Mark Duffield: Justin Longmuir and Luke Beveridge share the ability to create belief and unity

If you are looking for common traits that make good AFL coaches it’s best you don’t look at Justin Longmuir and Luke Beveridge side by side.

Common physical traits? They have about as many as Danny De Vito and Arnold Schwarzenegger shared in the movie Twins.

Career traits? Neither played in a premiership. Longmuir played four finals and got as far as the 2006 preliminary final with Fremantle.

Beveridge played in five, elimination and semifinals at Melbourne in 1989 and 1991 and a qualifying final at the Western Bulldogs (then Footscray) in 1994. He eked out a 118-game career across three clubs, Melbourne, the Bulldogs and St Kilda over 11 years, often on one-year deals, before playing his last game with the Saints at the age of 29 in 1999. He kicked three goals that night against West Coast at the WACA as the Eagles plunged to an unexpected seven-goal loss.

Longmuir made his debut in Geelong the day after Beveridge finished, playing one game for the Dockers in his debut season in round 22 after being the highly prized number two pick in the 1998 draft as a rangy marking forward/ruckman.

He emerged as a young star then declined with a degenerative knee condition that finished him at 26 in 2007 after 139 games He played just two games that last year and barely trained.

Before the knee, Longmuir looked like a player who could have been anything. In 2001 as a gangly 20-year-old he kicked 28 goals while averaging more than 10 hit outs and three clearances a game taking a turn in the ruck. The following year he still rucked and kicked 36 goals, 38 in 2003.

What they do share however, is an ability to create belief and unity. With Beveridge, this became obvious during his time with St Bedes/Mentone in Victorian amateur ranks when he led the team from C grade to A grade in three seasons from 2006 to 2008 with three flags.

He was a development coach at Collingwood in 2009 and 2010 (premiership year). He was defensive coach at Hawthorn from 2012 to 2014 (when the team played in three grand finals and won two).

When the Bulldogs came looking for a senior coach he took the challenge of galvanising a club whose captain Ryan Griffen had just left to join GWS while 2008 Brownlow medallist Adam Cooney left for Essendon.

The Bulldogs under Beveridge have made finals in six of eight completed seasons and twice so far made grand finals from outside the top four, winning in 2016 and being beaten by Melbourne last year.

Longmuir worked in recruiting and development at Fremantle in retirement, then cut his coaching teeth at West Coast where he fed off the knowledge of the late Phil Walsh and became a respected assistant coach.

He was the forward coach working with Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling as the Eagles made a preliminary final in 2011 coming off a wooden spoon.

He was a senior assistant under Adam Simpson when they played in the 2015 grand final. He rose to prominence when he shifted to Collingwood under Nathan Buckley as a defensive coach when the Pies fell short of West Coast in 2018.

When Fremantle dismissed Ross Lyon in 2019, they were in need of a coach who could unite a fragmented playing group.

Some were happy with their lot under Lyon, who was known to cultivate strong rapport with a select group. Others were disenchanted and the Dockers were losing a player a year to other clubs.

Dual best and fairest Lachie Neale, who went on to win a Brownlow at Brisbane, was one who walked out mid-contract.

The catch cries in those early days under Longmuir were unity and relationship building.

As a result, according to club CEO Simon Garlick, Longmuir’s skill as a coach is often overlooked.

“He is a genuine person. Everyone he works with he clearly cares for and is invested in,” Garlick said. “But he is strong technically and has built a strong coaching group. He has aligned the way he wants the team to play and the outcomes they want to achieve.”

Every final has its own subplot. This one is juicy because the Bulldogs, having it done it twice before, will believe they can still go all the way to the grand final from here.

Fremantle are where Longmuir expected them to be before the season started. He had them believing it from round one.

There is your common trait: Belief. The Bulldogs believe they can walk this road because Beveridge has walked them down it before.

The Dockers under Longmuir have been convinced for some time they belong on this road and are far from frightened about what lies ahead.