‘No real filter’: Coach ‘welcomes’ ex-Dog’s cheeky dig… and why no Rioli sanction was ‘not surprising’

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says he “welcomes” the heightened Bailey Smith-sparked interest in his side’s Round 11 clash against Geelong, adamant the star midfielder’s swipe at his former club was cheeky in nature.

It comes as Beveridge on Tuesday said Bailey Dale “wants to move past” the saga surrounding him and Port Adelaide forward Willie Rioli, who avoided a suspension for sending a threatening message about the Bulldogs defender after the two teams’ clash on Saturday afternoon.

There were ample talking points for Beveridge to address on Tuesday during his weekly press conference in the wake of his in-form side’s third straight victory.

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Hours after his Bulldogs thumped the Power by 90 points in Ballarat, Beveridge was on the couch watching Geelong’s thrilling win over Collingwood, which included a spicy post-game comment from ex-Bulldog Smith.

Fox Footy’s Cameron Mooney ended his post-game interview with Smith by asking how good it was to be playing in front of 82,000 fans at the MCG, to which Smith cheekily replied with a sly grin: “Beautiful mate. Not getting that at Ballarat.”

Amid reports of senior Dogs players being left upset by Smith’s exit late last year, Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli returned serve the next day, suggesting “there’s probably a few less people in Ballarat for him to flip the bird to, so maybe that’s why he’s a little bit disappointed”.

But Beveridge said he wasn’t surprised by Smith’s gibe. And while the Dogs coach was relatively unmoved, he conceded it wouldn’t go unnoticed, or unmentioned, in the build-up to the clash with the Cats … just not this week.

“I was watching live … I didn’t (fall off the couch) because I know Bailey pretty well,” Beveridge told reporters.

“As everyone’s saying, it’s interesting theatre. I think everyone welcomes it. It’s a fair way out – I said to our players at the start of the week: ‘Let’s leave that until we actually play Geelong, because it doesn’t matter at the moment.’ We’ve got the Suns and then Essendon and the Cats before the bye.

“There’s no real filter with Baz, so you come to accept that and I don’t think it’s going to change.”

Asked if he took Smith’s comment as a cheeky remark, rather than a pointed swipe, Beveridge said: “Yeah I did. I think it’s just the way he is – and he’ll tell you ‘it’s just the way I am, I don’t have a filter’, so he doesn’t try and hide from it.

“It’s going to be interesting. If everyone keeps grabbing him straight after a game, I’m not sure whether Geelong are going to like that every week. But it’s just the way he rolls.”

Smith, who moved to the Cats after 113 games under Beveridge, has been one of Geelong’s best players this season, averaging a career-high 30.1 disposals and 4.9 clearances.

“It’s been well reported he had some real challenges the two years before he exited our club. I’m just really rapt for him that he’s playing good footy,” Beveridge said.

The Dogs coach addressed the media less than 24 hours after Rioli wasn’t punished by the AFL following a post-match social media threat to Dale.

Rioli received a $1000 fine for striking Dale off the ball during the game. But after the game he messaged a Bulldogs player allegedly warning Dale about ‘leaving the hotel’ when the Dogs travel to Darwin to play Gold Coast in Round 9.

Rioli contacted Dale privately to apologise – which was accepted by Dale – with the Power on Monday night declaring “the matter has now been resolved privately”.

Asked how Dale was holding up, Beveridge said: “He’s OK, but he just wants to move past it. It’s one of those things where you wake up and all of a sudden you’re part of a storyline you didn’t think you would be. The quicker it’s in the rear vision mirror, the better for him.”

The AFL on Monday night took no further action to that undertaken by the clubs and players involved, but stated it’d “reminded both clubs to ensure any communications remain respectful”.

Beveridge said he was “not surprised” by the AFL’s decision not to sanction Rioli.

“Obviously Willie’s made a mistake, he’ll learn from it – and we’re all OK with that,” he said.

“I think the discretion there is important and I think that’s how both clubs are treating it. Let’s just learn from it, move on and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Beveridge insisted his players didn’t do “anything over the top” to spark Rioli’s outburst.

“Obviously Willie became a bit agitated for one reason or another, but there wasn’t anything over the top from us,” he said.

“We didn’t have any plans to rough anyone up or anything like that. So maybe there was just a frustration with him and it boiled over the day after. But we move on.”