{"id":835864,"date":"2026-07-31T15:13:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/835864\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T15:13:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T15:13:11","slug":"afl-2026-luke-beveridge-press-conference-after-western-bulldogs-round-21-loss-vs-fremantle-dockers-defensive-game-style-video-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/835864\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL 2026: Luke Beveridge press conference after Western Bulldogs Round 21 loss, vs Fremantle Dockers, defensive game style, video, latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has lamented two \u201cspirit-breaking\u201d errors from his side in their 37-point loss to Fremantle on Friday night,<\/a> after a promising first half of football.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs recorded their lowest final score (41) in over three years in the Round 21 clash, and saw them goalless for nearly 53 minutes across the second, third and fourth quarters.<\/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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Their inability to pierce the Dockers\u2019 defence saw them with players aplenty throughout their back half for the vast majority of the night; a consequence the 2016 premiership coach says wasn\u2019t planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only had them back because Fremantle had territory, and we couldn\u2019t in our front half. We didn\u2019t plan to play like that,\u201d Beveridge told journalists post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been a pretty reasonable team defensively in recent times … but they still scored from their forward 50 stoppages, so it wasn\u2019t by design that we had saturation and numbers behind the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to press up at different times, and we didn\u2019t get our execution right. We came here tonight to win the game; not to be safe or eliminate risk. But, we didn\u2019t execute well enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fuelled Fremantle\u2019s game, and we didn\u2019t cope too well at the end of the game. It\u2019s a disappointing night. You\u2019re not going to win too many games with 41 points and below 40 entries.<\/p>\n

Beveridge goes to address his players at the break during their Round 21 match against the Fremantle Dockers at Optus Stadium on July 31, 2026.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys\u2019 spirit for two-and-a-bit quarters was there … it\u2019s a shame. I thought we\u2019d push them a bit further than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gun forwards Aaron Naughton and Cody Weightman were managed for the trip west, leaving the underdogs depleted in attack whenever they did manage to gain territory.<\/p>\n

Second-year player Cooper Hynes was excellent with two first-half goals and 22 disposals by full time, but was the visitors\u2019 only multiple goalkicker on a tough night in front of the big sticks. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe fumbled and didn\u2019t kick the ball well in open field. We missed some targets and we rushed ourselves, so we couldn\u2019t capitalise,\u201d Beveridge said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mix of our forward line was very different; it was quite unstable at times. So, the players who have played a bit of AFL football, who played in our forward line, we just needed a bit more.<\/p>\n

\u201cLobby (Rory Lobb) was fighting the good fight giving us a target and a bit of aerial presence. But, we needed a bit more than that and we didn\u2019t have it tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lobb (left) celebrates a goal against his former side.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

With their deficit just nine points as the three-quarter time siren approached, the Bulldogs looked a live chance of pulling off a very unlikely victory.<\/p>\n

But two costly third-quarter errors that resulted in direct Fremantle goals swung the momentum of the match \u2014 a pair of moments the Bulldogs mastermind appreciated had a fair say on the final score.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pretty good at holding ourselves together. We were coming, and it would\u2019ve been nice … but, we didn\u2019t get it. They were times when we should\u2019ve made something of those opportunities,\u201d Beveridge added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t been as fluent in those situations as we\u2019d like to be, and the boys who haven\u2019t handled them too well just need to improve. It\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs take on North Melbourne, Carlton and Melbourne in their final three fixtures of the home-and-away season, and face a six-day break for their Thursday night duel with the Kangaroos next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has lamented two \u201cspirit-breaking\u201d errors from his side in their 37-point loss to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-835864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835864","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=835864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}