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12 months on: Beveridge has reinvented the Bulldogs
Gerard Whateley • May 6th, 2025 12:58 pm
I was looking back through my notes last night to this exact moment 12 months ago.
The Tuesday after Round 8.
The Western Bulldogs were 3-5 and the two words being used by the key administrators were “disappointment” and “frustration”.
The Dogs had just lost to Hawthorn… and you’ll recall that looked bad at the time.
The feeling at the club was they had the ingredients to be successful but translating that into wins and ladder position was proving elusive.
But there was a disconnect. The coach was rewiring the team because he’d seen the fault lines.
Through these weeks a year ago that was more than a mild curiosity.
And plenty took the strident view the time for club and coach had reached its natural ending.
Fast forward 12 months and both branches of the Bulldogs have been validated.
Luke Beveridge has reinvented the team largely with the ingredients he had in the pantry.
Only Matthew Kennedy and Sam Davidson are fresh to the pot.
Now the Bulldogs are the darlings of the competition and the very people who were declaring his time done are now insisting Beveridge be re-signed to a long-term extension.
It’s a perverse conversation really… the Bulldogs leaders were the ones who preached total faith in the coach when the outside world was ready to burn him at the stake… now they are being chastised for a lack of faith.
Regardless, it’s the most promising start to a season since the Bulldogs last made the Grand Final in 2021.
They had a steep assignment with injury plus travel to Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and now Darwin in the first nine weeks.
The thought was if they could just stay viable and get to 5-5 it would provide the chance to launch when things opened up in the back half.
Now it’s so much more than that.
The Dogs are 5-3 and playing perhaps the most compelling footy in the comp.
They’re my two seed behind only the reigning premier and the respect that the Brisbane Lions command.
The opportunity is enormous.
What the Bulldogs haven’t done in the Beveridge years is finish top four to maximise their chance of contending.
They’ve been masters of the short-term mission but faltered in the long-term campaign.
That’s the challenge and the opportunity.
To parlay the early promise into sustained success and nestle themselves in the top bracket.
Should Beveridge mastermind a win over the Suns in Darwin he’s a moral for a new contract. But that isn’t the end game
They’re 5-3 and in a meritorious sixth place but it’s the top four that calls to the Dogs.
