WESTERN Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has spoken with pride about his young team's effort to "get the monkey off the back" with a round-one win after enduring a turbulent off-season.
As has been well-documented, last October the Bulldogs lost both their then-coach Brendan McCartney and captain Ryan Griffen.
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Beveridge, who started his coaching career with an 11-point win over West Coast at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, leapt to the defence of his players, who he feels have been unfairly chastised over the summer.
"I'm really proud of the boys, the way they stuck at it," Beveridge said post-match.
"They've obviously had a tough summer. They've had to deal with a lot of ridicule and innuendo. They're terrific young men, and they really deserved the win tonight."
Asked to elaborate on the "ridicule and innuendo", Beveridge added: "They copped a fair bit of the blame for certain things that went on last year. I don't want to go into too much detail but they don't deserve that. None of it was their fault. They're brilliant young men (with) great integrity, lots of character and just didn't deserve any of it. So it's nice for them to get some reward tonight to get the monkey off the back early."
As proof that his new regime was getting the message through, Beveridge highlighted that there were eight Bulldogs on the night who had played in the club's VFL premiership last year.
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"That's a real positive. That's new life and (there are) some opportunities there for our players to start to really build and grow AFL careers, and some of them really took hold of that tonight," he said.
Among the many positives, Beveridge was particularly pleased with his team's inside-50 differential – 58-41 – and the way it competed.
However, he wasn't so impressed with how his side defended in the first half, allowing the Eagles to score easily by taking the ball quickly through the centre. At half-time Beveridge made some adjustments and he was happy to force the Eagles wider thereafter.
He said the Dogs also needed to function better in attack, take more marks inside 50, and convert more.
"We got a bit of momentum in NAB (Challenge game)three (against Collingwood) and I'm not sure whether it was (validated) tonight because we probably didn't play great footy, but we stuck to our guns and because of that I'm really proud," he said.
"All our coaches have been outstanding. Over the last four months we've really educated and really implemented things that have changed the way we're playing … and everything's been so productive.
"It's a positive vibe, so I couldn't be happier for everyone at the club. Our administration, our board – everyone's gone through a really tough period.
"So if we can win some games early and give our fans a little bit of hope, and there's a bit of light there, that's really crucial for us at the moment …
"As long as our fans walk away with a spring in their step, that's the most important thing."
