Western Bulldogs Coach Luke Beveridge received a contract extension from the club, based on his all-time best winning percentage of 63.4 over the course of the 41 games in which he has served in a full-time capacity.
He received coach of the year honours for his debut season of 2015 and brought experience from working for premiership clubs Hawthorn and Collingwood. He paid his dues with three consecutive VAFA premierships at St, Bedes-Mentone.
The Doggies currently hold the seventh finals position on the 2016 AFL ladder. The club has an identical record to North Melbourne and the same number of finals points, but they do enjoy a 115.7 – 112.9 edge over North in percentage. Those two teams will meet in Round 20, where Sportsbet quotes the Dogs at 2.05 and the Roos at 1.77.
Beveridge has meetings with Collinwood, Essendon and Fremantle remaining, so their prospects of finishing the home and away season with 16 wins appear promising.
He will be glad to see the return of veterans Dale Morris and Matthew Boyd when his side goes up against the Tigers and Beveridge has expressed confidence that the Dogs are legitimate flat contenders.
Beveridge played 118 games in his days with the AFL in a career spanning 1989 to 1999, an average of 10.73/year.
