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Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes has blasted embattled Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge as a “poor ambassador” for the club, calling for him to be sacked.
Beveridge’s side went down in a nightmare seven point loss to the battling West Coast Eagles on Sunday, with Cornes urging the Bulldogs to “make a hard call” on the coach’s future.
“Luke has been a poor ambassador for his football club for a long time now,” Cornes said on Nine’s Footy Classified on Monday night.
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“Change is needed now, otherwise it will get ugly towards the start of next season.
“They need to make a hard call. He’s been a great coach for the footy club, put a statue of him up, put a plaque up at the Whitten Oval to celebrate what he has done.
“But 2016 is a long time ago and since then, they’ve just been an ordinary club.”
Cornes believes Beveridge’s head has been on the chopping block “for a while” and the decision to axe him looms large.
“This has been on the cards for a while and unfortunately it takes a loss like yesterday to highlight just how poor they’re going,” Cornes said.
“Yes they went to a grand final (2021), but their performance was embarrassing on the day, really. Since then, it’s all been downhill.”
It comes as leading AFL journalist Caroline Wilson explained the situation that is unfolding at Whitten Oval.
“Just a general dissatisfaction with the lack of cohesion and consistency in form and selection,” Wilson said on Monday night.
“We know what happened with (Josh) Dunkley last year, we’re not sure where Bailey Smith’s future is, we’re not sure how Adam Treloar’s feeling at the moment. Will Tim English go an accept a big offer to go an play for West Coast?”
Wilson lauded Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli for his unwavering support of the struggling coach, despite the outside noise, but was adamant that the club with make some “corrections” to Beveridge’s tenure.
“Thanks heavens Luke Beveridge has Marcus Bontempelli who has been his great leader and supporter during all of this,” Wilson said.
“(There’s) a definite correction coming over Luke Beveridge’s authority.”
It comes after Bulldogs head of footy Chris Grant spoke on SEN on Monday, backing Beveridge in as coach for 2024.
“No, we’ve been very bullish about that. As far as we’re concerned, there’s no chance that (Beveridge’s sacking) will happen,” Grant said on SEN.
“But depending on how the end of the season finishes out, we’ve got be be very open and transparent … make those hard calls if we need to.”
The Bulldogs now must beat Geelong and hope the GWS Giants lose to Carlton, relying on points differential too, to have any chance of qualifying for finals.
