A jovial Luke Beveridge remains hopeful he and the Western Bulldogs can agree on “pretty amicable terms” for a new deal “so everyone is able to put breakfast on the table”.
Beveridge was in a relaxed mood minutes after his side demolished Essendon by 91 points on Saturday night during a lengthy interview — which even included a cheeky jab for Herald Sun chief football reporter Jay Clark.
After entering the season as one of the AFL’s most under-pressure coaches, Beveridge has the Bulldogs humming at 6-4 with a league-high percentage of 132.6.
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It’s prompted calls for the Dogs to act quickly and re-sign Beveridge before his deal expires at the end of this season and stop other clubs inquiring about the premiership coach’s status.
Asked cheekily by Clark on Fox Footy when he’d be signing his new deal – and how many extra dollars he’d added to the contract during his team’s hot start to 2025, Beveridge said: “Even if the deal is signed, the soft cap – it’s not a ‘soft’ ceiling. It’s as hard as a rock. So it doesn’t matter how strong your negotiation skills are, you can’t get blood out of a stone.
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“The important thing is that your resources, your people who just provide their passion and commit their relationships to the players – that they’re looked after. So you’ve got to spread the love, especially financially.
“That’s not to say I’ll get nothing! But if and when it happens, we’ll agree to pretty amicable terms, so everyone is able to put breakfast on the table.”
Beveridge late last month gave a wide-ranging interview with Clark in his Melbourne bayside home for CODE Sports, opening up on his contract status, reports linking him to Melbourne, the ongoing Jamarra Ugle-Hagan saga and his coaching philosophies.
Clark’s fellow Super Saturday LIVE panellist, dual All-Australian David King, cheekily asked Beveridge on Saturday night what Clark brought as a gesture of appreciation for opening up his house.
Beveridge said with a laugh: “I had to give him a petrol voucher as soon as he left! I said to Jay: ‘I thought you lived in Malvern! I didn’t know you lived on the other side of town!’
“It was good of Jay to come that far.”
Asked if Clark at least left “a good bottle of red”, Beveridge replied: “He drank half of the bottle of mine and didn’t bring any himself!
“It’s something that we don’t do that often. Pre-season there’s normally an interview or two and during the season there’s not much time for it. I was flattered that Jay wanted to do a piece.”
Beveridge added post-interview that “you’re always pretty frightened” of what the final article will look like – to which Clark replied: “You were frightened! How do you think I was feeling?”
The Bulldogs set up their demolition of Essendon in front of more than 47,000 people on Saturday night at Marvel Stadium with a blistering first quarter, kicking seven unanswered goals to record their highest opening term against the Bombers since 2006.
Despite such an emphatic start leading to a big early margin, Beveridge said he didn’t give himself time to relax and just admire his team’s output.
“You get fussy,” Beveridge said. “You start wanting to consolidate and make sure that margin is increased. In this day and age, the percentage side of it – it’s an extra game at the end of the year.
“So you get a bit fussy, you keep reminding people to not come off their work. We didn’t change much of the modes or the roles … so credit to the boys, they saw it out. I thought Essendon had a little bit of a spike in the third quarter, we weathered that and came again. It’s been a great night.”
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Dashing defender Bailey Dale led the stern Bulldogs statement, collecting a club-record 49 disposals as the Bulldogs announced themselves as a true premiership contender.
The severe case of leather poisoning surpassed the previous Bulldogs best of 47 from Ryan Griffin – also against Essendon – back in 2012.
“At one stage, ‘Pratty’ (assistant coach Daniel Pratt) asked me whether we could send the runner out to tell him (Dale) he had 46 possessions and to get another four,” Beveridge told Fox Footy. “I said: ‘Well, it’s not a Josh Bruce situation where he’s kicked nine (goals) and he’s in the right end of the ground and you can give him one more.’ But when he got to 49, I thought ‘you might as well tell him’.
“He might be a bit dirty on ‘Truck’ (Bailey) Williams for not giving him that last one inside. But he played tremendously well.
“A big focus for every team is to start well – and we believe it or not have only won two first quarters on the scoreboard – so it was a pretty emphatic start to get that sort of margin early in the game.”
Ruck Tim English continued his brilliant recent form, finishing with 26 disposals, 11 score involvements, eight clearances and eight marks, with five of his 17 hit-outs going to a Bulldogs teammate’s advantage.
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“Don’t pump him up too much, Jack, please!” a coy Beveridge said to Jack Riewoldt when asked if English was in All-Australian form.
“We have been happy with (him). The predictability on the inside is so important, the big man presence and making sure that the mids can remain proactive. As soon as you become reactive in there and you’re not sure where the ball’s going, you become a different team. So Tim’s been able to provide that stability in the turnover game and link up and provide some score.
“He’s really on the right track, he’s building his year and Buku (Khamis) has been a good foil.”
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