{"id":613211,"date":"2026-04-17T15:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/613211\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T15:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T15:55:08","slug":"western-bulldogs-coach-luke-beveridge-press-conference-after-round-6-loss-vs-geelong-cats-sam-darcy-knee-injury-tom-liberatore-concussion-hamstring-injuries-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/613211\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge press conference after Round 6 loss, vs Geelong Cats, Sam Darcy knee injury, Tom Liberatore concussion, hamstring injuries, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has expressed his grief over a \u201ctraumatic\u201d Friday night for his football club, after four key players went down with injury in their 75-point loss to Geelong.<\/a><\/p>\n

A suspected serious knee injury to 208cm star forward Sam Darcy<\/a> during the second quarter of their away clash was the most brutal of the blows for the Dogs, less than a fortnight after the side lost key ruck Tim English to an MCL injury against Essendon on Easter Sunday.<\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The side\u2019s key position stocks in particular have taken a savage hit, with defenders Rory Lobb (left hamstring) and James O\u2019Donnell (right hamstring) also expected to miss multiple weeks of football. Cruelly too, a concussion to inside midfielder Tom Liberatore came in the third term, with the veteran having endured a number already throughout his 261-game career.<\/p>\n

Speaking to journalists post-game, Beveridge was fully transparent on the toll the injuries took on his players as the game wore on and the scoreboard deficit grew.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing to terms is probably something for tomorrow I think. We\u2019re trying to process it on two fronts. The carnage, it\u2019s pretty traumatic,\u201d Beveridge began.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pleased with the players through different patches for two to two-and-a-half quarters. They were able to at least steady things a bit as they\u2019re losing teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the young guys were exposed to that, and it was difficult for them, but I thought they held up okay.<\/p>\n

Fears for Darcy after suspected ACL | 01:55<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we played, the way we started the game … we were on the back foot. Geelong\u2019s contested game and the pressure they put on us, we didn\u2019t manage it too well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you consider they kicked eight and a half goals and 32 forward half turnovers, a lot of that was just blatant stuff from us. It was hurtful, and hence that leads to so many times when our backs couldn\u2019t defend those balls.\u201d<\/p>\n

On top of English and the quartet of injuries on Friday night, new recruit Connor Budarick and small forward Artie Jones have also been forced to the sidelines with hamstring injuries.<\/p>\n

The night to forget at GMHBA Stadium reminded the Bulldogs head coach of a similarly crude night back in his second year of coaching at Whitten Oval,<\/a> where key players in Mitch Wallis (broken leg), Dale Morris (hamstring) and Jack Redpath (ACL rupture) all went down with injury in Round 18, 2016 against St Kilda.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had one when we lost Mitch Wallis and Jack Redpath in the one night, when the players were in a bit of trouble with that … it was a bit of a contrast for our players to hold up when Sam went down with what could be a serious knee injury,\u201d Beveridge recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I just said to the players after the game, it\u2019s important that we process the things that we weren\u2019t executing well at the start of the game, and come together during the week for a venom for the next challenge. But, it\u2019s been a really traumatic night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t get a hell of a lot of opportunities to train it, but we\u2019ll obviously need to make sure there\u2019s a cohesion in the 23 that\u2019s picked next week, and an awareness of what we need to do well together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking specifically to Darcy\u2019s injury, Beveridge told the media: \u201cI just gave him a pat as I came past. I haven\u2019t spoken to him … as you know, last time when he hyperextended his knee, we thought that was going to be a season-ending situation. It ended up being a lot less than that, so it\u2019s too early to actually know and be too morbid about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old forward had an \u2018impaction fracture\u2019 at the front of the knee<\/a> during last year\u2019s 71-point thrashing of St Kilda in Round 6 last year, after initial fears he had torn his ACL.<\/p>\n

Beveridge noted that the defensive duo of Jedd Busslinger and Ryan Gardner played well in their VFL win over Geelong on Friday evening, and at this stage look likeliest to replace Lobb and O\u2019Donnell down back.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs\u2019 run doesn\u2019t get any easier next week, as they host ladder-leaders Sydney at Marvel Stadium next Thursday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has expressed his grief over a \u201ctraumatic\u201d Friday night for his football club,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[297735,638,71133,64,63,689,55,639,297732,112674,180921,1119,13659,45123,5330,297738,297734,297737,297730,31727,3513,3512,2504,663,297731,297736,677,668,131831,32658,12105,297733,85,1122,19065,660,698,106245],"class_list":{"0":"post-613211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-addresses-injury","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-artie-jones","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-australian-football-league","15":"tag-australianfootballleague","16":"tag-crude-night","17":"tag-dale-morris","18":"tag-defensive-duo","19":"tag-football-club","20":"tag-geelong-cats","21":"tag-hamstring-injuries","22":"tag-head-coach","23":"tag-hits-kennel","24":"tag-impaction-fracture","25":"tag-inside-midfielder","26":"tag-jack-redpath","27":"tag-key-players","28":"tag-key-position-stocks","29":"tag-knee-injury","30":"tag-lifts-lid","31":"tag-luke-beveridge","32":"tag-mitch-wallis","33":"tag-multiple-weeks","34":"tag-oceania","35":"tag-press-conference","36":"tag-rory-lobb","37":"tag-ryan-gardner","38":"tag-sam-darcy","39":"tag-scoreboard-deficit","40":"tag-sports","41":"tag-st-kilda","42":"tag-tom-liberatore","43":"tag-victoria","44":"tag-western-bulldogs","45":"tag-young-guys"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}