Most Bulldogs fans remember well the day their side cut-down the then remaining premiers on the mighty MCG to win through to the 2016 preliminary final, but what they wouldn’t know is what was happening inside the coaches box on that famous day.

In this week’s episode of Freedom in a Cage, the Club’s official podcast, co-host Bob Murphy recounts his experience sitting behind Luke Beveridge on that Friday night.

Click here to listen to Freedom in a Cage

“We were playing well but we were three and a half goals down and the tension was going up all around, and you could feel it in the coaches box,” Murphy recalled.

“There was a bit of talk about ‘do we need to change’?.  We needed to stop the momentum but Luke Beveridge said that the game is actually being played the way we want it to, and the scoreboard will start to turn if we hold the line.”

And turn it did.  The Hawks led by as many as 23-points half-way through the second quarter, before the young begun to attack, laying on eight of the last nine scoring shots of the quarter, followed by a six goal third quarter burst that essentially iced the game and booked a preliminary final berth.  

“I spoke to Easton Wood after the game and he said he had the exact same feeling and he got confidence from the fact that nothing did change,” Murphy said.

“The restraint can be just as powerful as the action.”