Bulldogs changes have helped Beveridge: Bontempelli

[bornadog]

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Captain Marcus Bontempelli believes changes at the Western Bulldogs have coach Luke Beveridge more connected with his players and better-placed to lead the AFL club forward.

Beveridge's heavily-reported tension with football boss Chris Grant, and a change in structure to have the coach reporting to Matt Egan instead, dominated the off-season.

The Bulldogs also had an external review into their football department and have changed up their assistant coaches, hiring Daniel Pratt, Alex Johnson and Jarryn Geary.

Bontempelli has played all nine of his seasons under Beveridge and believed tweaks to the football department had allowed him to invest more heavily in his players.

"I've probably noticed, to some extent, more availability for sure," he said.

"He's at different points had a lot on his plate and tried to manage a lot of our programs.

"But I feel like with the new people that have come in, he's definitely been afforded an opportunity to focus on some other things, which I think's great, and I can feel the optimism and the energy and his positivity towards our football season.

"So whether that's been different - it's just been improved is probably my read on it.

"He always was heavily invested, but maybe he just gets a bit more time now to focus centrally on his number one role at the football club, which is to coach it really well and obviously connect with our players.

"It feels like he's in a great space and I think we're all going to benefit from that."

When asked if there was friction before the changes, Bontempelli said: "Not that I really noticed, to be honest.

"All the people that we brought in have served a purpose and a role. I feel like structurally things look set up a little bit better than prior.

"We've really advanced our football program, which is a really good thing for all of us as players."

Bontempelli noted the club's time away from Whitten Oval amid redevelopment last year had also taken its toll, and more consistency over pre-season had helped as they eye a return to finals.

"We missed out on the finals last year, that's always a bitter pill to swallow, probably for every player who doesn't get a chance to participate. And we're just searching for improvement," he said.

"So I feel like the group's in a pretty good position physically, probably, and mentally.

"Few changes, a few new personalities have come in and really added some things in a short space of time.

"The general optimism at the minute's pretty high about hopefully getting a better start this year than we did last year."

[Testekill]

From the sounds of it we're playing more direct football, a big problem the last two years is that our handball game got figured out so teams were happy to let us do a bit of circlework.

Now we just have to be willing to have Harmes play a negative role on opposition mids and we're looking much healthier.

[Critter]

From the sounds of it we're playing more direct football, a big problem the last two years is that our handball game got figured out so teams were happy to let us do a bit of circlework.

Now we just have to be willing to have Harmes play a negative role on opposition mids and we're looking much healthier.

Agree on handball. One of the things that stood out for me at training was the emphasis by Assistant Coaches in handball drills on players handballing forward. If they went sideways or backwards, the drill was stopped and restarted.

We'll see if the training registered or whether they revert to previous habits in the coming home and away matches.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

"Bontempelli has played all nine of his seasons under Beveridge"

Bont did play his first season under McCartney. Time will tell whether the changes will lead to better performances from the playing group. I'm just happy we've finally done something to get to the core of the issues we have.

[Grantysghost]

This is an interesting quote


"He always was heavily invested, but maybe he just gets a bit more time now to focus centrally on his number one role at the football club, which is to coach it really well and obviously connect with our players."

[bornadog]

This is an interesting quote


"He always was heavily invested, but maybe he just gets a bit more time now to focus centrally on his number one role at the football club, which is to coach it really well and obviously connect with our players."

Sounds like he took on too much after the Covid cuts.

[hujsh]

"Bontempelli has played all nine of his seasons under Beveridge"

Bont did play his first season under McCartney. Time will tell whether the changes will lead to better performances from the playing group. I'm just happy we've finally done something to get to the core of the issues we have.

Poorly written article considering most if it is just quotes. Got that wrong and implied the changes to the coaching setup were because of the external review when, aside from Egan's job shift, they were all done prior to that.

[ledge]

Sounds like he took on too much after the Covid cuts.

We have a record of giving our senior coach too much load.
I remember we had to put someone between a coach and Campbell Rose.
I think Wallace also complained about doing all the media.
When will we learn that we hire a coach to coach ?
I can see two things coming out of this 1. we improve significantly or we don’t and Bevo has done his time at the club. He has been given more time with the players and a new set up to get the best out of the players .
Personally I think we will improve.
I don’t think he has lost the players at all.

[MrMahatma]

Everything I read just confirms to me that we’re winning the flag.

[Glove38]

Love that we haven't heard much from Bevo this year. Just let him coach

[josie]

Love that we haven't heard much from Bevo this year. Just let him coach

Like 👍🏼

[jeemak]

I like that we're not hearing much from Bevo and even more so that it's upsetting people in the media.

Months after the review, once it's all started season wise it will be interesting to see how he handles the inevitable questions about the tension in the football department that had long since been addressed, win, lose or draw. Media will be gagging to get into it and the topic will be largely irrelevant as it's been starved of oxygen.