Bulldogs head coach Luke Beveridge shares his thoughts after a dramatic draw with Carlton.

Here's what he had to say following the game.

 
On the result and performance:
 
"Never coached a draw, even at St Bede's Mentone Tigers I never coached a draw so it's a first time for me.
 
"It's a strange sort of feeling, at this time of year when everyone knows roundabouts where they're going to settle, it's probably not as emotional as it may be when everything might be absolutely crucial.
 
"It was weird though, usually when there's a draw the team with the ball in their hands is usually trying to win it so it took us half a minute to work out that they weren't going to try to take the ball forward.
 
"We played a front-half pressure game that was probably our best for the year, we've been searching for it and we've obviously had different personnel playing in different lines but I thought there was an energy today and a perseverance.

"Our second quarter, to come back and come to life and be in front at half-time that's really encouraging for us as a Club, definitely our supporters to see all those young fellas really contribute, I think they all had their say.
 
"Carlton have been a really good team so to draw with them I think it's encouraging. I just said to the boys I'm really proud of how they went about it today.
 
"We haven't been that far off (in the) last two weeks. We were close to the top side in Perth for most of the game and then the Kangaroos jumped us early and we saw them frank that form against Geelong. So I think this afternoon's encouraging more than anything.
 
"Systematically we're not that easy to score against, it was good to see some of the goals we kicked, the chances we created in this game and we left a few out there. So I think we played a pretty efficient game.

"They had a lot of the ball, a lot of marks, too many. We're trying to play a certain way and everyone came up to speed with that way and it was a good afternoon."

 
On Ed Richards:
 
"He's played some great games Ed, when you think about how he opened the season when we beat the Lions up at the Gabba, he was ridiculously good in that game.

"When you think about the two midfields today and their guys have been really consistent, the ruck situation I thought Lobby stabilised it after the early parts of the game and needed to spend a lot more time on the ground which he's always prepared to do. 
 
"So for Richo to play that influential a game with the men around him playing was exceptional. He really was outstanding. I thought all our mids were, all our core guys - Joel Freijah, Matt Kennedy, Tom Liberatore - I thought they had a really big influence this afternoon."

 
On recent draftees:
 
"Cooper (Hynes is) probably the main one who's had a really improved period of time, he's having an influential year on that wing. He didn't come to us as a winger, he came to us more as forward.
 
"We had our whole draft from 2024 play today - Cooper, Josh Dolan, Lachie Jaques, Sam Davidson and Luke Kennedy - so our five picks all played so that's pretty encouraging two years down the track, they all did their bit.
 
"I thought Davidson actually, his aerial stuff was as good as I'd seen. Dolan in the pressure game in the front half, Luke the same, they won't have big possession numbers on the sheet but they caused a lot of turnovers and Jaques the other one.

"So 11 (draftees) out of our last three years played today, two from last year in Lachie Carmichael making his debut and Louis Emmet in his eighth or ninth game. And then there's Jordan Croft and Ryley Sanders and Freijah and Sando played a bit on the wing today … I thought our wingers were pretty solid, pretty stable.
 
"Strategically as a Club we've prepared for Tasmania coming in, there's been some really difficult choices at times with senior players over the last few years.

"Ultimately you only get validation if you're successful but we're invested in our younger guys, they're great people of tremendous character and they're showing a lot of promise.
 
"This deep in the year they're willing to step up and really put their best foot forward. So for them to play in that sort of game and for our more senior guys to stand up, be strong and set an example… I thought our key backs were just exceptional, for them to intercept the ball as much as they did, I think we had 21 intercepts (from) not a big backline, that was brilliant."

On Marcus Bontempelli's prospects of returning:
 
"He may be right for next week, he's just had a grumbly achilles over recent times so it seemed like the time was right to just give him a week off.

"If it's still hanging around and we feel like another week will really help him and prepare him for the wildcard game then we'll probably rest him again, give him another week to freshen up a bit, we'll see how we go.
 
"He'll definitely play before the year is out. Hopefully he gets a run of games. That means we're all in business."