Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge insists his coaching was never under scrutiny during the club’s recent review.
The Bulldogs undertook a six-week review of the club’s football department with the findings released late last month.
There was speculation that the premiership coach’s ability was being questioned, but he himself insists that his skills or philosophy were never under examination.
Beveridge, who has previous management experience in the public service, was asked by Gerard Whateley if he ever felt that way during the process.
“No, I didn’t, not at all,” Beveridge said on SEN’s Whateley.
“A big part of the discussion was how to free me up to progress things in the coaching and management space that should be the priorities.
“We’re looking culturally to be the best we can be and to ensure that our people feel valued and that our club is progressive. Historically, coming from an executive management space in the public service, my experience is around managing people and looking after different environments.
“So quite naturally I turn my mind to that day by day. But it helps to have other people who are probably ahead of the curve and the day by day thinking on that, just so you can free yourself up for all the layers that are associated with being a senior coach.
“What happens with me and the vibrations within the club, I think people notice when I’m distracted. So the main message to me was the players know when you’re at your best, they know who you are, the way you communicate when you’re not preoccupied with things that aren’t essential as far as performance goes.
“The main drive coming out of the review in regards to me was to support the operational environment in footy so that I didn’t need to get caught up in things that other people can take care of.”
As a result of that review, the Dogs opted to relieve Beveridge of some duties deemed unnecessary for a senior coach by creating a brand new role of General Manager of Football Operations.
That position was made for Matthew Egan who according to Beveridge has already done a resounding job in streamlining the operational process required to run a football department.
“Quite simply, Peter Jackson identified the fact that we just lacked a resource,” Beveridge added.
“We lacked a person in there at a managerial level to be the centrepiece of how to progress communications and for us to be better organised.
“Pleasingly, that’s where Matty Egan has been able to take on that responsibility and everyone is feeling the positivity coming out of the role that he is performing. That’s now quite pivotal for all of us as we march into the future.
“Over time it doesn’t matter how we got to that point, whether it was budget restrictions or the evolution of our operational environment, or whether I was leaned on too heavily because I had that history of managerial experience, but it dawned on everyone that, ‘Hey, we need to change this’.
“Matt’s role is now really quite crucial to greasing those wheels.”
After narrowly missing the eight last year, the pressure built on Beveridge over the summer but it appears as though the load has now been more evenly spread at the Whitten Oval.
The club has performed well in the pre-season, comfortably accounting for Hawthorn in two practice matches, and will continue to tune up for their season opener against Melbourne at the MCG on March 17.