Kane Cornes has taken aim at the Western Bulldogs for “downplaying” the immense talent within the club.
His comments came the morning after the Dogs lost to Hawthorn by seven points.
Their fourth loss in five games consigned the 2016 premiers to 11th on the AFL ladder. It was only the second win for the rebuilding Hawks in eight games this season.
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Following the loss, coach Luke Beveridge suggested he was trying to build the team for the future.
“[I’m] always confident in decision-making on where you place your influence to evolve into the future and be a team and be a list full of players who can challenge up ahead. We have to find out. We can’t sit on our hands,” Beveridge said.
“We’ve got vulnerabilities like any other team and we identify them early and we make changes. I know I have been critiqued [for] that over time, but ultimately I’m a servant of the football club, a custodian of the interests.
“I want to set them up to succeed … we make considered decisions and the players understand that.”
But those comments irked Cornes, who says the Bulldogs coach shouldn’t settle for performances like Sunday.
“The one thing I can’t cop is the continuous downplaying of expectations,” Cornes said on SEN radio.
“You don’t get in Nick Coffield, James Harmes, Ryley Sanders, and trade away your first pick in this year’s draft if you think you’re in a rebuilding phase.
“I listen to Luke Beveridge and the way that he talks: it’s like a rebuilding coach.
“You’ve got (stars like) Adam Treloar, Bailey Dale, Marcus Bontempelli, Tim English, Tom Liberatore, Aaron Naughton, Sam Darcy, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan. No team has as many weapons as the Western Bulldogs.
“Yet they front up and play against a team, on average, that is two years younger, and they lose the unlosable game, under the roof at Marvel with those weapons in your forward line and those weapons in your midfield.
“I can’t cop it. Why is there no expectation from Luke Beveridge and the Western Bulldogs that they actually have enough weapons in this side?
“If they had a game plan and if the players were able to execute, they could be winning finals and playing off in prelim finals.
“I don’t get it and it continually does my head in.”
A fortnight ago Western Bulldogs CEO Ameet Bains defended his coach and claimed criticism from the likes of Cornes was becoming personal.
He also denied any suggestion Beveridge’s job as coach was in danger.
“If questioning their defensive actions, if questioning the number of goals they concede consecutively, if questioning bizarre selection decisions — if that’s personal, come on,” Cornes told Footy Classified at the time.
The Bulldogs next face Richmond in round nine.