- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
We’ve all been on this ride before.
Luke Beveridge moves the magnets around and it takes us by shock. Some fans are enamoured, others are sick to their stomachs.
Sometimes he sticks with the ideas. Other times, he dumps them straight away and moves onto the next grand plan to throw the opposition off.
At times it works. Genius, some say. After all, the Bulldogs have only missed the finals in two of Beveridge’s eight full seasons in charge.
Other times, they play four key forwards and lose by 50 points in the opening round of the season, albeit against a raging flag favourite. Sometimes, the plans don’t look like they’ll work on paper and then they don’t.
No harm, no foul. Except after over eight years of it, these things can build up. Supporters can be left feeling disenchanted about their club.
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is under immense pressure in 2023. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
The ship tends to pull itself on course at the Bulldogs in the Beveridge era. Usually, they sneak into one of the final few spots of the top eight and go from there.
They’ve only won in two of six finals series, but they made the grand final both times. One thing’s for sure, it’s one heck of a ride one way or another at the Bulldogs.
Yet 2023 has come and the first round simply brought disappointment. Beveridge has time, he re-signed until the end of 2025. But what exactly does he expect out of his team this season?
We are looking at arguably the best midfield group in the league, possessing some of the very best at their specialised craft. Marcus Bontempelli could win the Brownlow, while Tom Liberatore is the premier clearance player in the league.
To the surprise of no one, these two alongside Jack Macrae, Adam Treloar and Bailey Smith were terrific through the midfield against Melbourne.
Letting another off-season pass and returning with a team similar to the last, is a fact that irks supporters and fans alike. Now, there’s quality all over the ground with this group.
The aforementioned midfield group is superb, Aaron Naughton is a beacon of light in attack, Bailey Dale and Ed Richards are incredibly talented in different facets of the game in the defensive half, Cody Weightman is a star on the rise and Tim English is such a well-rounded player.
Jamarra Ugle-Hagan is on the right path and Sam Darcy could be anything. Top-end talent is rarely the issue at the Kennel, though.
What separates and ultimately caps the potential of the Bulldogs is the way the list is structured.
While we look at Geelong, Melbourne and Richmond as teams who have had a stranglehold on the competition for a significant period of time, we see teams that have their structures in place and who carefully curate their list and develop their players to fill the exact roles required within the team.
If we look across the board, whether it’s Brad Close and Gryan Miers, Alex Neal-Bullen and James Harmes, or Jack Graham and Kamdyn McIntosh as examples, the clubs have turned these solid players into vital members of successful teams by creating roles and giving instructions as to how to best perform in them.
All these teams have a “next man up” mentality – if a player misses, no matter how talented, the roles rarely change and the player filling in knows exactly what to do.
Now into a ninth season, and no one can honestly put their hand up and know how the Bulldogs are going to play during 2023. It’s equally likely that they’ll drop the four-man forward line this week as it is that they will play an entire season with it.
The art form to convincing players to buy into “next man up”, is to show the rewards that can be achieved by its success. It’s very hard to showcase this when the tactics change on a dime and there is no specific role to be filled.
Anthony Scott, for instance, spent time as a small forward, a forward flanker, a wingman and across half-back all within a six-week period in 2022. He ends up being treated unfairly by some fans when the truth is, a fringe player trying to establish themselves in the AFL isn’t given the opportunity to develop into a role.
Sam Darcy showed good signs behind the ball to ease into his career and has been thrust forward. The recruitment of Rory Lobb means Josh Bruce has been thrown back.
Sam Darcy appears to have limitless AFL potential. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )
Did the Bulldogs even need Lobb with Ugle-Hagan developing and the knowledge that Darcy would play forward? Who knows. Buku Khamis and Mitch Hannan switched between attack and defence randomly and neither could establish their spots.
Alastair Clarkson famously played young players in a new position to teach them what to expect upon returning to their more familiar role. This was done through years of work, rather than sporadic weeks.
Ultimately, Beveridge is a coach that has brought his club great success, but instead of following trends across the competition, he has consistently tried to be a contrarian and it hurts his players and the fans.
The Bulldogs need to be solid down back and not rely on Ed Richards breaking intercepting records in a demolition. Liam Jones is seemingly the saviour but an ageing defender who was out of the game for over a year is a hard one to rely upon. Ryan Gardiner’s injury hurts.
Then, there’s the lack of speed. Bailey Dale’s coverage by foot has helped cover that a little, but there’s no transition foot speed, or anyone to carve the opposition up forward of centre.
Perhaps the four-pronged tall attack would’ve worked better with Weightman and Arthur Jones applying pressure at the feet. Beveridge knew they weren’t going to play and instead, had no follow-up at ground level. Jake Bowey and Trent Rivers feasted.
Things in the short-term are going to change out of necessity at the Bulldogs. Lobb’s injured, so they’ll play smaller up front and a couple of the smalls are due to return.
If Round 1 is anything to go by though, what Bulldogs fans should expect from this season is more magnet throwing covered by the blanket term of “innovation”, inconsistent results that will bring both joy and despair, and brilliance from stars to help cover everything in between.
There’s good young talent on this list, between slightly known quantities Darcy, Ugle-Hagan, Weightman, Richards and Dom Bedendo, as well as recent recruits Jones, Jedd Busslinger, Charlie Clarke and Harvey Gallagher.
The concern, however, is that their development could be hindered by a prideful contrarian ethos that can be detrimental to an already inconsistent tactical approach.
At the moment, Bevo’s rollercoaster ride is leaving Bulldogs fans feeling nauseous, rather than exhilarated. He’s had his fun on the journey but now it’s finally time to focus on the destination.