Luke Beveridge says a lack of “athletic profile” was the driving factor behind a number of his players being denied AFL game time in 2024.

The veteran Western Bulldogs coach was scrutinised last year for starving proven senior players of opportunities they were once afforded without question.

Best and fairest winner and 2020 All-Australian Caleb Daniel was selected for just 16 matches last season, eight of which he was either subbed on or off.

Three-time All-Australian Jack Macrae didn’t break into the team in Round 3 and started as the sub in four of his 19 games, including in the elimination final.

Even Bailey Dale, who was later in All-Australian contention and finished equal second in the club’s best and fairest award, was made to start as sub in Round 5.

Beveridge, without naming any specific players, said it was part of a deliberate plan to prioritise running power.

“We went through the early parts of last year and won three out of the first eight,” the 2016 premiership coach said on Dyl and Friends.

“To push the envelope in how we could test the competition we started to strip back time on the ground of players who didn’t necessarily cover it as well as others.

“We started to get a different blend and probably the athletic profile of our team, we maximised.”

The strategy proved fruitful, with the Dogs going on an inspired run to win 11 of their last 15 games of the season, only to run into the competition’s hottest team, Hawthorn, in the elimination final.

But it also meant they lost Daniel and Macrae, who pursued opportunities with North Melbourne and St Kilda, respectively, during the following month’s trade period.

Beveridge enters 2025 as the only coach without a contractual commitment beyond this season from his club, and a growing list of critics who say the Dogs need a new voice.

Pre-season injuries to Jason Johanissen, Cody Weightman, Adam Treloar, Liam Jones, Ed Richards, Bailey Dale and, most recently, Marcus Bontempelli — plus the absence of Jamarra Ugle-Hagan due to personal reasons — haven’t helped the 11th-year coach’s prospects.

But the 54-year-old still thinks he has it in him to regenerate the team.

“It’s 10 years now for me, we’ve only got four players left who started with me, and the core staff who are still around, they’re not coaches; our whole coaching roster has just evolved and changed over time, and all the guys who have come and gone have really contributed and influenced the club,” he said.

“And that’s part of the challenge, to be a good manager and bring people together and create a really powerful harmonised environment, which I love as a challenge.

“I’ve still got a real passion for it, I’ve got energy for it, but I understand that the club needs to be strong too around senior coaches, and stable, and that’s not easy when you’ve got the media and your supporter base agitated at times.

“I think up until now, our club’s been relatively strong and really supportive, but I live in the real world, and that will run out at some point — or it may not; stepping off without getting sacked is a rarity.”

Channel 7 footy expert Kane Cornes is one who doubts Beveridge will hang on to his job.

“I wouldn’t have thought so,” he told 7NEWS when asked if Beveridge would see out the year.