Western Bulldogs coach, Luke Beveridge, has scolded Fox Footy reporter, Tom Morris, in a bizarre post-game press conference, labelling Morris a “gutter journalist”.
Following his team’s 26-point loss to Melbourne in last night’s MCG season opener, Beveridge seemed disgruntled during the following press conference, particularly when asked a question by Morris regarding the Bulldogs’ team selection prior to round 1.
“You’ve got the nerve to ask me a question and even be here,” Beveridge coolly responded. “You’ve been preying on us. You’ve been opening us, causing turmoil within our football club up by declaring our team well before it needs to be declared.”
Wow.
Luke Beveridge 😳 pic.twitter.com/Yxj86Z5y4i
— 7AFL (@7AFL) March 16, 2022
The Bulldogs premiership coach also noted Morris barracked for Melbourne, before asking, “Is that the way Fox want you to operate, is that the gutter journalist you want to be?”
A vocal tug-of-war quickly ensued in which Morris tried to respond to Beveridge’s accusations, but was spoken over by the coach who resumed talking shop about the Bulldogs’ round 1 preparations.
However, Beveridge quickly resumed his admonishment of Morris, noting there had been “leakage” in the Bulldogs’ team selection – particularly relating to Lachie Hunter’s removal from the 22-man squad – and began attacking Morris’ “conflict of interest” as both a journalist and a Melbourne supporter.
“Your gutter journalism is killing us behind the scenes,” Beveridge continued.
“You cause all this muck-raking trash that happens behind the scenes… all we’re doing is planning for a football game. Are you proud of yourself?”
“Yeah, absolutely,” Morris quickly responded.
“You’re proud of yourself?”
“Fox [Footy] backs me.”
“Wow!” Beveridge sarcastically responded, before cutting off Morris mid-sentence and calling for the next question.
However, the Bulldogs coach did request Morris leave the press conference, but the latter refused, saying, “No, this is the AFL’s press conference and I’ll sit here.”
“Bevo” then reminded journalists in the room of the “courtesy and integrity” of informing AFL clubs of the leaked information they’d received prior to publishing it.
“Now, this bloke here,” said Beveridge, pointing at Morris. “He’s giving everyone else a bad name, right when we’re trying to stabilise our competition.”
“You’re an embarrassment to what you do,” said the Bulldogs coach before abruptly leaving the press conference.
Many big names have come forward to denounce Beveridge’s actions, including Collingwood great and ex-coach, Nathan Buckley, who labelled the tirade “abnormal”, and defended Morris’ actions.
“To say that Tom has taken advantage of that is like putting an Easter egg in front of a five-year-old kid and expecting him not to eat it when you walk out of the room. It’s there, it’s a free hit,” he told the Fox Footy broadcast team.
Sports reporter, Stephen Quartermain also came to Morris’ defence, tweeting, “How embarrassed would Luke Beveridge and the Western Bulldogs feel this morning? Got to be much better than what was produced in last night’s media conference.”
However, just as many have praised Beveridge’s actions across social media.
“I’ve just become a big Luke Beveridge fan. All these schmucks including that flog Gary Lyon calling it “embarrassing”, “inappropriate” and “an over-reaction”. We just witnessed this legend call out @FOXFOOTY and their notoriously well-known gutter sports journalism. Excellent,” tweeted user, @njestyle20.
“Go Luke Beveridge. That was brilliant calling out gutter journalism @FOXFOOTY. Best thing I have seen in a long time!” Tweeted @belindahogan.
Whether or not Beveridge owes Morris an apology in the coming days is certainly not up to this gutter journalist to decide.
