Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge launched an extraordinary attack on Fox Sports reporter Tom Morris after Wednesday night’s loss to Melbourne.
It comes after Morris reported on Monday that Bulldogs midfielder Lachie Hunter had been dropped for the season-opening clash.
Hunter was initially selected in the starting 22 before being named the medical sub. He was then recalled to the line-up just before the opening bounce, replacing the injured Jason Johannisen.
Speaking after the 26-point loss to the Demons, Beveridge fumed at Morris after he was asked about the Dogs’ team selection heading into the Grand Final rematch.
The premiership coach then stormed out of the press conference in disgust.
“You’ve got the nerve to ask me a question and even be here,” a seething Beveridge said.
“You’ve been preying on us the last two times. You barrack for Melbourne, Tom Morris. You’ve been preying on us. You’ve been opening us up, causing turmoil within our football club by declaring our team well before it needs to be declared. Is that the way Fox want you to operate? Is that what you’re doing? Is that the gutter journalist you want to be? Is that who you want to be?
“We went in with a plan. We had some late stuff go on with JJ unfortunately coming out in the warm-up. Everything other than that was according to plan from the Sunday, which somehow you found out about again, so we need to get to the bottom of this.
“Obviously we need to put our hand up and say that there's some leakage going on. But you're preying on it and it’s a team you barrack for. Your conflict of interest here is considerable. And yet, your gutter journalism at the moment is killing us behind the scenes.
“The health and wellbeing of people in the game is caught up in all of this stuff. We’ve got things to concentrate on performance-wise, we’ve got to look after our own, and then you cause all of this muck-raking trash that happens behind the scenes. Names get brought up into it. All we’re doing it planning for a football game.
“Are you proud of yourself? You're proud of yourself? Wow. That’s enough, that’s enough. Next question please. Mate, you’re not welcome. Well, have you got enough boys and girls? I think we’re probably done, aren’t we?
“This is what happens, because I know if you found something out, you’d ring Adrian Ceddia (head of communications) and say, ‘Look I know this, just so you know that I know something has happened, and it’s got out’. The courtesy and the integrity and the ethical way to go about it has happened in the past.
“Now this bloke here and what he’s doing is giving everyone else a bad name. Right when we’re trying to stabilise our competition and what we do, with everything that’s gone on behind the scenes and us as coaches and a football program with the soft cap situation as it is, and this sort of stuff happens.
“You’re an embarrassment to what you do, mate. You’re an embarrassment. An absolute embarrassment.”