Luke Beveridge is a snake charmer. A con artist. A charlatan.
After their 82-point loss at the hands of GWS, the Bulldogs season is over. That’s beyond doubt. The question now becomes how long Beveridge has left at the helm.
Premiership coaches get all manner of leniency in the aftermath, and in many respects this is fair enough. Mark Williams at Port Adelaide was really the last flag-winning coach to be shown the door in a messy departure.
Of course, much of this is tongue-in-cheek, but people are entitled to ask questions of Beveridge. It seems he has coached his team into a hot mess of ineffectiveness.
It wasn’t just the size of the loss to the Giants, but the nature of it. In the middle two quarters, the Dogs were powerless to stop GWS piling on 13 goals, while only kicking two themselves.
The disorganisation of the Dogs on the field in this period was astounding for a Round 1 performance given teams are coming off months of preparation.
(Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)
GWS are replete with tall forwards. Jeremy Cameron kicked six goals. Jonathon Patton kicked two but could have had a few more. Harrison Himmelberg was up there. Adam Tomlinson floated down. Rory Lobb could have, but spend his time mainly in the ruck.
The Bulldogs had plenty of tall backmen in the side. In fact, arguably more than any other team this weekend. Premiership players Zaine Cordy, Fletcher Roberts, Jordan Roughead were in the team, each of which has played their best football in a key defensive post. Easton Wood is a renowned intercept marker who plays taller than he is at half-back. Jackson Trengove was another key defender out there for the Dogs. Aaron Naughton was on debut.
Yet, many of these players weren’t used in defence. Wood was wasting away up forward as a round peg in a square hole, in a bewildering tactic made all the more so by how undermining it is for the captain.
No-one could tell where Trengove was playing, so absent was he. Roughead was in the ruck, and resting forward.
Meanwhile, frequently the Giants drove the ball forward to see Shane Biggs standing Patton or Bailey Williams covering Cameron.
From his first day in charge Beveridge has preached versatility, and while it can be important in the modern game, it has been overdone at the Dogs.
While last year was blamed on a premiership hangover, it could also easily have been a loss of confidence among the playing group as they were switched around within the side, never being able to settle in their best position.
Beveridge also rings the changes at selection more than any other club. In a team playing well, this adds a hungry edge. In a team struggling to recapture their mojo, it breeds uncertainty, fear and conservatism.
There are no credits earned at the Bulldogs. Caleb Daniel finished top five in the best and fairest in 2017, but didn’t make the senior side in Round 1. Wood finished a spot above him and is currently being punished as the most unnatural forward in the game. Mitch Wallis was the most contested player at the Dogs in the second half of last year, returning bravely from a broken leg, but it counts for nothing in the mind of Beveridge. No spot for you.
The Dogs lining up as they did had the worst forward six of any team on the weekend (when they had anyone in their forward half at all, that is). The match was barely a minute old and there was nothing but emptiness up forward when they tried to drive the ball in from the outer wing.
Excluding the Gold Coast / North Melbourne game played in torrential conditions in Cairns, only Fremantle was worse at converting inside 50s to scoring shots than the Dogs across Round 1, and the Dockers problems up forward have long been documented.
(Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
This is going to happen when you have backmen playing up forward, and your most dangerous forward prospects on the day were a first-gamer and third-gamer respectively. Meanwhile, out-and-out key forwards Tom Boyd and Josh Schache also couldn’t get a game, left to wonder where they are at in their careers.
The Bulldogs fielded the youngest side in the competition in Round 1, which puts the result against the Giants into some perspective. But if the rebuild is on, why not commit to playing Boyd and Schache? At 22 and 20, they are the future.
The Dogs lost confidence the longer 2017 went on. They’ve started 2018 in an even worse state, and it will be even harder to come back from. Beveridge must understand that throwing the magnets around and forcing his players into unnatural roles is stunting their development, not enhancing it.
Is Luke Beveridge the genius coach he appeared in 2015 and 2016? Or is he nothing more than a fraud that got lucky, whose bag of tricks has no magic left in it? There’s 22 home-and-away rounds left this season. Let’s find out.
13th Man
Guest
Or a freo fan......
Sir Ossis
Guest
A question. Why were the 2016 Bulldogs allowed to 'throw' the ball like no other side in history, yet never get called? Bend over and grab the ground ball, throw it two-handed, then make one hand into a belated fist. Never called in the press or by Media Commentors. This was but one facet of the Umpiring free-ride enjoyed by the 2016 Bulldogs. 'Won' them the flag.
Tricky
Guest
Where's your report on Collingwoods season being over? Or is that tomorrow?
Cam
Guest
I have never seen a Bulldogs team perform that badly and show no spirit or fight... not in 30 odd years. I've come to the decision that they cannot possibly be that bad and it was one of those aberrations. Look for them to bounce this week.
Mattyb
Guest
Their home dump lol,it's the home ground of 1/4 of the competition.
Cat
Roar Guru
Every premier that has ever won a flag required some luck. Some more, some less. Dogs were lucky they never had to leave their home dump for the first 2 months. It allowed them to bank up a bunch of wins, which had they not had that dream run, they may have slid out of the 8 by the end of the season. The Dogs were lucky Boyd had, what may end up being the only decent game of his career, in the biggest game of the year. Don't be mad you had some luck on your side, every one needs it.
I ate pies
Guest
If my aunt had a you-know-what she'd be my uncle. Your analogy might have been correct if the Olympics ran over 6 months. There's no such thing as a lucky premiership. In actual fact, the quality of that Dogs team was understated due to their injuries to key players during the year, who they got back for the finals. People get hung up on them finishing 7th; in most years they would have finished in the top four and there would be no "luck" involved.
Raimond
Roar Guru
As much as I was pleased by the percentage-booster, the Bulldogs seemed like witches hats at times. Is Bevo tanking? I have to say that it looks like it.
Evan
Guest
What is most disappointing about your article is that it was completely predicted by me and my mates. We are just regular punters. We have played a bit of footy between us and follow the Dogs every week. But unanimously we declared " this is a 10 goal loss at best" as soon as we saw the line up. It made no sense and smacked of a coach conceding ' we are going to lose anyway, so let's focus on round 2'. Gobsmacked and its sapped my enthusiasm for the remainder of the season.
Birdman
Guest
Was wondering the same. Hope he's hale and hearty.
Dony Dalgliesh
Roar Rookie
Of course it is early but i agree the Bulldogs are in a bit of trouble. I think Redpath is underrated and he should come straight back in. As for Boyd and Schache, Beveridge must want them to gain some confidence and touch in the two's first but I wouldn't wait too long, finals can get out of reach awfully quickly these days. I think most of us agree Easton Wood must move back to defence and i'd put Trengove down there too, he didn't get a single kick against the Giants so maybe an assignment down back will help his game.
TomC
Roar Guru
I think the issues probably go deeper than the chairman, but there's certainly a growing amount of evidence that Gordon is a destabilising influence on the club at the moment. It seems rough to criticise him for the instability in 2014, though, when his board's decisions directly lead to a premiership for the club.
Paul D
Roar Guru
Oh look, I'm not saying it's the main thing, but I don't really see the value in it as a tactic. Sure, try young players players in different positions within the backline, or within the forward line, but I think Bevo is robbing Peter to pay Paul in playing Wood in the forward line (mind you so are the Bombers with Hooker) I guess I'm not sold on the merits of trying to teach young players to be everyman. Work on making them a best 22 player every week in their best position first, then worry about diversity. I just don't see where it leads to in terms of team selection, and this isn't cricket where you necessarily need a surfeit of all-rounders. You can afford to play a lot of specialists in AFL
Peppsy
Roar Guru
I'll refer you to Keshorn Walcott: Trindad's first field gold medalist. Snuck into the final, and then threw 2 meters better than his PB to win gold at the London 2012 Olympics, a distance he wouldn't match until the next Olympics in Rio, where he threw 1 meter further and got bronze. This is the essence of the Dogs "lucky" premiership, did well enough to sneak a chance, and then played out of their mind against opponents who under-performed/they matched up well against. I would even say that the only game that didn't matter in the entire 2016 series for the bulldogs was Adelaide vs North. If any other game had gone the other way, the bulldogs wouldn't have won it, if that's not lucky, I don't know what is.
Doran Smith
Roar Guru
Is this another Leicester City scenario? Or can Beveridge silence his critics. I hope it’s the latter.
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
That aspect really has drawn everybody's attention, hasn't it? (Possibly with Leppitsch too) I reckon the level of youth in the squad (especially compared to their potential top 4/2 opponent, with lots to prove) would be the much bigger factor on the weekend.
Paul D
Roar Guru
The last coach who made a big deal out of putting players into positions all over the park was Justin Leppitsch It didn't work for him, and it ruined the confidence of the players
I ate pies
Guest
There's no such thing a fluke premiership. It's like saying that you tripped over an won a marathon.
Cameron Rose
Expert
What about the people that wrote off Hawthorn and Fremantle after one game last year? How did they go?
Cat
Roar Guru
Its not whether those that left are good or bad. For the Dogs it is about whether those that had remained are the actual source of so much discontent. The fact that people were pushed out the door and the same unrest reared its head shortly after (especially post GF when the club should be riding high) is an indication that the problems may not in fact have been cause by those shown the door but by those who remained in the building – and still do. I'd suggest the rot starts at the head – Gordon. Gordon came back in 2013 and the infighting started not long after. He has a long track record of not getting along with – well almost everyone.