bornadog
05-03-2022, 06:42 PM
link (https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/beveridge-asks-footy-world-to-be-patient-with-ugle-hagan-20220304-p5a1z3.html)
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Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge wants the football world to give Jamarra Ugle-Hagan space to develop as he weighs up whether to bring the 2020 first pick into the forward line for round one.
With Josh Bruce still recovering from a knee reconstruction and Tim English needed in the ruck, Beveridge says he is looking at other alternatives and can’t be sure Ugle-Hagan or father-son draftee Sam Darcy can help much this season as both are still developing.
It’s clear Aaron Naughton is the centre-piece of their forward line and will have the opposition defences tightly watching him, so others need to step up and that is what Beveridge is focused on after watching his side struggle to turn opportunities into goals during the preseason.
Beveridge said his forward line was not “efficient” in the last two preseason games including their six-point loss to Brisbane Lions on Friday night.
“We need Tim to play in the ruck. Marra is not quite ready and we probably need you all to ride that out and help him,” Beveridge said.
“It will take some time, young key forwards take time to get used to the cut and thrust of AFL footy.
“I’m not sure how much AFL footy he is going to play this year but we want to play him as much as possible. It takes time. Sam Darcy will take time as he hasn’t trained with the main group.
“With the injuries, it puts a bit of strain on our key posts so we might have to do it a bit differently for a while and we have to take up that challenge.
“Tonight the guys made a fist of the aerial game when the opposition was clearly a lot taller than us.”
Beveridge said he hadn’t had a chance to review the club’s VFL practice match against Werribee which saw Footscray lose by 41 points as it was also on Friday night.
“I haven’t tapped into how our Footscray side did against Werribee tonight but I’m hoping Marra [Ugle-Hagan] did well,” Beveridge said.
“There will be a couple of lads on the selection table.”
He added that some of the commentary on last year’s finals series lacked proper analysis as the team had to use English as a forward after Bruce was forced out for the season.
“Brucey’s situation has caused some headaches but I think some of the commentary and lack of analysis as to why Tim ended up out of the ruck last year isn’t ideal,” Beveridge said.
“If we had all done our homework, it was pretty plain to see we needed a key forward and we had to rob Peter to pay Paul.
“In the finals series, Tim was a 50-50 ruck-forward and he really helped us win the game [preliminary final] against Brisbane after it had gone south with the makeshift ruck situation.”
Zaine Cordy started as a forward against the Lions on Friday night but was needed in defence when Alex Keath went off after a painful kick to the shin, leaving a number of smaller forwards trying to help Naughton.
“The last two games we have had over 130 inside 50s, we just haven’t been efficient,” Beveridge said.
“Our quality of ball use and chemistry with our connection isn’t there. There are lads who are emerging who haven’t played a lot of footy at this level and they had a bit of the ball tonight.
“Cody [Weightman], Vanders [Laitham Vandermeer] and I thought JJ [Jason Johannisen] was pretty good. Naughts was a lone hand, our key position stocks have been strained at little bit with injuries so we have to do things a little differently.”
https://static.ffx.io/images/$zoom_0.52%2C$multiply_2.1164%2C$ratio_1.5%2C$width_756%2C$x _0%2C$y_0/t_crop_custom/q_62%2Cf_auto/72291bf204c03234d6c66ef70155dd127ce21bd2
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge wants the football world to give Jamarra Ugle-Hagan space to develop as he weighs up whether to bring the 2020 first pick into the forward line for round one.
With Josh Bruce still recovering from a knee reconstruction and Tim English needed in the ruck, Beveridge says he is looking at other alternatives and can’t be sure Ugle-Hagan or father-son draftee Sam Darcy can help much this season as both are still developing.
It’s clear Aaron Naughton is the centre-piece of their forward line and will have the opposition defences tightly watching him, so others need to step up and that is what Beveridge is focused on after watching his side struggle to turn opportunities into goals during the preseason.
Beveridge said his forward line was not “efficient” in the last two preseason games including their six-point loss to Brisbane Lions on Friday night.
“We need Tim to play in the ruck. Marra is not quite ready and we probably need you all to ride that out and help him,” Beveridge said.
“It will take some time, young key forwards take time to get used to the cut and thrust of AFL footy.
“I’m not sure how much AFL footy he is going to play this year but we want to play him as much as possible. It takes time. Sam Darcy will take time as he hasn’t trained with the main group.
“With the injuries, it puts a bit of strain on our key posts so we might have to do it a bit differently for a while and we have to take up that challenge.
“Tonight the guys made a fist of the aerial game when the opposition was clearly a lot taller than us.”
Beveridge said he hadn’t had a chance to review the club’s VFL practice match against Werribee which saw Footscray lose by 41 points as it was also on Friday night.
“I haven’t tapped into how our Footscray side did against Werribee tonight but I’m hoping Marra [Ugle-Hagan] did well,” Beveridge said.
“There will be a couple of lads on the selection table.”
He added that some of the commentary on last year’s finals series lacked proper analysis as the team had to use English as a forward after Bruce was forced out for the season.
“Brucey’s situation has caused some headaches but I think some of the commentary and lack of analysis as to why Tim ended up out of the ruck last year isn’t ideal,” Beveridge said.
“If we had all done our homework, it was pretty plain to see we needed a key forward and we had to rob Peter to pay Paul.
“In the finals series, Tim was a 50-50 ruck-forward and he really helped us win the game [preliminary final] against Brisbane after it had gone south with the makeshift ruck situation.”
Zaine Cordy started as a forward against the Lions on Friday night but was needed in defence when Alex Keath went off after a painful kick to the shin, leaving a number of smaller forwards trying to help Naughton.
“The last two games we have had over 130 inside 50s, we just haven’t been efficient,” Beveridge said.
“Our quality of ball use and chemistry with our connection isn’t there. There are lads who are emerging who haven’t played a lot of footy at this level and they had a bit of the ball tonight.
“Cody [Weightman], Vanders [Laitham Vandermeer] and I thought JJ [Jason Johannisen] was pretty good. Naughts was a lone hand, our key position stocks have been strained at little bit with injuries so we have to do things a little differently.”