Luke Beveridge

Luke Beveridge (born 23 August 1970) is an Australian rules football coach and former player who played for Melbourne, Footscray and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1990s. He is currently the head coach of the Western Bulldogs.[1]

Luke Beveridge
Beveridge in August 2018
Personal information
Date of birth (1970-08-23) 23 August 1970
Original team(s) St Peters
Height 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 81 kg (179 lb)
Position(s) Rover, forward
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1989–1992 Melbourne 042 0(41)
1993–1995 Footscray 031 0(29)
1996–1999 St Kilda 045 0(37)
Total 118 (107)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
2015– Western Bulldogs 115 (64–51–0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1999.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of round 23, 2019.
Career highlights
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Playing career

Small in stature, he mainly played as a rover and a forward. He is the grandson of Collingwood premiership player Jack Beveridge.

Beveridge won the Melbourne first year player award in 1989 and played his most games with the club in 1991.

He was traded to Footscray for pick 122 in the 1992 AFL Draft. He was seen as a depth player for the club's playing list. He managed 31 games in three seasons.

At the end of 1995 Beveridge was traded to St Kilda for pick 52 in the 1995 AFL Draft. His father was a recruitment officer for the club. Beveridge played 45 games for the Saints in four seasons. Beveridge played in St Kilda's 1996 pre-season cup winning side. He played in 7 of 22 matches in the 1997 home and away rounds. St Kilda qualified in first position for the 1997 finals series.[2] He retired at the end on the 1999 season.

In 2002 Beveridge was elected in the AFL Greek Team of the Century[3] for players having full or partial Greek heritage.[4] His maternal grandfather originates from the island of Samos.[5]

Coaching

He began his coaching career in the Victorian Amateur Football Association competition where he coached St Bedes/Mentone Tigers to the C, B and A Grade premierships in consecutive seasons.

Beveridge had two years as a player development manager at Collingwood from 2009–10, where he had an input to the club's 2010 premiership.[6]

After having a year off, Beveridge joined Hawthorn in 2012 as an assistant coach specialising in working with the club's defence. Beveridge left Hawthorn after the 2014 season and was originally going to become director of coaching at St Kilda,[7] however, on 14 November 2014, it was instead announced that he would become the head coach of the Western Bulldogs, succeeding Brendan McCartney.[1]

Despite being tipped by many for the wooden spoon following the loss of several key decision makers including previous coach Brendan McCartney, captain Ryan Griffen, CEO Simon Garlick, former Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney and over 700 games of experience at the end of 2014, as well as losing reigning best and fairest Tom Liberatore to a knee injury during the pre-season that would ultimately sideline him for the entire 2015 season, Beveridge led an impressive resurgence by the Western Bulldogs, which finished in sixth place on the ladder, and hence qualified for their first finals series since 2010, before losing to the Adelaide Crows in the elimination final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. For his efforts, Beveridge was named the AFL Coaches Association coach of the year.[8]

The following year, Beveridge led his team, the Western Bulldogs, to a victory in their first Grand Final since 1954 despite them suffering long-term injuries throughout the season, notably captain Robert Murphy. The Bulldogs had finished 7th in the minor premiership. They played in 3 consecutive elimination finals, two of them interstate. On the path to the grand final, they beat West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium, Hawthorn at the MCG and Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium. In an emotional display which, according to The Age, "will undoubtedly go down as one of the great moments in Australian sporting history",[9] Beveridge handed his premiership medal to Murphy, saying, "This is yours, mate. You deserve it more than anyone". Murphy, though thankful, returned the medal the following day. It has since been placed in the Western Bulldogs museum. Later that month, Beveridge won the Spirit of Sport award at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Awards for his gesture to Murphy.[9] He was also named the AFL Coaches Association coach of the year for the second year running.[10]

Statistics

Playing statistics
[11]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team No. Games Totals Averages (per game)
G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
1989 Melbourne 48127477471241690.60.36.43.910.31.30.8
1990 Melbourne 2431014418410.30.04.71.36.01.30.3
1991 Melbourne 24212782509034040231.30.411.94.316.21.91.1
1992 Melbourne 2466273331061871.00.312.25.517.73.01.2
1993 Footscray 19885954013518191.00.611.95.016.92.32.4
1994 Footscray 191214131173415129231.21.19.82.812.62.41.9
1995 Footscray 191177693310216130.60.66.33.09.31.51.2
1996 St Kilda 27161691537823146311.00.69.64.914.42.91.9
1997 St Kilda 2774325934750.60.43.61.34.91.00.7
1998 St Kilda 27181351116217342230.70.36.23.49.62.31.3
1999 St Kilda 274404135761641.00.010.38.819.04.01.0
Career 118 107 56 1025 465 1490 252 158 0.9 0.5 8.7 3.9 12.6 2.1 1.3

Coaching statistics
Statistics are correct to the end of 2017[12]
Legend
 W  Wins  L  Losses  D  Draws  W%  Winning percentage  LP  Ladder position  LT  League teams
Season Team Games W L D W % LP LT
2015 Western Bulldogs 23149060.9%618
2016 Western Bulldogs 26197073.1%718
2017 Western Bulldogs 221111050%1018
Career totals 71 44 27 0 61.4%

Honours and achievements

Playing honours

Coaching honours

References
  1. Dogs set to announce new coach, AFL.com.au official website, 14 November 2014
  2. "1997 Season Scores and Results – Ladder". AFL Tables. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  3. Tamis Anastasios: "The Greeks in Australia", page 104, La Trobe University, Victoria, 2005
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 December 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. http://www.kythera-family.net/index.php?nav=117-133&cid=264&did=5335
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 6 October 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Luke Beveridge to leave Hawthorn assistant coaching role to become St Kilda director of coaching". Herald Sun. Australian Associated Press. 29 July 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  8. Schmook, Nathan (29 September 2015). "Coaches pick Luke Beveridge as 2015's best". BigPond. Australian Football League. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
  9. Lerner, Ronny (4 October 2016). "AFL: Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge to receive 'Spirit of Sport' award", The Age. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  10. Schmook, Nathan (27 September 2016). "Beveridge named top Dog for second straight year". BigPond. Australian Football League. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  11. Luke Beveridge's player profile at AFL Tables
  12. "Luke Beveridge's coaching profile". AFL Tables.
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