What a difference 12 months makes.
When Luke Beveridge got up to present the Locker Group Coaches Award to Matthew Boyd at the Sutton Medal in October, the first year Senior Coach was clearly humbled by the prolonged standing ovation he received.
More than once, Beveridge’s attempts to begin his speech were drowned out by the cheers of a grateful Bulldog family, fresh off the Club’s first finals appearance since 2010.
It was a long way from 14 November, 2014 where the then 44-year-old, premiership winning assistant coach at Hawthorn, faced the media for the first time in new colours.
After an extensive recruitment, Beveridge was to take the reigns of a club that he described at the time had endured a ‘relatively tumultuous’ period.
The 2014 season had ended with a whimper; a three game losing streak and a deflating final round loss to the 16th placed GWS Giants at home.
The fallout and tumult that followed has been well documented and receipted, but through all that Beveridge saw in the group something special - a young, talented team with a bright future.
"Obviously, we saw some really exciting talent this year and some of the young guys play some good football,” he said at that first press conference.
“That is exciting, so there is scope for dramatic improvement as long as the younger guys develop pretty quickly.
And develop they did. And at a pace, and in a fashion that electrified the footy world for much of the 2015 season.
The Dogs would finish the season with fourteen wins, including victories over grand finalists West Coast, a stirring Round 5 victory over the Swans in Sydney and a scintillating Elimination Final against the Crows on the MCG.
To cap it off, under Beveridge’s tutelage the Dogs produced three All Australians, the All Australian captain and AFLPA Captain of the Year in Bob Murphy, while he would be named the 2015 Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year by the AFL Coaches Association in September.
They say a week is a long time in footy, let alone a year. But what a year it’s been.
