HAWTHORN Assistant Coach Luke Beveridge will coach the Hawks in tonight’s NAB Challenge opener against Brisbane.
Like last year, Senior Coach Alastair Clarkson has handed the reigns to his assistants for the pre-season practice matches, with Beveridge given the keys for tonight’s clash at Etihad Stadium.
Beveridge, the Club’s defensive coach has been in charge of the players throughout the week in the lead-up to the match and will deliver the pre-match address before taking the senior coach’s chair in the box.
But he won’t be moving too far from the values and expectations of the players, revealing he’ll be sticking to the ideals Clarkson, together with his coaching team have instilled and developed in Hawthorn’s game play.
“Yes it’s an opportunity, but I’m not going to take it anywhere that’s outside of where Clarko would normally take it,” he told hawthornfc.com.au
“You find yourself thinking about being a little bit more original and emotional hooks in terms of where does this game sit in the context of our whole year.
“Rather than Clarko talking about those messages and facilitating the conversation around it, it’s me this week and it’s important you do it right.
“(But) it’s important that it’s always a team effort – the assistant coaches and all the match-day staff have really got important roles to play.
“As much as you feel a bit important for the night, you still have to remember that you’re just part of a big team.”
It is the second time the respected coach and key member of last year’s premiership success has been handed the reins.
Last year, he coached the Hawks to their only victory during their pre-season campaign, against North Melbourne in Craigieburn.
He says it’s another exciting opportunity to experience life as a senior coach.
“You’re taking in what’s happening across the whole spectrum, it’s more than just your lines where you can feed valuable information in and maybe make suggestions to Clarko,” he said.
“There’s no doubt that having the senior coach’s hat for the night gets you thinking more about everything.”
It’s not the first time Beveridge will have been in charge of his own team – he was a highly respected a courted coach before his life at Hawthorn began in 2012.
Beveridge coached St Bedes Mentone Tigers in the Victorian amateur competition, where he oversaw the incredible feat of achieving premiership success in the C, B and A Grades in consecutive seasons.
While he is keen to again make a good impression tonight, his eyes are firmly on preparing the Hawks for Round 1 of the season proper.
“Keeping it in context, it is a NAB Challenge game and ideally, we want to get everyone through fit and healthy and having played some very important minutes,” he said.
“(But) hopefully we can also show the public again that we’re ready to go.”
