{"id":384849,"date":"2024-04-14T23:34:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T23:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=384849"},"modified":"2024-04-15T01:03:49","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T01:03:49","slug":"why-coaching-icons-concern-over-dogs-axing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=384849","title":{"rendered":"'Why?': Coaching icon's concern over Dogs axing"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL<\/a> legend Leigh Matthews<\/a> wonders if the Western Bulldogs<\/a> have lost faith in embattled coach Luke Beveridge<\/a> off the back of his strange post-game press conference on Friday.<\/p>\n

Following the Bulldogs' \ufeff29-point loss to the Bombers<\/a>, Beveridge was asked where he thought his side is at after previously claiming that the team needs to rebuild and "evolve".<\/p>\n

In his response, Beveridge stated that the Bulldogs are not "a formidable team" despite boasting a star-studded list.<\/p>\n

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\"Luke<\/p>\n

Ahead of the match, Beveridge made the shock call to drop premiership defender Caleb Daniel<\/a> before demoting running defender Bailey Dale to the starting substitute.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Nine's Footy Furnace<\/em><\/a>, Matthews suspected Beveridge's messaging during the press conference would have confused the playing group.<\/p>\n

"You always have to remind yourself as a coach, you're talking to your players (in the post-match press conference). You're partly talking to your fans and the media but you're mainly talking to your players," he said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

"And if you have mixed messages in that forum about why are we playing these next-generation players instead of the Bailey Dales and Caleb Daniels, why are we doing that?<\/p>\n

"Every player thinks, 'Aren't we trying to win this week?'. And the narrative about trying to win this week, the words are being said but I'm not sure whether the actions are following that."<\/p>\n

Geelong great Jimmy Bartel<\/a> said the Bulldogs' current list can feature in this year's finals series but conceded that there is confusion over the club's direction.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

"I'd be wanting to win now. You just look at who is running out there at the moment, they've got a player who we're talking about could be the greatest Bulldog ever in the Bont (Marcus Bontempelli). Capitalise on him now," he said.<\/p>\n

"Libba (Tom Liberatore) is playing as good a footy as he's ever played, he wouldn't want to be thinking that you're looking ahead to two years from now.<\/p>\n

"You've got emerging generational talent in (Jamarra) Ugle-Hagan and (Sam) Darcy could be anything.<\/p>\n

"You've got All-Australian ruckman in English, All-Australian backs in Dale and Daniel.<\/p>\n

"Why aren't you trying to win the premiership this year?"<\/p>\n

That sentiment was echoed by\ufeff Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cornes<\/p>\n

"Is there a disconnect where the board sees the club? Because they've said top four \ufeff(yet) Luke Beveridge continuously hints this list isn't good enough to compete," he told Nine's The Sunday Footy Show<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Beveridge is facing mounting pressure to steer the Bulldogs back into the league's top eight after a disappointing ninth-placed finish last season.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs currently sit 11th with a lacklustre record of 2-3 in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AFL legend Leigh Matthews wonders if the Western Bulldogs have lost faith in embattled coach Luke Beveridge off the back of his strange post-game press […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":377246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384849"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=384849"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384857,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384849\/revisions\/384857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/377246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=384849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=384849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=384849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}