Luke Beveridge feels ready for it.
The questions, the quandaries.
The wins, the losses.
The good, the bad.
Beveridge was appointed Western Bulldogs coach last November, the latest of Alastair Clarkson’s lieutenants to be headhunted.
The 44-year-old has been flat chat over the past four months – making gameplans, managing pre-season programs and meeting players, staff and stakeholders.
As busy as he’s been, Beveridge knows this has been the easy part.
“We’re going through a period where there’s no pressure because we haven’t fired a shot in anger yet,” Beveridge told AAP.
“When the season starts I’m sure there will be challenges coming up and people will be asking questions around why you’ve done this or that.
“I hope we’ve got some answers.”
Beveridge isn’t really the one who should be doing the answering.
The Dogs’ 2014 season promised much, but ended with coach Brendan McCartney sacked and captain Ryan Griffen so discontented he had to leave town.
Another key leadership post was vacated in January, when chief executive Simon Garlick resigned.
Throw in the recent betting saga and it’s fair to say long-time supporter Julia Gillard’s 2010 election slogan “moving forward” would be a more appropriate 2015 membership campaign than #bemorebulldog.
Beveridge, a no-nonsense operator who played a role in premierships at Collingwood and Hawthorn, can do little about the past.
But in terms of righting the club he played 31 games with, Beveridge made a strong start in new skipper Robert Murphy.
“I’m pretty fortunate that we’ve got Murph here,” Beveridge said.
“The leadership group has started to meet on Mondays, we discuss all and sundry and Murph’s been really insightful.
“He’s got runs on the board in terms of performance and he’s just got a lot of respect internally and externally.
“Put that all together and you’ve got a genuinely powerful figure at our club – someone to guide our younger players and some coattails for them to hang on to.”
There will be a fair bit of slack to be picked up, especially in the middle.
Griffen and 2008 Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney were both traded last year, as was Shaun Higgins, while reigning best and fairest Tom Liberatore is out for the season with a knee injury.
Marcus Bontempelli, Jack Macrae, Jake Stringer, Luke Dahlhaus and Mitch Wallis will be among those keen to play a bigger role in the engine room.
Key forward Tom Boyd’s hulking frame will carry great expectations, although Beveridge is quick to note “he’s a 19-year-old in his second year of AFL footy”.
Beyond the change in personnel on the field, there’s the change in personnel in the coaches’ box.
“People have talked about how different we look and they’ve noticed changes in our game,” Beveridge said.
“It will be notably different to what we’ve been in the past.
“I don’t think we will have a bias to one area in particular, we’re going to be a pretty adaptable side.
“I anticipate we should be competitive, I just don’t know how quickly that’s going to happen and how it equates to where we sit on the ladder.”
Regardless of where they sit at the end of the season, Beveridge wants to know his side has challenged every opposition.
“On the ground and in their coaches’ box,” he said.
“And in every phase of the game.
“We hope to win quite a few and if we do go down, we endeavour to have the opposition saying `that wasn’t easy’.”
WESTERN BULLDOGS
Coach: Luke Beveridge
Captain: Robert Murphy
Last five years: 4-10-15-15-14
Premierships: 1 (1954)
Key five: Robert Murphy, Marcus Bontempelli, Dale Morris, Tom Boyd, Stewart Crameri.
One to watch: Tom Boyd. Boyd made sure he’ll be one of the most scrutinised second-year players in the competition’s history when he left the Giants for a seven-year, multi-million dollar contract. It’s a lot of pressure for a young man, but the Dogs are determined to take it slowly with the talented key forward.
Ins: Shane Biggs (Sydney), Tom Boyd (GWS), Zaine Cordy (Geelong U18), Bailey Dale (Dandenong U18), Caleb Daniel (South Adelaide SANFL), Declan Hamilton (Port Adelaide SANFL), Joel Hamling (Geelong), Lin Jong (Western Bulldogs rookie), Toby McLean (Western U18), Jack Redpath (Western Bulldogs rookie), Lukas Webb (Gippsland U18).
Outs: Adam Cooney (Essendon), Daniel Giansiracusa (retired), Ryan Griffen (GWS), Shaun Higgins (North Melbourne), Christian Howard (delisted), Liam Jones (Carlton), Jason Tutt (Carlton), Tom Williams (retired), Tom Young (delisted).
Best lineup
B: Joel Hamling, Jordan Roughead, Dale Morris
HB: Matthew Boyd, Michael Talia, Robert Murphy
C: Jake Stringer, Mitch Wallis, Mitch Honeychurch
HF: Marcus Bontempelli, Stewart Crameri, Luke Dahlhaus
F: Ayce Cordy, Tom Boyd, Nathan Hrovat
R: Will Minson, Jack Macrae, Liam Picken
I: Tory Dickson, Easton Wood, Lin Jong, Koby Stevens
Predicted finish: 17th
Betting (Sportingbet)
To win the flag: $251
To make the top eight: $11
