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Emotional Luke Beveridge opens up on 2015 season

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has been named the 2015 Allan Jeans Senior Coach of the Year at Tuesday night’s AFL Coaches Association awards.

In only his first year at the helm, Beveridge took the Dogs from 14th on the ladder last season, to sixth place and an elimination final.

The Dogs finished the season with 14 wins, including victories against Sydney, Richmond, Adelaide, North Melbourne and grand finalists West Coast.

Beveridge is the first Western Bulldogs coach to receive the award, since its inception in 2003.

“It’s a huge honour and mainly because it is voted by your peers,” he said.

“It takes a bit for me to have any tension in my relationships so when I took over I tried to get the message across that it was going to be a supportive coaching tenure.

“What all our coaches and staff have done for our club this year has been great and it allows us to start 2016 on a better platform.”

Beveridge picked up 365 votes ahead of West Coast’s Adam Simpson (305) and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon (116).