Sports

Beveridge gives Dogs a bake after narrow loss to Roos

Angry Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge made his feelings clear to his players and forced them to review the disastrous final two minutes of a two-point loss to North Melbourne on Saturday night almost as soon as the match had ended.

Beveridge did well to contain his emotions in his post-match press conference, having given his players a fiery bake after they had squandered a four-point lead with 20 seconds remaining at Etihad Stadium.

Barking out commands: Luke Beveridge with his players during the three-quarter time break.

Photo: AAP

The Dogs had regained the lead with two minutes left on the clock when Billy Gowers ran into an open goal but they were unable to ice the contest. They allowed the Roos to take the ball from defensive 50 to their forward line, where a Ben Brown toe poke to skipper Jack Ziebell, who snapped the winning goal with 20 seconds remaining, compounded what already had been a miserable season for the Dogs.

It's understood Beveridge singled players out in his post-match review behind closed doors, and suggested journalists – who heard some of what was said – should not have been in the nearby area of the dressingroom. Beveridge later said he had been left down by his senior players.

"It's rare that I confront them and raise my voice. I am a rational person. There was a lot about tonight's game that we liked, especially the way we moved the footy at times and gave ourselves opportunities … but ultimately as a group they got ourselves to a point where we could win the game," he said.

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"I don't want our boys to walk away from tonight thinking all that was good and we almost got there – all that was good and we should have got there."

On the final two minutes, Beveridge pointed to a couple of tactical break-downs.

Roo beauty: North Melbourne match-winner Jack Ziebell celebrates with fans at Etihad Stadium.

Photo: AAP

"There were two plays. We had a forward-50 stoppage and our set up, which we pride ourselves on, historically we have won a lot of close games prior to this (but our) squad has obviously evolved, and the boys haven't played together a lot in these situations. We have just reviewed it. We have just had a look at it. There were probably about 12 things in it that mostly from pretty experienced players just weren't good enough, so we should have been able to contain it," he said.

"We relied on our backs to win it back again, you get it inside our forward 50, you give them a free kick, and then we left the corridor open, on a drop-the-ball situation, because our forwards didn't compress and wake up to the fact there were no seconds left or very few seconds left. So the lack of urgency under fatigue was disappointing and, obviously, we have already reviewed it.

"Hopefully, the boys are in there probably stewing over it a little bit, and making a promise to each other that it doesn't happen again if we are in that situation.

"We will walk away from tonight, we have used the word deflated before, but that's the sucked the air out of us tonight – no doubt."

The Bulldogs have lost five straight and have only the four wins this season, and will miss the finals for a second straight year. While they have been ravaged by injury this season, their dramatic collapse since the breakthrough 2016 premiership remains one of the sport's great mysteries.

They had produced a stunning first half full of pressure and dare against the Roos, enjoying a three-goal lead at half-time, but they fell away in the third term.

Gowers, the young forward who could not win a senior game at Carlton, had a break-out night, with 22 touches and three goals, while former Docker Hayden Crozier and Lachie Hunter each found plenty of the ball.

"It's more than frustrating – it's extremely disappointing because we got ourselves, obviously, into a position to win it and that's a positive sign, but we couldn't sustain what we had done with the ball in the first half," Beveridge said.

"They (Kangaroos) started to get on top of us through the third quarter in the midfield – just some stronger bodies there we couldn't hold in tackles. It put our defence under pressure all over again.
"We can say over time we will, as we roll, we will be able to sustain it for longer but we can't give ourselves an out because we believe we should have won the game – woulda, coulda, shoulda. It's a pretty disappointing outcome."

The win leaves the Kangaroos in the top eight, with coach Brad Scott praising his team's ability to execute set plans when the game was on the line.

"To be honest, we fall back on some our disappointments – we were on the wrong end of a couple of those last year. They are really painful at the time but you learn from them," he said.

Veteran midfielders Ben Cunnington and Shaun Higgins were magnificent, Brown finished with five goals and a hand in others, while skipper Ziebell was superb in the second half.

Jon Pierik

Jon Pierik is a sports writer with The Age, focusing primarily on AFL football, cricket and basketball. He has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.

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