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The "hardest" coach Teague came up against
Jaiden Sciberras • July 12th, 2025 1:00 pm
Former Carlton head coach David Teague faced a number of the AFL’s great coaches; however, one stood out as an exceptional challenge from within the box.
Teague led the Blues for just 50 AFL games, taking over from Brendon Bolton as interim coach before landing a three-year deal following a turn in form throughout his tenure in 2019.
Seeing out just two years of his deal, the Blues cut ties with Teague at the conclusion of the 2021 season having won just eight of their 22 games.
Looking back on his coaching career, Teague believes that of all the teams and coaches he faced, the Western Bulldogs premiership coach Luke Beveridge was the most difficult to undo tactically.
Through 2019-2021, the Bulldogs under Beveridge won 37 of their 61 games, featuring in September in all three seasons including a Grand Final dash in 2021.
Recently signing a well-earnt two-year contract extension, the 2016 premiership coach has continued his strong run with the Bulldogs, sitting in sixth place with their strong percentage keeping the side in with a real shot at a top four spot come season’s end.
Within his 50 games in charge, Teague faced the Bulldogs three times, winning just once in 2020.
“I’ve always liked watching Bevo from afar,” Teague told SEN’s Whateley.
“In terms of coaching against him, he’s probably one of the hardest to coach again in the sense that they are doing things all the time, nearly to the stage where you come back to yourself and go ‘okay, we’ve just got to nail ourselves right here’.
“In the past, if you got your pressure really strong against the Bulldogs, it’s your best chance to stop them, but I think they’ve evolved.
“They are using a little bit more run, they put Ed Richards into the midfield and now that you’ve got (Sam) Darcy down in your front half, you’ve got (Aaron) Naughton down in your front half, I think their game style looks really sound.
“They’re still great with their clearance and handball work with (Tom) Liberatore and (Marcus) Bontempelli, but I think they’re playing a bit more of a holistic game.
“The question mark is still their ability to defend. If teams can get the ball into their back half, their ability to defend and stop marks in the D-50 is going to be their challenge and their Achilles heel.”
One of the Bulldogs’ glaring assets is their freak key forward Sam Darcy.
Claiming deserved praise across the competition, Teague believes that the father/son star is comfortably one of the hottest commodities in the AFL.
“Right now, Sam Darcy is as exciting a prospect as there is,” he said.
“If you were to start a team right now, I think he would be on the first player picked on most people’s list.
“What he’s doing, it’s exciting to watch and it’s not just off sheer athleticism. Yes, he’s big, but he’s got craft, he knows how to use his body, he’s not overly strong yet but he’s quite wise in the way he positions himself and uses his size.”
The Bulldogs face up against the Crows on Saturday night in a huge battle between two top four hopefuls.
