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Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has devised a plan to stop Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood
WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has devised Operation: Dangerwood — a plan to shutdown Geelong’s champion midfield pair.
It was activated in Round 19 last year and proved the template to helping stop the Cats, until it was sabotaged by injuries. Geelong remains the only team Beveridge is yet to defeat.
Beveridge deployed Tom Liberatore on Patrick Dangerfield and Jack Macrae on Joel Selwood with head-to-head match-ups as the Dogs threatened to snap a 14-year Simonds Stadium losing streak.
But when Liberatore (ankle) and Macrae (hamstring) went down with blows that ended their home-and-away seasons, Dangerfield overpowered Clay Smith and Lin Jong to kick three goals and propel Geelong to victory.
The Dogs return on Friday night for a rematch at the redeveloped Simonds Stadium and the opportunity to inflict four straight Geelong losses for the first time since 2006.
With Liberatore and Macrae fit — and captain Bob Murphy, ruckman Jordan Roughead, forward Tory Dickson and midfielder Mitch Wallis available — the Cats are underdogs with TAB for the first time in 28 matches.
The Dogs are expected to travel on Thursday and spend the night in Torquay, treating it like an interstate trip as they did last year.
It was a small sample, but in Liberatore’s 35 fit minutes last year he was on world-record pace with 17 disposals.
In the 15 minutes Liberatore lined up on Dangerfield he won the disposal count 12-3.
Beveridge said his tactics worked.
“(Libba had a) pretty decent impact. He was playing on Dangerfield (and) we know how good a player he is,” Beveridge said after the 25-point loss.
“Not only was he stopping his influence, but he was having a significant impact for us. So (losing him) was a bit of a blow, and Jack Macrae was playing on Joel Selwood.
“Joel I think had nine handballs to halftime and hadn’t had a kick or something. Jack was almost as influential as Tom.
“We felt like we had enough control around the ball and they were significant players in our plans we had to make some adjustments with afterwards.”
Liberatore, who registered just one kick last week, proved the key loss.
When he went down the Dogs were dominating inside 50s, breaking even at clearances and leading on the scoreboard.
Champion Data on Sunday revealed that since 2012 Dangerfield has faced a direct opponent for 15 minutes on 237 occasions.
None were as dominant as Liberatore last year. Beveridge was “tremendously proud” of his brave Dogs last year and believed their undermanned win against North Melbourne the following week fuelled the premiership run.
He hinted the early travel would return to prevent players spending hours behind the wheel before taking the field
“Forever and a day while I’m coaching the Bulldogs if we’re playing Geelong at Geelong we’ll do the same thing,” Beveridge said.
“We think it worked for us. We’ll keep doing that if we play the Cats down here.”
WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has devised Operation: Dangerwood — a plan to shutdown Geelong’s champion midfield pair.
It was activated in Round 19 last year and proved the template to helping stop the Cats, until it was sabotaged by injuries. Geelong remains the only team Beveridge is yet to defeat.
Beveridge deployed Tom Liberatore on Patrick Dangerfield and Jack Macrae on Joel Selwood with head-to-head match-ups as the Dogs threatened to snap a 14-year Simonds Stadium losing streak.
But when Liberatore (ankle) and Macrae (hamstring) went down with blows that ended their home-and-away seasons, Dangerfield overpowered Clay Smith and Lin Jong to kick three goals and propel Geelong to victory.
The Dogs return on Friday night for a rematch at the redeveloped Simonds Stadium and the opportunity to inflict four straight Geelong losses for the first time since 2006.
With Liberatore and Macrae fit — and captain Bob Murphy, ruckman Jordan Roughead, forward Tory Dickson and midfielder Mitch Wallis available — the Cats are underdogs with TAB for the first time in 28 matches.
The Dogs are expected to travel on Thursday and spend the night in Torquay, treating it like an interstate trip as they did last year.
It was a small sample, but in Liberatore’s 35 fit minutes last year he was on world-record pace with 17 disposals.
In the 15 minutes Liberatore lined up on Dangerfield he won the disposal count 12-3.
Beveridge said his tactics worked.
“(Libba had a) pretty decent impact. He was playing on Dangerfield (and) we know how good a player he is,” Beveridge said after the 25-point loss.
“Not only was he stopping his influence, but he was having a significant impact for us. So (losing him) was a bit of a blow, and Jack Macrae was playing on Joel Selwood.
“Joel I think had nine handballs to halftime and hadn’t had a kick or something. Jack was almost as influential as Tom.
“We felt like we had enough control around the ball and they were significant players in our plans we had to make some adjustments with afterwards.”
Liberatore, who registered just one kick last week, proved the key loss.
When he went down the Dogs were dominating inside 50s, breaking even at clearances and leading on the scoreboard.
Champion Data on Sunday revealed that since 2012 Dangerfield has faced a direct opponent for 15 minutes on 237 occasions.
None were as dominant as Liberatore last year. Beveridge was “tremendously proud” of his brave Dogs last year and believed their undermanned win against North Melbourne the following week fuelled the premiership run.
He hinted the early travel would return to prevent players spending hours behind the wheel before taking the field
“Forever and a day while I’m coaching the Bulldogs if we’re playing Geelong at Geelong we’ll do the same thing,” Beveridge said.
“We think it worked for us. We’ll keep doing that if we play the Cats down here.”
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