Luke Beveridge

Luke Beveridge (born 23 August 1970) is an Australian rules football coach and former player who played for Melbourne, Footscray and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1990s. He has been senior coach of the Western Bulldogs since 2015.

Playing career Small in stature, he mainly played as a rover and a forward. He is the grandson of premiership player Jack Beveridge.

Melbourne

Beveridge played for Melbourne Football Club from 1989 until 1992, playing a total of 42 games and kicked a total of 41 goals. Beveridge won the first year player award in 1989 and played his most games with the club in 1991.

Footscray He was traded to Footscray for pick 122 in the 1992 AFL draft. He was seen as a depth player for the club's playing list. He managed 31 games in three seasons from 1993 until 1995 for Footscray Football Club. He retired at the end of the 1999 season. for players having full or partial Greek heritage. His maternal grandfather originates from the island of Samos.

Coaching career He began his coaching career in the Victorian Amateur Football Association competition where he coached St Bedes/Mentone Tigers to the C, B and A Grade premierships in consecutive seasons. 2008 marks the club’s last premiership.

Hawthorn Football Club assistant coach (2012–2014) After having a year off, Beveridge joined in 2012 as an assistant coach under senior coach Alastair Clarkson specialising in working with the club's defence. On 14 November 2014, however, it was instead announced that he would become the senior coach of the Western Bulldogs, succeeding Brendan McCartney.

Despite being tipped by many for the wooden spoon following the loss of several key decision makers including previous coach Brendan McCartney, captain Ryan Griffen, CEO Simon Garlick, former Brownlow Medallist Adam Cooney and over 700 games of experience at the end of 2014, as well as losing reigning best and fairest Tom Liberatore to a knee injury during the pre-season that would ultimately sideline him for the entire 2015 season, Beveridge led an impressive resurgence by the Western Bulldogs, which finished in sixth place on the ladder at the end of the 2015 season, and hence qualified for their first finals series since 2010, before losing to the Adelaide Crows in an elimination final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. For his efforts, Beveridge was named the AFL Coaches Association coach of the year.

In the 2016 season, Beveridge coached the Western Bulldogs to a premiership in the 2016 AFL Grand Final, when Western Bulldogs defeated the Sydney Swans by a score of 13.11 (89) to 10.7 (67), by margin of 22 points. This was the club's second premiership since 1954 despite them suffering long-term injuries throughout the season, notably captain Robert Murphy. The Bulldogs had finished 7th in the minor premiership. They played in three consecutive elimination finals, two of them interstate. On the path to the grand final, they beat the West Coast Eagles at Domain Stadium, Hawthorn at the MCG and Greater Western Sydney in a memorable preliminary final at Spotless Stadium. In an emotional display which, according to The Age, "will undoubtedly go down as one of the great moments in Australian sporting history", Beveridge handed his coach's premiership medal to Murphy, saying, "This is yours, mate. You deserve it more than anyone." Murphy, though thankful, returned the medal the following day. It has since been placed in the Western Bulldogs museum. Later that month, Beveridge won the Spirit of Sport award at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame Awards for his gesture to Murphy.

In the 2017 season, Western Bulldogs under Beveridge slipped out of the eighth to finish tenth on the ladder and did not make the finals. In the 2018 season, The club under Beveridge missed out on the finals again, when they finished thirteenth on the ladder. In the 2019 season, the club under Beveridge returned to the finals after they finished seventh on the ladder, but were eliminated in the elimination final to Greater Western Sydney Giants. In the 2020 season, the club under Beveridge returned to the finals again after they finished seventh for the second consecutive year in a row, but were eliminated by St Kilda in the elimination final.

In the 2021 season, Beveridge coached the Western Bulldogs to the 2021 AFL Grand Final, but fell short and lost to Melbourne by a margin of 74 points with the final score Melbourne 21.14 (140) to Western Bulldogs 10.6 (66).

In the 2022 season, the club under Beveridge returned to the finals again after they finished eighth, but were eliminated by Fremantle in the elimination final. In the 2023 season, the club under Beveridge just missed out of the finals, when they finished ninth. In Round 23 of the 2024 season Luke Beveridge Coached his 228th game as head coach of the Western Bulldogs equaling Bulldogs legend Ted Whitten as most games coached for the Bulldogs.

Statistics

Playing statistics

118 107 56 1025 465 1490 252 158 0.9 0.5 8.7 3.9 12.6 2.1 1.3

Coaching statistics Statistics are correct to end of wildcard finals, 2026

Honours and achievements Playing honours Team Ansett Cup (St Kilda) 1996 McClelland Trophy (St Kilda) 1997 Individual Harold Ball Memorial Trophy: 1989

Coaching honours Team AFL premiership coach: 2016 Individual Jock McHale Medal: 2016 All-Australian: 2016 2× AFL CA Coach of the year: 2015, 2016 Spirit of Sport Award: 2016 Most Games Coached for the Western Bulldogs