Grant: Bevo can steer us through

Despite a disappointing loss to West Coast on Sunday, Executive Director of Football Chris Grant has urged fans and supporters to keep the faith during the final week of the home-and-away season.

Grant believes senior coach Luke Beveridge remains the ideal person to lead the Club out of the mire with finals still on the line this weekend. 

“I remain really confident that we made the right decision there, as does the club (on Beveridge),” Grant said on SEN Whateley.

“What we had to consider at that point in time was, is this team and is Luke the right person to steer that team through the next sort of three years because of the nature of this season being the last of his previous contract.

“Our view was that good, bad or indifferent, we believe he had the temperament and the right coaching capability to be able to steer us through that.

“Now, we’re making that on the basis of a range of things, as I said, with the aim of being successful during that period too.

“Whilst it hasn’t been exactly the season that we’ve wanted, we’ve seen some incredibly good stuff but that inconsistent period within games and over the course of the season has remained frustrating for us.

“But at the same time, extending him out was on the basis that we feel and still feel he’s the right person to see us through.

“We remain very, very comfortable that we’ve got the right man to lead us through that.”

Grant was clear that change was still apparent across the football department as the Club delves into reasoning behind the inconsistencies in games. 

“The ‘consistent inconsistencies’ were there by the bye rounds,” Grant said.

“Clearly the off-field department we are always looking to make change there if it is in the best interest of trying to get the best out of our group. 

“Difficult decisions are underway in that space. As you’ve seen over the past couple of weeks these are hard decisions to be making but at the same time when you know it is in the best interests of the group, you just have to make them.”

“We aren’t shying away from making the hard calls.”

“It is important for our fans and members to know that we are looking at every component of our program and hard decisions will be made.

“Every season we are looking to improve, as we will at the end of this season. We will continue to evaluate everything.”

While frustration is high after another tight defeat, the hurt will drive the group moving forward to GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night. 

“We’re frustrated because we think it’s a very capable team, I guess if we weren’t as frustrated as we are, it might give us some insight into that,” Grant said.

“The team might have some gaps, or we need to continue to have some evolution in the team, continue development.

“But we are frustrated on the basis of that the group’s been able to perform incredibly well for periods of the season.

“It’s not really about being a top-four team. The aim is to be the top team, challenging yourself to be the best.

“When you’re not in the position that we’re currently in, we’ve got to make sure we’re turning over every stone to make sure that we’re giving ourselves a chance to get there.”