Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge heaped praise on mature-age draftee Sam Davidson, linking the third-gamer to Norm Smith Medal winner Peter Matera.
Davidson had a brilliant night on the wing for the victorious Western Bulldogs against Carlton, collecting a game-high 31 disposals and 10 marks.
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Beveridge said the Dogs had “found a player” in Davidson, who went Pick 51 in the national draft, after comparing him to former West Coast star Matera.
“A really influential game on that wing … as I walked in I said ‘you’re playing like Peter Matera’ thinking ‘he doesn’t even know who Peter Matera is’,” Beveridge laughed.
“But he really did (play like Matera), he stood out in his third game, sometimes you can’t tell but you could process that as the game went on that he was having a night.
“Again, really encouraging for Sam but definitely for us because we’ve really found a player there.”
The Bulldogs improved their record to 2-1 after defeating Carlton by eight points at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
They did it without stars Marcus Bontempelli, Adam Treloar, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Cody Weightman.
Beveridge was not surprised by his side’s strong start to 2025, saying there’s “some real promise” in the Bulldogs’ depth.
“I am not greatly surprised, you lose players of the ilk of Marcus, ‘Flea’ (Weightman) and there’s some others there,” he said.
“We got Jonesy (Liam Jones) back today but ultimately there’s some real promise in our group.
“I am not surprised, I know the talk out of last week was ‘oh, you should be proud of them’ and yeah, to a degree, but we wanted to win that game.
“That’s the way we’ve got to think otherwise we don’t end up getting a look of where we want to go.”
The Bulldogs have Fremantle and Brisbane across the next fortnight.
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