THE WESTERN Bulldogs have won a premiership and reached another Grand Final under Luke Beveridge, but they want to do something in 2023 that they haven't done yet on his watch.
Despite playing finals in six of the eight completed seasons since Beveridge replaced Brendan McCartney at the end of 2014, the Bulldogs haven't finished in the top four since 2010, climbing from fifth to reach the decider in 2021 after famously going the long way from seventh when they ended a 62-year flag drought in 2016.
But after recovering from a winless first fortnight of this season, the Bulldogs have won six of their past seven games to head towards the winter months as a legitimate contender after beating three sides that played finals last year to sit a game adrift of the top four.
"It is only round nine, so I don't want to start talking about the pointy end of the season," Beveridge told reporters at the Whitten Oval on Tuesday morning. "But I've said it before: going into every year we've got designs on finishing in the top four every year. Nothing changes for us; we've got designs on it, whether we can get there is another thing but we will give it our all to get there.
"The significant challenges week-to-week in an 18-team competition – I know some of the teams down the bottom have been talked down – but we approach it as we're vulnerable week-to-week as much as we believe in ourselves. We find a good balance in our mindset week-to-week and we're just going to continue to be hard to play against."
The Dogs are the only team to win a premiership from outside the top four this century and one of only two sides – Adelaide rose from fifth to win the flag in 1998 – to do it in the AFL era, highlighting how difficult it is to go all the way the long way.
Beveridge said high profile recruit Rory Lobb could be exposed to more time on the wing in the coming months after the 206cm key forward was used there against the Blues.
"It is something we've been planning to do for a little while. The stature that Rory has makes him one of the tallest wingers to ever go around," he said.
"History shows that it can cause opposition teams some headaches if the player can play the role according to plan and the game can lay out a certain way in his favour and our favour. We'll definitely keep it there in our player role kit."
Beveridge and the match committee inside the club's Footscray headquarters will need to make a decision on Josh Bruce later this week ahead of Saturday's fixture against Adelaide at Mars Stadium.
Bruce has recovered well ahead of schedule from sternum damage and multiple broken ribs and is expected to be available for the trip to Ballarat, but there might not be room to make changes after the 20-point win over Carlton last Saturday night.
"We'll wait and see, he'll train today. He was absolutely going well enough and had started to settle in our backline when we lost him in the Port Adelaide game, which was a shame. Whether he plays this week – most likely not – but we'll cover that off after training," Beveridge said.
After playing his first senior game for the club just 35 days after signing as a category B rookie – and after just three VFL appearances – James O'Donnell is set to face the Crows after the ex-cricketer got a taste of league football before being substituted out of the game against the Blues.
"Most likely (play him again this weekend). We felt he had some really good moments," he said.
"It is always a significant challenge on debut to make too much of an impression. It was obviously a big game, parochial Carlton crowd, ironclad, vice-like key defenders who lock you down at times. It was a good learning experience for him. He is likely to keep his place in the team."
While the Dogs have recovered from a nightmare first fortnight to prove they are a contender, Adelaide has emerged as a finalist across the past two months by winning five of its past seven games to sit in eighth.
Beveridge said the Dogs will prepare to limit the Crows' ball movement after the likes of Brodie Smith and Jordan Dawson terrorised St Kilda on Sunday and focus on stopping a diverse and dangerous forward mix that includes five players – Taylor Walker (23 goals), Izak Rankine (18 goals), Darcy Fogarty (15 goals), Luke Pedlar (12 goals) and Josh Rachele (11 goals) - with more than 10 goals this season, helping the Crows to post score the fourth-most points this season.
"We've got to stifle the speed at which they are capable of moving it, which they showed in Adelaide last week. It might be different conditions this week, so both teams might need to do it a bit differently when it comes to moving the Sherrin. It might be more of a scrap, contested game at ground level. We'll wait and see," he said.
"They've got some key playmakers. We think they are really good by foot and they've got forwards who don't miss too often. You get the ball in their key forwards hands and they've got a really good blend with their small to mediums, they have a dangerous front end."
