Bont2Bruce
At the Destination Club
- Mar 15, 2012
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Luke Beveridge is a new-age coach who gets the best out of his team in his own way
LUKE Beveridge was packing his bags for a family holiday in California when the call came through.
It was October 2014 and Beveridge’s old teammate Luke Darcy was on the line.
The Western Bulldogs were in full blown crisis after the sudden exit of coach Brendan McCartney and skipper Ryan Griffen, and under-fire president Peter Gordon had convinced Darcy to join the selection panel charged with finding his replacement.
The former Bulldogs ruckman and media personality had rejected three Gordon approaches, but relented, on the condition Beveridge’s name be added to the list of candidates.
“I rang Bevo and said: ‘Hey mate, I’m thinking about jumping on this panel for the Bulldogs and if I do the reason I want to do it is because I’d have you right at the top of the list,” Darcy recalled this week.
Luke Beveridge has created a special bond with his players. Picture: Michael Klein
“I’m not saying that’s going to have any influence over the panel, but maybe it will, what do you think?
“And this is what we love about him as well, because he took an enormous amount of convincing to even do the interview because he had committed to St Kilda as director of coaching.
“He really wrestled with the fact that he should even be looking at it.”
Darcy’s insistence that Beveridge be given a chance to apply held up the process for almost three weeks.
He jetted out to the US with his wife Dana and two teenage sons to contemplate.
Not everyone was convinced Beveridge was worth waiting for, but the Dogs began pre-season training without a captain or a coach.
"... he took an enormous amount of convincing to even do the interview because he had committed to St Kilda as director of coaching."
“When McCartney left I really wanted Luke Darcy to be on the panel,” Gordon explained this week.
“I had to ask him several times and when he eventually agreed to do it, almost the only thing he was doing that was outside the square when it came to going through all the main candidates was being fairly insistent that we should talk to Luke Beveridge.
“I remember him being quite insistent about that. I guess he just had an intuition.”
BEVERIDGE cut his US trip short by four days and entered the interview process where Adelaide defender Nathan Bassett emerged as his most serious threat.
Bulldogs football director Chris Grant, AFL Coaches Association president John Worsfold, Dogs chief executive Simon Garlick, football manager Graham Lowe and Darcy made up the panel.
Garlick, who departed soon after, was a major supporter and worked with St Kilda chief executive Matt Finnis to secure his release from the Saints.
Former Bulldogs chief executive Simon Garlick shakes the hand of the Bulldogs’ new coach. Picture: David Caird
The panel’s recommendations were delivered to Gordon and fellow board member Chris Nolan in mid November.
The Herald Sun has been told their endorsement of Beveridge was not unanimous, with one of the five preferring another applicant, a claim disputed by one of the five on the panel.
Gordon says: “The panel also recommended that I needed to be happy with him, so we arranged that he would come to my place and we would spend a few hours together, and so I guess I got that privilege of offering him the job at the end of that process.
“I have great respect for all the coaches that I have had in the period that I’ve been president but I had a more natural rapport with him than anyone else.
“I have great respect for all the coaches that I have had in the period that I’ve been president but I had a more natural rapport with him than anyone else."
Dogs president Peter Gordon on Luke Beveridge
“We spent several hours together and no more than an hour into it I was convinced about the whole thing.
“I was so enjoying talking to him that we were in a discussion and about things he might do in the pre-season and at a given point he said: ‘Does this mean I’ve got the job? and I said, ‘Oh sorry, yeah!”
BEVERIDGE’S rise began in the VAFA where he coached the St Bede’s Mentone Tigers to the C, B and A Grade premierships in consecutive seasons from 2006-08.
In their first flag, against Ajax, they came from 48 points down in the third quarter to win by a point.
Before joining Collingwood in 2009 as a player development manager, Beveridge was a career public servant working in a number of government departments.
He was a senior manager for the financial intelligence agency, Austrac, during the St Bede’s era, leading specialist teams in the fight against criminal money laundering.
Luke Beveridge celebrates coaching St Bedes to a VAFA Grand Final win over Collegians.
It’s not the usual path for an AFL coach but helped forge his perspective and philosophies.
“Luke is all about the team, it’s not about him,” former Austrac colleague Karen Nitschke said this week.
“He doesn’t like the limelight. He was all about respect, listening to everyone about what they could bring and encouraging people to get the job done.
“So it doesn’t surprise me to see the success that he is getting now.
“He’s honest and respectful and is genuinely interested in you as a person, regardless of your background or status. It’s the honesty and integrity that stands out for me. He’s always got time for you.”
EMBRACING his emotions is a secret to Beveridge’s success.
"“He doesn’t like the limelight. He was all about respect, listening to everyone about what they could bring and encouraging people to get the job done."
The results of his Emotional Intelligence Test conducted for the Dogs by global firm DDI were “off the charts”.
“They were saying we’ve never seen a result like this and that was really interesting for me,” Darcy says.
It can also land him in trouble.
The curiously resolved Michael Talia affair, his anger at the Gold Coast Suns’ poaching of his fitness boss Justin Cordy and a run in with journalist Damien Barrett at last year’s Brownlow are examples.
“He’s a man of integrity but sometimes that can be a distraction,” a club insider said.
“He’s highly principled, he calls things out and wears his heart on his sleeve.
“But the players and staff just love him and there’s a real sense of respect. He’s a very good person and a new-age coach.”
Dogs fans love their team’s coach. Picture: Michael Klein
His trademark is a warm arm around the shoulder and on rare days off he reads, surfs and skateboards.
Gordon says another strong Beveridge trait is his humour.
“He has an amazing ability to take the heat out of a situation with a joke,” the president says.
“Even in the most difficult of circumstances he can just ease the tension.”
THE first sign Beveridge was the right man to lead the Dogs back from the brink came during his debut pre-game address against Collingwood in last year’s NAB Challenge.
“He started the pre-match address that night by saying: ‘Now tonight guys, you all need to be prepared because there’s going to be an ambush’,” Gordon says.
“Everyone started leaning forward, wondering ‘what are we in for?’
“And he says: ‘And it’s us who will be doing the ambushing. Get ready for a style of play that Collingwood are not expecting, have not seen and won’t be able to cope with’.
“Three or four players have told me about it, and it was as a moment were it just made them feel differently about the game.
Luke Beveridge has built a special connection with players, fellow coaches and staff at the Bulldogs.
“We were 10 goals up at half time”.
Garlick says he made an immediate impact.
“He just has this capability of building rapport and trust,” Garlick says.
“He didn’t try to come in and be too serious straight away but at the same time you could see the guys had a strong respect for him.
“He just gets the balance right. He’s a massive competitor and ruthless in doing everything he can to get the right result, but empathetic, genuine and caring in a relationship sense.”
DARCY agrees Beveridge was destined to coach.
“He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met in footy,” he says.
“He didn’t try to come in and be too serious straight away but at the same time you could see the guys had a strong respect for him."
- Simon Garlick on Luke Beveridge
“I only ever played the three years with him but he had an immediate impact on me as a 17 and 18-year-old. He was one of the boys but I can remember three or four times in my first year where he grabbed me and pulled me aside and said: ‘Pull your head in. This is not on’. But there were other times where he would put his arm around you and say: ‘Hey, mate. I see something in you’.
“That’s pretty unique, particularly for someone who wasn’t the best player in the side. He was always fighting hard to get a game, really, but he always had that presence.
“The players buy into what he wants them to do, week in, week out.
“Footy clubs are unique because if the senior coach is not quite at the top of his game the whole place falls apart.
“I can’t imagine another role in business where one person is the heart beat and the pulse of the whole organisation.
The Bulldogs were ferocious against Collingwood in a NAB Challenge game in 2015 after a stirring pre-game address from Luke Beveridge. Picture: Wayne Ludbey
“You can just tell that everyone who comes into contact with him from the players, to the board to the executive — they have great belief when they are around him.
“I’m not surprised by how well he is coaching, but it’s pretty special to watch it unfold.
“The environment is brilliant because he buys into the individuals, he buys into their stories — and then he gives really clear guidelines about what the standards are for the team.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, if you don’t live those standards, you don’t play.
“The old days of coaches who would strafe you out of frustration and see who was able to withstand that and hope you play well (are over).
“The next generation of coaches like Bevo, Leon Cameron and Adam Simpson, they have a better understanding of what players need to thrive.”
LUKE Beveridge was packing his bags for a family holiday in California when the call came through.
It was October 2014 and Beveridge’s old teammate Luke Darcy was on the line.
The Western Bulldogs were in full blown crisis after the sudden exit of coach Brendan McCartney and skipper Ryan Griffen, and under-fire president Peter Gordon had convinced Darcy to join the selection panel charged with finding his replacement.
The former Bulldogs ruckman and media personality had rejected three Gordon approaches, but relented, on the condition Beveridge’s name be added to the list of candidates.
“I rang Bevo and said: ‘Hey mate, I’m thinking about jumping on this panel for the Bulldogs and if I do the reason I want to do it is because I’d have you right at the top of the list,” Darcy recalled this week.
Luke Beveridge has created a special bond with his players. Picture: Michael Klein
“I’m not saying that’s going to have any influence over the panel, but maybe it will, what do you think?
“And this is what we love about him as well, because he took an enormous amount of convincing to even do the interview because he had committed to St Kilda as director of coaching.
“He really wrestled with the fact that he should even be looking at it.”
Darcy’s insistence that Beveridge be given a chance to apply held up the process for almost three weeks.
He jetted out to the US with his wife Dana and two teenage sons to contemplate.
Not everyone was convinced Beveridge was worth waiting for, but the Dogs began pre-season training without a captain or a coach.
“When McCartney left I really wanted Luke Darcy to be on the panel,” Gordon explained this week.
“I had to ask him several times and when he eventually agreed to do it, almost the only thing he was doing that was outside the square when it came to going through all the main candidates was being fairly insistent that we should talk to Luke Beveridge.
“I remember him being quite insistent about that. I guess he just had an intuition.”
BEVERIDGE cut his US trip short by four days and entered the interview process where Adelaide defender Nathan Bassett emerged as his most serious threat.
Bulldogs football director Chris Grant, AFL Coaches Association president John Worsfold, Dogs chief executive Simon Garlick, football manager Graham Lowe and Darcy made up the panel.
Garlick, who departed soon after, was a major supporter and worked with St Kilda chief executive Matt Finnis to secure his release from the Saints.
Former Bulldogs chief executive Simon Garlick shakes the hand of the Bulldogs’ new coach. Picture: David Caird
The panel’s recommendations were delivered to Gordon and fellow board member Chris Nolan in mid November.
The Herald Sun has been told their endorsement of Beveridge was not unanimous, with one of the five preferring another applicant, a claim disputed by one of the five on the panel.
Gordon says: “The panel also recommended that I needed to be happy with him, so we arranged that he would come to my place and we would spend a few hours together, and so I guess I got that privilege of offering him the job at the end of that process.
“I have great respect for all the coaches that I have had in the period that I’ve been president but I had a more natural rapport with him than anyone else.
Dogs president Peter Gordon on Luke Beveridge
“We spent several hours together and no more than an hour into it I was convinced about the whole thing.
“I was so enjoying talking to him that we were in a discussion and about things he might do in the pre-season and at a given point he said: ‘Does this mean I’ve got the job? and I said, ‘Oh sorry, yeah!”
BEVERIDGE’S rise began in the VAFA where he coached the St Bede’s Mentone Tigers to the C, B and A Grade premierships in consecutive seasons from 2006-08.
In their first flag, against Ajax, they came from 48 points down in the third quarter to win by a point.
Before joining Collingwood in 2009 as a player development manager, Beveridge was a career public servant working in a number of government departments.
He was a senior manager for the financial intelligence agency, Austrac, during the St Bede’s era, leading specialist teams in the fight against criminal money laundering.
Luke Beveridge celebrates coaching St Bedes to a VAFA Grand Final win over Collegians.
It’s not the usual path for an AFL coach but helped forge his perspective and philosophies.
“Luke is all about the team, it’s not about him,” former Austrac colleague Karen Nitschke said this week.
“He doesn’t like the limelight. He was all about respect, listening to everyone about what they could bring and encouraging people to get the job done.
“So it doesn’t surprise me to see the success that he is getting now.
“He’s honest and respectful and is genuinely interested in you as a person, regardless of your background or status. It’s the honesty and integrity that stands out for me. He’s always got time for you.”
EMBRACING his emotions is a secret to Beveridge’s success.
The results of his Emotional Intelligence Test conducted for the Dogs by global firm DDI were “off the charts”.
“They were saying we’ve never seen a result like this and that was really interesting for me,” Darcy says.
It can also land him in trouble.
The curiously resolved Michael Talia affair, his anger at the Gold Coast Suns’ poaching of his fitness boss Justin Cordy and a run in with journalist Damien Barrett at last year’s Brownlow are examples.
“He’s a man of integrity but sometimes that can be a distraction,” a club insider said.
“He’s highly principled, he calls things out and wears his heart on his sleeve.
“But the players and staff just love him and there’s a real sense of respect. He’s a very good person and a new-age coach.”
Dogs fans love their team’s coach. Picture: Michael Klein
His trademark is a warm arm around the shoulder and on rare days off he reads, surfs and skateboards.
Gordon says another strong Beveridge trait is his humour.
“He has an amazing ability to take the heat out of a situation with a joke,” the president says.
“Even in the most difficult of circumstances he can just ease the tension.”
THE first sign Beveridge was the right man to lead the Dogs back from the brink came during his debut pre-game address against Collingwood in last year’s NAB Challenge.
“He started the pre-match address that night by saying: ‘Now tonight guys, you all need to be prepared because there’s going to be an ambush’,” Gordon says.
“Everyone started leaning forward, wondering ‘what are we in for?’
“And he says: ‘And it’s us who will be doing the ambushing. Get ready for a style of play that Collingwood are not expecting, have not seen and won’t be able to cope with’.
“Three or four players have told me about it, and it was as a moment were it just made them feel differently about the game.
Luke Beveridge has built a special connection with players, fellow coaches and staff at the Bulldogs.
“We were 10 goals up at half time”.
Garlick says he made an immediate impact.
“He just has this capability of building rapport and trust,” Garlick says.
“He didn’t try to come in and be too serious straight away but at the same time you could see the guys had a strong respect for him.
“He just gets the balance right. He’s a massive competitor and ruthless in doing everything he can to get the right result, but empathetic, genuine and caring in a relationship sense.”
DARCY agrees Beveridge was destined to coach.
“He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met in footy,” he says.
- Simon Garlick on Luke Beveridge
“I only ever played the three years with him but he had an immediate impact on me as a 17 and 18-year-old. He was one of the boys but I can remember three or four times in my first year where he grabbed me and pulled me aside and said: ‘Pull your head in. This is not on’. But there were other times where he would put his arm around you and say: ‘Hey, mate. I see something in you’.
“That’s pretty unique, particularly for someone who wasn’t the best player in the side. He was always fighting hard to get a game, really, but he always had that presence.
“The players buy into what he wants them to do, week in, week out.
“Footy clubs are unique because if the senior coach is not quite at the top of his game the whole place falls apart.
“I can’t imagine another role in business where one person is the heart beat and the pulse of the whole organisation.
The Bulldogs were ferocious against Collingwood in a NAB Challenge game in 2015 after a stirring pre-game address from Luke Beveridge. Picture: Wayne Ludbey
“You can just tell that everyone who comes into contact with him from the players, to the board to the executive — they have great belief when they are around him.
“I’m not surprised by how well he is coaching, but it’s pretty special to watch it unfold.
“The environment is brilliant because he buys into the individuals, he buys into their stories — and then he gives really clear guidelines about what the standards are for the team.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, if you don’t live those standards, you don’t play.
“The old days of coaches who would strafe you out of frustration and see who was able to withstand that and hope you play well (are over).
“The next generation of coaches like Bevo, Leon Cameron and Adam Simpson, they have a better understanding of what players need to thrive.”
