked---------reinstated--sacked-----------------------------------------------Lucas Beveridge-
-----proposed sacking.

The dashes are the years without Premierships for the Bulldogs. There are a few of those. 96 in fact.

The names are the names of the Coaches who coached premierships.

I have also inserted the positions of the sackings, reinstatements and proposed sackings of those coaches.

Leveridge has had 6 years, twice as many as Chuck Sutton got post his Premiership before he was sacked. For mine you give Luke at least 2 extra years for the swifty he pulled on arch turd Tom Morris.

Bulldogs: there is a reason you have 2 flags and St Kilda have only 1. Luke Beveridge is that reason. The Saints have just partially channelled the Bulldogs with Charles Sutton and reinstated zero flag Ross Lyon after over a decade out of the job. You don't want to end up like that again, having to go back to a previously successful coach because nothing else is working. Right now Beveridge has the highest Premiership strike rate per season coached of anyone who has coached either The Bulldogs or the Saints, whilst they were coaching those clubs.

Bulldogs list management in recent years has struck me as a bit odd though. First too many high calibre mids then recruit Treloar. Now too many key forwards then recruit Lobb. A small forward with high end acceleration might be handy. And a decent intercept defender. Refer to the Melbourne FC recruiting handbook.

End of 2024 for Bevo, then reassess.
 
Bevo is a bit weird but he can coach. In my opinion the Dogs midfield is a big cause of their problems when it's come to the pointy end of the season. One of the most unaccountable midfield groups in the competition. Simply never adjust or change their approach vs teams with midfields that are getting on top of them or matching them. Cripps has long caused them headaches even when he was out of form, and I don't reckon I saw anyone pay him a scrap of attention while he tore them apart outside of once in 2019. Mind you that was the second time playing them that year after demolishing them earlier that season so I can't really give them much credit there.

Dees have whooped their asses multiple times now - Never done a thing to nullify them.
Cripps has done it half a dozen times - Seen them hard tag him once in about 5 years.
Freo midfield last year took them to the cleaners in the second half of last years final, just rolled over and died.

It's a consistent trend imo and I'm led to believe that it was one of the major reasons Dunkley wanted to depart. Being the defensive beast for the team and having to do run with roles, time in the ruck... all while your mates are running around handballing in a circle jerk racking up supercoach points but going nowhere would certainly rub some people the wrong way.

They need to find a solution to that.


Bringing in Rory Lobb is also one of the all-time head scratchers. Bloke is softer than wet newspaper and they've already got Darcy, Naughton and Ugle hagan... Just bizarre decision really.


But outside of the midfield issues and randomly acquiring the softest bloke in the AFL not named Josh Schache...I think the Dogs need to cut back on their list at some point, if this year goes poorly it would be a great time imo. Ridiculously talented team but go back to the board and refine it back to a few guns on every line while bringing in some good role players for positions they need to fill. They've got way so many inside mids and tall fwds that they could afford to lose 1 or 2. Move a couple on and try to bring in someone like Liam Ryan to play forward instead of bringing in a back up inside mid like West and expecting him to have the forward nous of Toby Greene. Roarke Smith up fwd? Johannisen as a pressure fwd instead of half back where he made a name for himself? Josh Bruce playing down back now??

Too many square pegs in round holes which has long been a critique of Bevo, but imo somewhat necessary due to the imbalance of the list.
 
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WalshistheGOAT said:
Bevo is a bit weird but he can coach. In my opinion the Dogs midfield is a big cause of their problems when it's come to the pointy end of the season. One of the most unaccountable midfield groups in the competition. Simply never adjust or change their approach vs teams with midfields that are getting on top of them or matching them. Cripps has long caused them headaches even when he was out of form, and I don't reckon I saw anyone pay him a scrap of attention while he tore them apart outside of once in 2019. Mind you that was the second time playing them that year after demolishing them earlier that season so I can't really give them much credit there.

Dees have whooped their asses multiple times now - Never done a thing to nullify them.
Cripps has done it half a dozen times - Seen them hard tag him once in about 5 years.
Freo midfield last year took them to the cleaners in the second half of last years final, just rolled over and died.

It's a consistent trend imo and I'm led to believe that it was one of the major reasons Dunkley wanted to depart. Being the defensive beast for the team and having to do tagging roles, time in the ruck... all while your mates are running around handballing in a circle jerk racking up supercoach points but going nowhere would certainly rub some people the wrong way.

They need to find a solution to that.


Bringing in Rory Lobb is also one of the all-time head scratchers. Bloke is softer than wet newspaper and they've already got Darcy, Naughton and Ugle hagan... Just bizarre decision really.


But outside of the midfield issues and randomly acquiring the softest bloke in the AFL not named Josh Schache...I think the Dogs need to cut back on their list at some point, if this year goes poorly it would be a great time imo. Ridiculously talented team but go back to the board and refine it back to a few guns on every line while bringing in some good role players for positions they need to fill. They've got way so many inside mids and tall fwds that they could afford to lose 1 or 2. Move a couple on and try to bring in someone like Liam Ryan to play forward instead of bringing in a back up inside mid like West and expecting him to have the forward nous of Toby Greene. Roarke Smith up fwd? Johannisen as a pressure fwd instead of half back where he made a name for himself? Josh Bruce playing down back now??

Too many square pegs in round holes which has long been a critique of Bevo, but imo somewhat necessary due to the imbalance of the list.
Click to expand...

Bev doesn't tag, ever. That's not an exaggeration.
 
bresker said:
Bev doesn't tag, ever. That's not an exaggeration.
Click to expand...
Would have helped in plenty of games over the years. Even if its not a hard tag Matt Deboer style, a run with role would still help at times when a single player is having a huge influence on games.

Chris Scott will no doubt be wanting to send Blicavs straight to Cripps this weekend. Never really understood why some coaches refuse to unless absolutely forced.
 
Aristotle Pickett said:
No. Bad call. Reactive call. Biased call.
Bevo is a premiership coach and calls out w***ers like Tom Morris.
Give the man a break.
Click to expand...
I agree. Premiership coaches are hard to come by and the fact he was able to make a 2nd grand final a few years later says a lot about his ability in the coaches box regardless of if they lost or not. Think the list and personnel issues are more to blame than Bevo.
 

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He’s pretty arrogant.
Which is fine if you’re making the right calls. He isn’t though; that odd thing last year where the dogs would concede five meters after an opposition player got a free kick, his refusual to tag, his reluctance to address list issues (the backline being the biggest one). Feels like he is a bit slow to react in games.

Weird-arse recruiting doesn’t help. Treloar. Holding Dunkley for a year, Lobb seems unnecessary if you are gonna commit to playing Darcy.

Oddly Bevo is pretty fiesty but his team is soft as. Libba has a bit of mongrel, Bailey Smith and caleb daniel too, maybe mcrae? The rest are total pussies (sorry). Bailey Dale completely shits himself, even Bont is a bit of a blouse. The Dogs get bullied and drop their bundle so easily but I have no idea what Bevo can do about that, except target players who aren’t soft?
 
Most successful premiership coaches are ... quirky, and annoying even when winning.

It's easy to forget the brilliance of 2016, coming from a long way back, beating up on the 2 previous premiers on the way through, with an iffy spine, an iffy expensive big man, and a hitherto untested manic ball-sharing technique that was practiced each night for years even after the lights were switched off. Which within a year would be emulated to a degree or another by much of the comp.

Oh, they also had this mad genius who attended much and proudly to his coiffure, with his short stout tyrannusaurus rex arms, leading the team in a most inimitable, prickly, manner. He sees the world differently, always did even as a junior coach. And doesn't care what anyone thinks.

In another world he could have invented the toaster, or the Hills Hoist, and you would have found dozens of other unfinished or failed inventions tossed around his shed.

A sudden drop off after the flag before getting another shot, and looking the goods for half the big game.

Bevo has added panache and used his coaching idiosyncracies to compensate for list inadequacies. It would be a mistake to wish away this bloke. Unless he shows signs of losing motivation ... if he's committed he stays, his type don't come around often.
 
WalshistheGOAT said:
Bevo is a bit weird but he can coach. In my opinion the Dogs midfield is a big cause of their problems when it's come to the pointy end of the season. One of the most unaccountable midfield groups in the competition. Simply never adjust or change their approach vs teams with midfields that are getting on top of them or matching them. Cripps has long caused them headaches even when he was out of form, and I don't reckon I saw anyone pay him a scrap of attention while he tore them apart outside of once in 2019. Mind you that was the second time playing them that year after demolishing them earlier that season so I can't really give them much credit there.

Dees have whooped their asses multiple times now - Never done a thing to nullify them.
Cripps has done it half a dozen times - Seen them hard tag him once in about 5 years.
Freo midfield last year took them to the cleaners in the second half of last years final, just rolled over and died.

It's a consistent trend imo and I'm led to believe that it was one of the major reasons Dunkley wanted to depart. Being the defensive beast for the team and having to do run with roles, time in the ruck... all while your mates are running around handballing in a circle jerk racking up supercoach points but going nowhere would certainly rub some people the wrong way.

They need to find a solution to that.


Bringing in Rory Lobb is also one of the all-time head scratchers. Bloke is softer than wet newspaper and they've already got Darcy, Naughton and Ugle hagan... Just bizarre decision really.


But outside of the midfield issues and randomly acquiring the softest bloke in the AFL not named Josh Schache...I think the Dogs need to cut back on their list at some point, if this year goes poorly it would be a great time imo. Ridiculously talented team but go back to the board and refine it back to a few guns on every line while bringing in some good role players for positions they need to fill. They've got way so many inside mids and tall fwds that they could afford to lose 1 or 2. Move a couple on and try to bring in someone like Liam Ryan to play forward instead of bringing in a back up inside mid like West and expecting him to have the forward nous of Toby Greene. Roarke Smith up fwd? Johannisen as a pressure fwd instead of half back where he made a name for himself? Josh Bruce playing down back now??

Too many square pegs in round holes which has long been a critique of Bevo, but imo somewhat necessary due to the imbalance of the list.
Click to expand...


He very very rarely plans fir the opposition. Just backs our midfield to win. Has never tagged a midfielder. The only times I've recalled him playing negating tactics has been playing a tall forward in a defensive role trying to stop interceptors.
 
I wonder how much of the defensive unaccountability of the Bulldog's mids is a personnel issue or a coaching one. It seems to be common knowledge that it's one of the best midfield groups in the competition but they are a bottom 4 side in terms of stopping opposition transitioning it from D50 to F50.

They beat Melbourne comfortably in contested possession and clearance numbers but still had 10 less inside 50s and conceded a whopping 117 marks.

Offensively it's great, if games were to be judged by the clearance that they would've won 19 games last year. The second most since 2016 is 17 wins. They lost the clearance count in 2 games last year, both were losses and the other 2 games the clearance count was tied they also lost.

They are the only team since the start of 2022 that has had to win the clearance count in order to win the game. Yes, this includes West Coast and North Melbourne who have won a combined 5 games since the start of 2022.

To me it seems something unsustainable. If one metric that goes against (or breakeven) you can spell a loss that tells me the formula isn't consistent.

In 2021, the Bulldogs won less games in terms of clearances but were defensively a lot stronger. At the end of the H/A they had the 4th best defense. By the end of next year it dropped to 11th and there's no signs of improvement.

So to me it leans as a coaching issue more than anything.
 
Last edited:
TheBigHorne said:
I wonder how much of the defensive unaccountability of the Bulldog's mids is a personnel issue or a coaching one. It seems to be common knowledge that it's one of the best midfield groups in the competition but they are a bottom 4 side in terms of stopping opposition transitioning it from D50 to F50.

They beat Melbourne comfortably in contested possession and clearance numbers but still had 10 less inside 50s and conceded a whopping 117 marks.

Offensively it's great, if games were to be judged by the clearance that they would've won 19 games last year. The second most since 2016 is 17 wins. They lost the clearance count in 2 games last year, both were losses and the other 2 games the clearance count was tied they also lost.

They are the only team since the start of 2022 that has had to win the clearance count in order to win the game. Yes, this includes West Coast and North Melbourne who have won a combined 5 games since the start of 2022.

To me it seems something unsustainable. If one metric that goes against (or breakeven) you can spell a loss that tells me the formula isn't consistent.

In 2021, the Bulldogs won less games in terms of clearances but were defensively a lot stronger. At the end of the H/A they had the 4th best defense. By the end of next year it dropped to 11th and there's no signs of improvement.

So to me it leans as a coaching issue more than anything.
Click to expand...

The clearance stat is an interesting one, as in that time we’ve had Tim English regularly get beaten in the ruck . Sometimes smashed . With Lobb carrying an injury at the weekend (or for some other mysterious reason ) English rucked solo against Gawn & Grundy.

Bev has never rated the ruck. He played a beanpole Ayce Cordy over AA Will Minson in the early days. He’s played a developing English in the face of smashings from good and average rucks.

Our midfield has to read the opposition ruck and expect second use of the ball. I guess it’s tiring .
 
Last edited:
Extended to 2025 so he wont be going anywhere anytime soon. Not thrilled with his current coaching style though, questionable game day tactics which had been overcome by most of the contenders years ago
 
I feel like the whinge about Melbourne singing "Freed from desire" was the canary in the coal-mine that he's cooked and needs a year off to refresh.
Probably best for both parties to part ways on mutual terms of admiration and gratitude.
He will obviously always be a legend of the club.
 
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