What can Luke Beveridge do with his underperforming Dogs?




Aaron Naughton, Rory Lobb, Ryan Gardner, Josh Bruce, Alex Keath and James O?Donnell are just some of the Bulldogs struggling to find form. What's Bevo?s next move?

The midfield is menacing but that?s where it ends for the Western Bulldogs.

At both ends of the ground, coach Luke Beveridge has a battle on his hands to get things clicking ? and quickly ? as his side?s top-four hopes fast begin to fade.

The usual suspects all found plenty of the footy through the middle against Port Adelaide at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.

Adam Treloar (34 disposals), Tom Liberatore (33), Marcus Bontempelli (31), Caleb Daniel (29) and Jack Macrae (26) all worked hard in the thick of the action.

They were among the group of players that helped the Bulldogs dominate clearance 47-31 and win contested ball 134-133.

But outside of the midfield wins, there was not a lot to like about the home side in a 22-point loss.

The Bulldogs ball use was particularly poor and the Power made them pay.

Port Adelaide scored 9.8 (62) from often sloppy Bulldogs turnovers in what was effectively the difference in the game on the scoreboard.

It came after the Bulldogs gave up a hefty 10.6 (66) from turnovers against Geelong the previous week.

Ultimately it was probably some of the blatant stuff, turnover wise, that cost us a little bit,? Beveridge said.



During the run of games we were stringing wins together, we were definitely defending turnover better than we have the last few weeks.

We put that down to a few things. No doubt some instability in our back end with some injuries that we haven't totally been able to cover. So we've just got to support the boys and keep educating them and look for the improvements and press on.?

The injuries Beveridge talks of are rebounding halfbacks Ed Richards and Jason Johannisen, who both have extended stints on the sidelines ahead after bad hamstring injuries.

But the revolving door of key defenders is also a problem.

Ryan Gardner was dropped for the match against Port Adelaide, with Josh Bruce and Alex Keath both returning from stints in the VFL.

Bruce struggled, particularly early, on Charlie Dixon.

Dixon kicked three goals in the opening quarter alone on his way to four majors for the match ? in what was his first game since Round 8 coming back from injury.

Fellow key forwards Todd Marshall and Jeremy Finlayson (each two goals) also proved a problem for the Bulldogs backline, despite having limited opportunities.

At the other end of the ground, the Bulldogs? main man in Aaron Naughton is far from firing on all cylinders.

Aliir Aliir had the better of Naughton as he was held to just six disposals, two marks and two goals.

Across his past five games, Naughton has booted just six majors.

He had averaged 2.3 goals across his 22 games last season.

Big-name recruit Rory Lobb finished with 14 disposals for the night, but eight of them were handballs.

The 207cm key forward took just three marks and kicked only one behind to make for 2.3 from his past four games.

Bulldogs small forward Arthur Jones has shown promise in his debut season and laid six tackles, but unusually did not register a disposal from 84 minutes of game time.

Another good story this season has been James O'Donnell.

But Bulldogs fans are rightly questioning whether he has been rushed into the team after only joining the club as a category B rookie in April.

O?Donnell recorded just five disposals before being subbed out during the third quarter.

He held his spot in the side despite logging just six disposals and one goal playing across half-forward against Geelong the previous week.

The Bulldogs have nine days to make some adjustments and improvements ahead of a match against North Melbourne next Sunday.

Secure a win there and they will head into the bye with a respectable record of 8-6.

However, more was expected from the 2021 Grand Finalists this year than what is currently being dished up.

This group looked primed to push for a top-four finish after an underwhelming 2022.

But the Bulldogs have not finished top-four since 2010 and after three consecutive losses they don?t look like turning that around this season.

At the moment, they are completely deserving of their ladder position as a middle-of-the-road team.