Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge declared he remained “totally in control” of his feelings after confirming he wanted surgical procedure on a damaged hand sustained when he punched a whiteboard on the SCG final week.
The premiership-winning coach mentioned it was “definitely not” an act of aggression.
It emerged on Wednesday that Beveridge had suffered the harm throughout his halftime tackle to gamers on the SCG final Thursday evening because the Bulldogs misplaced to the Swans by two factors.
The Bulldogs solely trailed Sydney by three factors on the fundamental break, however Beveridge mentioned he sensed he wanted to be “animated” to attract their focus after younger talls James O’Donnell and Sam Darcy have been compelled out of the sport early with accidents.
Beveridge underwent surgical procedure on the hand earlier this week, with the Bulldogs saying the process had not interrupted his teaching duties.
“Reading the room and the mood, (I thought) we just needed to raise the energy a little bit … it was quite innocuous and a little bit clumsy … it’s a bit trivial in the end, but one day it might be a couple of paragraphs in a chapter of a book,” he mentioned.
“It was just a bit unlucky, the angle, and even the way it happened – our boys are highly emotional, and historically when we’ve had players injured or we’ve had some challenges in games … switching onto what’s important in front of us is obviously critical.”
Beveridge mentioned the incident was a “little bit clumsy” however didn’t influence his gamers, or his means to educate out the sport, and he didn’t lose management of his feelings throughout the sport.
“Sometimes you need the coach to be a little bit animated, and it was just purely an accident more than anything. If you’re worried about me emotionally, no need, I’m totally in control.”
He mentioned the Bulldogs have been weighing up whether or not to recall omitted ahead Rory Lobb rather than the injured Darcy or handy Buku Khamis his first senior sport this season after a powerful four-goal haul within the VFL.
Lobb had much less influence as a ahead and solely managed a pair of late targets, however Beveridge mentioned he needed to take into account whether or not Khamis may very well be used within the second ruck position.
“I think our supporters who have seen the results of those games have been intrigued as to why (Khamis) may not have got an opportunity (this season),” Beveridge mentioned.
“We’ll need to bring someone in to fulfil that second ruck role, and that will be between Rory and Buku.”
Bailey Smith skilled at Whitten Oval on Thursday and can face the Bombers on Friday evening, with Beveridge criticising debate over his position within the aspect as “misguided”, insisting he’s enjoying successfully as an additional midfielder.
“It’s been rare that we play with six forwards, it’s been rare that Bailey has been one of the five forwards, so he’s playing as a midfielder … he’s playing almost the exact same role he did in 2021,” he mentioned.
Beveridge mentioned he didn’t need to touch upon the tribunal’s verdict to exonerate Dane Rampe after Lachlan McNeil was concussed in a heavy off-the-ball collision with the Sydney defender as a result of his view was “firm” and can be “too controversial”.
Originally printed as Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge breaks hand smashing whiteboard
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
