The Western Bulldogs will “pull out all stops” to keep star ruckman Tim English amid renewed speculation of a potential move back to Perth to help the struggling West Coast Eagles.
Both English and gun forward Aaron Naughton, who also hails from Perth, are contracted until the end of 2024 but remain on the radar of several clubs, in particular the Eagles who have been urged to trade their likely No.1 pick in this year’s draft to bolster their meagre playing stocks.
English, who owns a house in Perth and whose partner plays netball for the West Coast Fever, is a free agent in 2024.
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West Coast has been tracking the potential successor for Nic Naitanui for several years, flying to Melbourne to watch him last season, and after missing out on Luke Jackson last trade period are expected to focus on English.
English is the current favourite to be named All-Australian ruckman and could land contract offers upwards of $900,000 a season.
Beveridge said speculation around his players was “understandable” and it was up to him and the Bulldogs to enhance their desire to stay, having witnessed exits in recent years, including Josh Dunkley’s move to Brisbane.
“It’s common, it’s understandable, especially the boys from those states, and teams might have lower picks that they may want to use and all that sort of stuff. We are used to it,” Beveridge said.
“We’re always intrigued and I look forward to seeing guys who have moved on from our club who we haven’t been able to keep through various reasons like Patty Lipinksi, seeing him return to play for (Collingwood) the other night, Josh (Dunkley) at Brisbane … there are lots of our guys who have headed off.
“But we’re doing everything we can to make sure we are in a position to retain Tim, and I think Aaron has been spoken about as well.
“I think we will pull out all stops to make sure the boys know that we believe they belong here and it’s our desire that it’s their desire to want to stay.”
The Bulldogs will take on North Melbourne on Sunday coming off three straight losses and amid upheaval in their backline after losing prime movers Jason Johannisen and Ed Richards to injury.
Beveridge conceded it had created some instability and was a key area to address.
“What we’ve found is some of the changes, injury wise, we haven’t coped so well in our key defensive areas,” he said.
“Does it become a little bit unstable? Absolutely. It’s natural. Together, between us as coaches and the playing group, we’re looking to settle that and look to have a really good systematic effort from our defenders.
“They rely on pressure, which at times they are getting and at times they are not from further up the field.”
Defender Tim O’Brien is likely to regain his place against the Kangaroos after a positive showing in the VFL last weekend.