Rumour Future of the club (Bevo, board, assistant coaches, football department)

[Snarls Barkley]

My view is that none of Bevo, Simpson, Hardwick or Clarkson have suddenly become mediocre coaches. They just aren’t in control of great sides.

Anyone who still thinks our list is an uncut gem is delusional. There is talent on the list but former guns are not as good and there are some very average players getting a game.

I think if you got another very well credentialed coach in charge you’d get the usual dead cat bounce but a quick return to what is going on now. I also think a coach doing things a bit more ‘conventionally’ might not get better results and we might actually get worse.

All that is a separate question to whether Bevo should stay. I think peoples’ memories are a bit short - I still remember what it felt like to believe I might not see us in a grand final. Doing it twice after generations of falling at the last hurdle is not a small thing and not a fluke.

The club should know what is actually going on. I think we’ve made some bad list decisions, there’s been friction in the footy department etc. On the outside you know 10% of what happens inside. It’s plausible that Bev is doing a good job and there are things outside his control. It’s also possible he’s lost the plot or players hate him. We’re all guessing because we aren’t in there.

I do worry the wrong people are in charge of the decision. We’ll see though.

I don’t think they just become poor coaches but things can just get stale. Just seems to get to the point you lose your innovativeness and feel for the group. I think Bevo probably does really well if he were to coach elsewhere, somewhere were he doesn’t have complete control of the box and less of an imprint on the list. I just don’t see it happening here.

You just have to look at Collingwood and GWS as an example. Cameron and were decent coaches, I wouldn’t consider great coaches, but great football intellects. Their teams in the last few seasons were doing really poorly and everyone was saying that their lists aren’t the same quality and they’d need to rebuild. First year of a fresh set of eyes and a new philosophy and they both make a PF in the first season and maybe both get flags in their second season.

I don’t think anyone’s memory is falling short. Think everyone is grateful for what Bevo achieved with this group to win a flag and make a GF appearance. Think everyone would agree he has been our best coach to date and will possibly be so in twenty years time as well. I disagree that he has this job for life though and in my opinion the 22 and 23 seasons were the most underperformed since the Rohde days.

 

[4Seasons]

Yeah, we whine too much... I mean two flags in 100 years in the league is sensational.

Pipe down flogs and accept it. Accept the club is going OK right now on and off field and just zip it for the rest of the season. I mean that's what successful clubs do, right?

Big difference from zipping it vs crying

 

[weltschmerz]

Swans fans never stop whingeing and they’re looking top 4 bound this year, could be that people complaining on bigfooty don’t impact the team very much

 

[Hobdog]

I look at teams like Geelong and Sydney that haven’t had access to as much top end draft talent as other clubs, yet they just consistently get the job done, and feel pretty envious. To say this has nothing to do with coaching is short-sighted. To accuse fellow dogs supporters of whinging because they’re sick of the team not addressing the same issues year after year is pretty hard to stomach.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Unnamed1]

I'd say if we lose to Hawks or Richmond, there will be a lot of heat and self-doubt from Bevo himself, to the extent there isn't already.

 

[Unorth]

i don’t think there’s much in ‘if we lose to X then…’ given what happened last year.

The west coast loss was one of the least likely upsets in AFL history and cost us finals.

Some more reactionary clubs may have even pulled the trigger after our epic choke in 2022 v Fremantle. Or at various other stages where we’ve fallen flat on our faces.

There is at this point probably no single game that will cause us to sack Bevo. It’s more what the players are thinking at seasons end and if we’re facing an exodus if we keep him on - or if Bevo himself decides to move on.

 

[BulldogMuscle]

i don’t think there’s much in ‘if we lose to X then…’ given what happened last year.

The west coast loss was one of the least likely upsets in AFL history and cost us finals.

Some more reactionary clubs may have even pulled the trigger after our epic choke in 2022 v Fremantle. Or at various other stages where we’ve fallen flat on our faces.

There is at this point probably no single game that will cause us to sack Bevo. It’s more what the players are thinking at seasons end and if we’re facing an exodus if we keep him on - or if Bevo himself decides to move on.

Well. From what I’ve been told this morning (and I’m waiting to talk to a few more people who can confirm) more and more players are disgruntled with how things are going, and this is starting to effect our Captain. Speculation, but I would suspect this has something to do with his drop in form.

Sadly Caro is right, there does seem to be an ever-growing divide amongst our playing group, and as I’ve been told this morning the “Not happy with Bevo” camp is bigger then the “Happy with Bevo camp”.

 

[geoffjennings79]

i don’t think there’s much in ‘if we lose to X then…’ given what happened last year.

The west coast loss was one of the least likely upsets in AFL history and cost us finals.

Some more reactionary clubs may have even pulled the trigger after our epic choke in 2022 v Fremantle. Or at various other stages where we’ve fallen flat on our faces.

There is at this point probably no single game that will cause us to sack Bevo. It’s more what the players are thinking at seasons end and if we’re facing an exodus if we keep him on - or if Bevo himself decides to move on.

Problem with a potential exodus and not acting until season's end is players through their management could be initiating contact elsewhere now. So by season's end, they're well down the path to an exit (depending on their contract status, but as we know these days that's not a major impediment any more).

I'm not suggesting sacking Beveridge btw, just that if there are any concerns about players leaving, and you'd think media would hear whispers if there are, when is the best time to act?

 

[geoffjennings79]

Well. From what I’ve been told this morning (and I’m waiting to talk to a few more people who can confirm) more and more players are disgruntled with how things are going, and this is starting to effect our Captain. Speculation, but I would suspect this has something to do with his drop in form.

Sadly Caro is right, there does seem to be an ever-growing divide amongst our playing group, and as I’ve been told this morning the “Not happy with Bevo” camp is bigger then the “Happy with Bevo camp”.

Are the disgruntled camp prepared to:

• leave if Bevo stays
• give the club an ultimatum
• meet with Bont to get him to escalate concerns?

You probably can't answer some/all of these, but a disgruntled playing group can snowball quickly if/when club management panic/act.

 

[BulldogMuscle]

Are the disgruntled camp prepared to:

• leave if Bevo stays
• give the club an ultimatum
• meet with Bont to get him to escalate concerns?

You probably can't answer some/all of these, but a disgruntled playing group can snowball quickly if/when club management panic/act.

Couldn’t say mate. I get majority of my info from a player manager who doesn’t (currently) have players at our club but speaks with managers who do (and his own players are close friends with some of our guys).

He reckons the Dogs have two options:
Let Bevo ride the year out, remove him to retain our core and hope we do a 2023-24 Collingwood under Fly.
Or
Back Bevo in completely to rebuild a second time, but lose a lot of players to contending clubs in the process.

I’d lean towards option one.

 

[dergert]

Dale4captain reckon Longmire stays on at Sydney after his contract ends in 2025?

Dean Cox

Dean Cox

Age

43

Ht

203cm

Wt

107kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.9

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

6.9

4star

M

5.3

5star

T

1.5

3star

G

0.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

13.0

4star

K

5.8

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.0

1star

is meant to be a decent coach in waiting- but it's been said he is being groomed to take over from Longmire.

 

[BulldogMuscle]

Dale4captain reckon Longmire stays on at Sydney after his contract ends in 2025?

Dean Cox is meant to be a decent coach in waiting- but it's been said he is being groomed to take over from Longmire.

You can only wait so long.

I'd fire everything and more at Cox to come down if our head coach position opened up. The Sydney system is excellent and I believe Cox has a lot to do with how they play.

Cox would probably be my number one choice.

 

[geoffjennings79]

The only Cox we've ever had (Simon) was 192cm.
Dean Cox

Dean Cox

Age

43

Ht

203cm

Wt

107kg

Pos.

F/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.9

4star

K

8.9

3star

HB

6.9

4star

M

5.3

5star

T

1.5

3star

G

0.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

13.0

4star

K

5.8

3star

HB

7.2

5star

M

4.8

5star

T

1.4

4star

G

0.0

1star

is 204cm.
The jokes write themselves...

(Dave Dick in 1926 was a mere 173cm, managed to play 8 games at 3 clubs, so limited exposure in his case.)

 

[Dogs_r_barking]

Mate put the shovel back in the shed , the hole is deep enough.

Seriously, I wonder if it’s younger supporters who do not value the fact we have made two GFs, won one and lost one.

Take a look now at our 18 team competition. The richest clubs, Hawthorn, West Coast, Collingwood, Richmond and Geelong along with a propped up Melbourne have won the last eight premierships. The small clubs are noticeably absent, throw in the fact we are on the wrong side of the Yarra, do not have powerful influential members, like Carlton, Collingwood and Geelong. We do not get any leg ups whatsoever from the AFL, even in our rebuilding side we were not treated equally to Melbourne who was rebuilding too.

We do not attract high profile players from other clubs unless they are tainted I.e. Barry Hall and Ackermanis, or the elite coaches, several openly turned their nose up at ever coaching us, we have had to fight to survive, even losing good players to do so.

Bevo turned that on its head, he also stood up for the club against the snide media, who are in league with the bigger clubs and don’t want the “minnow” to get too big for their boots, and demand equality.

Instead of backing him, you have aligned yourselves with the media and others. Won’t you look stupid when you get your way and see Bevo snapped up by another team who values him. While we go back to a cheap as chips coach.

 

[adammonerz]

If Bont's really going to stink it up just because his lost faith in the coach I think that says a lot about him. I don't l;ike Bevo but our captain downing tools at round six isn't a good look. If he really gave a shit about where we are at he would be playing out of his skin to get us over the line.

Idk I just don't think the guy that's been incredibly loyal and the captain is going to throw his toys out the pram. He looks beat up and mentally and physically exhausted too me

 

[geoffjennings79]

Seriously, I wonder if it’s younger supporters who do not value the fact we have made two GFs, won one and lost one.

Take a look now at our 18 team competition. The richest clubs, Hawthorn, West Coast, Collingwood, Richmond and Geelong along with a propped up Melbourne have won the last eight premierships. The small clubs are noticeably absent, throw in the fact we are on the wrong side of the Yarra, do not have powerful influential members, like Carlton, Collingwood and Geelong. We do not get any leg ups whatsoever from the AFL, even in our rebuilding side we were not treated equally to Melbourne who was rebuilding too.

We do not attract high profile players from other clubs unless they are tainted I.e. Barry Hall and Ackermanis, or the elite coaches, several openly turned their nose up at ever coaching us, we have had to fight to survive, even losing good players to do so.

Bevo turned that on its head, he also stood up for the club against the snide media, who are in league with the bigger clubs and don’t want the “minnow” to get too big for their boots, and demand equality.

Instead of backing him, you have aligned yourselves with the media and others. Won’t you look stupid when you get your way and see Bevo snapped up by another team who values him. While we go back to a cheap as chips coach.

Numerous posters, including myself, have acknowledged he is the greatest coach in the club's history. That doesn't absolve him of any criticism though, nor of the fact that all coaches - Norm Smith, Jock McHale, Clarkson, Hardwick, etc reach a point where they or the club or both need to move past each other.
Beveridge himself just after his appointment highlighted that coaches should limit their tenure at a club. That's not to say, like others, he can't go on to success elsewhere. Just that no single coaching tenure is endless.

 

[redmania]

If Bont's really going to stink it up just because his lost faith in the coach I think that says a lot about him. I don't l;ike Bevo but our captain downing tools at round six isn't a good look. If he really gave a s**t about where we are at he would be playing out of his skin to get us over the line.

Idk I just don't think the guy that's been incredibly loyal and the captain is going to throw his toys out the pram. He looks beat up and mentally and physically exhausted too me

I never read that as downing tools. More as pressure/happiness etc.

 

[King Harold]

Seriously, I wonder if it’s younger supporters who do not value the fact we have made two GFs, won one and lost one.

Take a look now at our 18 team competition. The richest clubs, Hawthorn, West Coast, Collingwood, Richmond and Geelong along with a propped up Melbourne have won the last eight premierships. The small clubs are noticeably absent, throw in the fact we are on the wrong side of the Yarra, do not have powerful influential members, like Carlton, Collingwood and Geelong. We do not get any leg ups whatsoever from the AFL, even in our rebuilding side we were not treated equally to Melbourne who was rebuilding too.

We do not attract high profile players from other clubs unless they are tainted I.e. Barry Hall and Ackermanis, or the elite coaches, several openly turned their nose up at ever coaching us, we have had to fight to survive, even losing good players to do so.

Bevo turned that on its head, he also stood up for the club against the snide media, who are in league with the bigger clubs and don’t want the “minnow” to get too big for their boots, and demand equality.

Instead of backing him, you have aligned yourselves with the media and others. Won’t you look stupid when you get your way and see Bevo snapped up by another team who values him. While we go back to a cheap as chips coach.

Not exactly sure what you are getting at , but I don’t consider I have aligned with anyone exactly.
It’s already been said about Bevo ad nauseam by me and most on this board he is a legend getting us all that flag and GF appearance. And will always be !

Looking from the outside in , looks to me he became a little ego driven after that success.
But you know what , I could be 100% wrong !


As for my comment you replied to, the poster was I assume telling everyone to only post “good things “ about Bevo and his current coaching ?
After watching the mighty Bulldogs now for about 60 years, I think have some idea what I am now watching.
Haven’t lost all my marbles just yet.
But thanks for the history lesson

 

[dogwatch]

If Bont's really going to stink it up just because his lost faith in the coach I think that says a lot about him. I don't l;ike Bevo but our captain downing tools at round six isn't a good look. If he really gave a s**t about where we are at he would be playing out of his skin to get us over the line.

Idk I just don't think the guy that's been incredibly loyal and the captain is going to throw his toys out the pram. He looks beat up and mentally and physically exhausted too me

I never read that as downing tools. More as pressure/happiness etc.

Ditto.

The pressure of being the man in the middle may be affecting the clarity and composure he needs to prepare for and play a game of footy.

On the one hand he is part of the club establishment (media conferences, internal conferences, official duties, etc) and on the other he is expected to be something like a union rep for the players in dealing with management. It's obvious that these two roles can at times be quite conflicting and Bont seems like the sort of guy who wants to please everybody he deals with. Sometimes that's just not possible. So if he's internalising that conflict I could understand how it affects his game. It doesn't necessarily mean he's having a tantrum at all.

That's merely my speculation of course.

Besides, his form has been pretty good, even in recent weeks. Just not as dominant as we are used to seeing him. His best game for the season was probably in the Geelong game a mere 3 weeks back when he and Libba nearly carried us to a rare victory over the Cats.

 

[dergert]

The club wheeling Bont out to put out fires all off season would've worn any captain out

 

[BulldogMuscle]

Bont does more for this club than anyone even knows. His one of the main reason players like Naughton and JUH turn down mega-million dollars offers to stay with us. He keeps the playing group together (minus one ostrich-father) whilst dealing with the football department, media, board, president, CEO, coach, and everything inbetween.

He deserves double what his on but his too much of a humble guy to accept it. I've never heard a single player, manager, or anyone in the AFL speak a negative word about Bont.

But he can only do so much and if conflicts are arising that even he is struggling to deal with then I pray to every deity that the right people at our club step up and support him.

 

[TheBont]

I look at teams like Geelong and Sydney that haven’t had access to as much top end draft talent as other clubs, yet they just consistently get the job done, and feel pretty envious. To say this has nothing to do with coaching is short-sighted. To accuse fellow dogs supporters of whinging because they’re sick of the team not addressing the same issues year after year is pretty hard to stomach.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Agreed
There’s a few members on here that will bully you for having a differing opinion.

 

[Next Waiting]

Bont does more for this club than anyone even knows. His one of the main reason players like Naughton and JUH turn down mega-million dollars offers to stay with us. He keeps the playing group together (minus one ostrich-father) whilst dealing with the football department, media, board, president, CEO, coach, and everything inbetween.

He deserves double what his on but his too much of a humble guy to accept it. I've never heard a single player, manager, or anyone in the AFL speak a negative word about Bont.

But he can only do so much and if conflicts are arising that even he is struggling to deal with then I pray to every deity that the right people at our club step up and support him.

This ostrich feather you speak of, does he have a name?

 

[_Mike_]

I wonder if it’s younger supporters who do not value the fact we have made two GFs, won one and lost one.

In all fairness DRB, the team was flogged in 30 minutes of football to lose a GF by 12 goals after being in front by 2 goals 1/2 through the 3rd, that is unforgivable coaching. Bevo walked into a club with a capable list when he took over in 2015, since then the team development has been up & down, some players have stagnated along the way/

The club has missed a number of opportunities to take more flags over the last 40 years, circumstances or otherwise, and the club took a cheap as chips option with appointing Spangher & co as assistant coaches which arguably has been well below expectations.

If it's not Bevo, what do you think is the problem with the club stagnating since the 21 GF?

 

[adammonerz]

I'm a younger fan, the prelim losses destroyed me as a kid, always felt like we were never going to get there despite getting so bloody close. The Macca era was rough, lost the joy of even following footy for a while there (I was like 11-13) Eventually though I watched to see glimpses of talent emerging, was fun to watch players like Macrae, Bont, Wallis etc all start to emerge a little bit.

After Griff left I had like no hope left for the club, the Boyd deal looked fun but I thought it was a deal for the future rather then a deal for the now and we were well and truly in a rebuilding phase.

Then out of nowhere Bevo comes in and gets the list that looked shocking playing some of the best footy I've ever seen as a supporter of the club, we seriously looked so good, fast flowing, high scoring and ferocious. I loved watching us in 2015 yeah we might of went out of finals early but holy shit finals wasn't expected anyway, this Bevo bloke had pulled a miracle, he had the list looking incredible, rejuvenated a few of the senior boys careers by changing their role. I was so optimistic that I said early on in 2016 that we would win the flag or come close and then we bloody did.

I will never ever discredit Bevo for what he did in those two years but something radically changed in 2017, teams had started to work us out and we had the weight of being the reigning premiers and we just didn't handle it well. Sydney worked out how to play against us, flogged us and gave teams the blueprint on how to beat us (No JJ no bulldogs was well and truly a thing) Bevo didn't seem the confident bloke he was in 15-16 he seemed like he was second guessing himself.

We had a few years of weirdness but it did seem like things were on the up come 2019 when we finally scraped our way back into finals, I will say 2018 might have been the most depressing year in Bevo's reign including 2023 but I wasn't truley a Bevo out guy yet. We had a few senior boys retire and a few players leave so it looked like we were trying to soft rebuild.

2020 pissed me off, we had the best looking squad we have ever had under his coaching with our young guns all entering their prime at once and we just couldn't get going, this was the beginning of me thinking Bevo had lost the plot. 2021 was a ride, I thought the man had finally got it all together, we looked great, we were so good for like 17 rounds and then we utterly cooked it, after the Port game I had no hope for us entering finals we didn't finish top 4 we looked cooked and we would have to pull a miracle out of the hat again.

We got so bloody close to doing it too, we were so close to touching that cup and then we played one of the worst quarters of footy I've ever seen us play and our coach had no answers what so ever. I go to sleep having nightmares of that last ten mins of the third when we just couldn't wrestle any momentum back from Melbourne.

Since then we have seen the team lose the same way over and over again, get some momentum against the dogs and we fold over, there has been no change, Bevo seems tired, stressed and out of ideas, our captain seems like his getting to the point where he is so stressed out it's affecting his game.

I love Bevo I really do but I don't think he is the man to lead this club on anymore, it's very sad as I think if we win in 2021 we would be in some alt timeline where we are a dynasty club under him but it just wasn't to be. His message looks like it's run stale with the players and the fans now. All that we are waiting on is it to run stale with the board and his gone.

I reckon he coaches out the season and "resigns" don't think the board really want to sack him during the season and I feel like they want to give him a dignified ending too if it's going to happen