More damning, the Bulldogs were ranked 15th of 18 for defending the opposition’s ball movement from the defensive 50 last season. Despite a full pre-season to address this glaring weakness, Beveridge could not devise a plan to stop Melbourne on last Saturday. The Demons scored 50 points from their defensive 50; the league average is 12.

The Bulldogs’ list wants for nothing. It has the league’s best midfield, led by captain and four-time All-Australian Marcus Bontempelli. Tom Liberatore, Adam Treloar, Bailey Smith and Jack Macrae are prolific and young ruckman Tim English is elite. Half-backs Caleb Daniel and Bailey Dale are All-Australians, and Aaron Naughton is one of the game’s best key forwards.

Beveridge once faced a void with key-position defenders, but after claiming Liam Jones as a free agent and being gifted father-son wunderkind Sam Darcy in 2021, he no longer has this excuse.

Adding to Beveridge’s woes is his inability to halt the opposition’s momentum. In the 2021 grand final, the Bulldogs led by 19 points midway through the third quarter but lost the game by 74 points. Melbourne kicked 12 unanswered goal, and Beveridge’s Mercedes went way off course.

The script was repeated in last year’s elimination final against Fremantle. The Bulldogs coughed up a 41-point lead to lose by 13 points.

Josh Dunkley won the Western Bulldogs’ best-and-fairest award last season after announcing he would leave to join the Brisbane Lions. When comparing Brisbane’s pre-season training to his former club, Dunkley noted that the Bulldogs hardly ran in the pre-season. Could a lack of fitness be a reason for their fadeouts in big games? Melbourne kicked eight goals to the Bulldogs’ four in the second half on Saturday night.

Adding to the club’s troubles is Beveridge’s repeated bizarre public comments.

Before the 2021 grand final, he fired back at criticism of Treloar with this: “If you’re going to fail in life, fail at something that is noble. Fail at something you can dust yourself off and be proud that you had a go.

“If you’re failing at trying to pull people apart and bring people down, like two or three journalists did this week, I don’t know how people around you can live with you, how they can lie in bed with you, how they can look at themselves in the mirror.”

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In the post-game media conference after last year’s season-opener, Beveridge launched an extraordinary personal attack on journalist Tom Morris.

After the round 10 win against Gold Coast last season, he vaguely questioned the tactics of Suns defender Sam Collins on Naughton. On review, Collins’ method was entirely within the rules.

Beveridge was due to come out of contract at the end of this season. However, the club surprisingly and prematurely extended his deal to the end of 2025.

It would have been wiser for the Bulldogs board to wait until the midway point of the season to gather more evidence on whether Beveridge can fix the broken navigation system in the shiny new Mercedes.

Adam Kingsley eventually inherited the keys to the GWS Ferrari; only time will tell whether Beveridge’s mechanics can fix his broken GPS or whether the Merc needs a new driver.

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