Western Bulldogs footy boss Matthew Egan hits back at ‘aggressive’ attacks on Luke Beveridge
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The Western Bulldog football boss says he has been ‘blown away’ by aggressive and personal attacks on trainer Luke Beveridge under fire.
Dogs general manager of football Matthew Egan has staunchly defended Beveridge as an “amazing coach”, amid growing scrutiny.
“I’ve been struck by how aggressive some of the comments in the media have been for a guy who’s been a coach for 10 years at a football club with a grand final win and obviously only been in a grand final three years ago,” Egan told SEN radio on Wednesday .
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“I feel like it was a little aggressive and personal against Bevo.”
The Bulldogs have lost four of their last five games to drop to 11th ahead of Saturday night’s match at the MCG against struggling Richmond.
“I’m trying to add to my experience of working in football, in the coaching industry, for 16 years,” Egan said.
“And I’ve never seen a coach connect as well as I do with Bevo and his players.
“His ability to tell stories and create a week-to-week narrative for the players is incredible.”
Beveridge, who is under contract until the end of next season, met staff and players away from his Witton Oval base on Tuesday after suffering a nasty seven-point defeat at Hawthorn.
“It’s a long season, so you have to mix up what we do for reviews,” Egan said.
“And this year we’ve probably changed our reviews a little bit and tried to make it a real learning environment every time you come in for a review.
“Yesterday’s was off site, which we haven’t done before this year.
“It was probably more of a discussion about our club and where we are and some changes that we obviously want to make going forward.
“Yesterday was probably more about going off-site, a different environment, bonding as a group, having some conversations around what we want it to look like and moving forward.”
Bulldogs star Adam Treloar was later asked by reporters if Beveridge still had the trust and support of the group.
His answer was emphatic.
“What do you think the answer will be? Absolutely, of course there is (there is the support of the playing group),” Treloar said.
“We love playing for him. He bleeds red, white and blue, he’s a bulldog man.
“Personally, I love playing for him. I think he’s a great coach and a great person and I love playing under him.”
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