Beveridge lives over the road from the oval where he played his first game of footy in the under 11s. His father John was coach. Whenever he walks there, he "still gets into it a little bit". As a kid, Trevor Barker was his favourite player. He wore Barker's No.1 on his St Kilda guernsey and used his parents' bed to practice taking marks in the precariously acrobatic manner that was the Trevor Barker way. John worked at the Saints for 30 years in a series of roles, all based on his keen eye for the game. In the words of his son, John Beveridge "basically put together" the St Kilda team that challenged for the 1997 premiership under Stan Alves. Beveridge played 118 AFL games with three clubs, starting with Melbourne and finishing with the Saints. In 1995, St Kilda reserves were coached by Barker; on April 25, 1996, the man who singlehandedly kept the St Kilda flame burning for a decade died of colon cancer. Beveridge recalls, "At the funeral, I was bawling my eyes out and teammates were saying, 'What's with Bevo? He's only been here five minutes.' They didn't know the connection." Saying this, he stops and looks out the window to compose himself. His last AFL game was his most memorable, the Saints beating West Coast in Perth. He felt his teammates lifted for him that day and the game still has emotion for him. But he finished his playing career feeling that he had "something left". Having done his schooling at St Bede's, he went down to the St Bede's/Mentone amateur footy club to help out and was drawn in. "I got to know people and built relationships. I started to care for the club." In the course of his first year (by now he was also playing), he decided he wanted to coach.The next year, 2006, he did and the amateur C-division grand final between Ajax and St Bede's remains the most exciting football match of Luke Beveridge's life. Down by eight goals in the second term, St Bede's got ahead early in the final quarter but then lost the lead to a resurgent Ajax. "Not many teams win from there," he observes. But St Bede's did, and, in the two following seasons, they won the B and A division titles.

Beveridge says his coaching career was "born from the energies and efforts of a little footy club". Matt Beasley, the president of St Bede's /Mentone at the time, speaks like one who has been waiting for the football world to catch up on what his club knows about Luke Beveridge. "He's got the most complete skill set I've seen. He's got time for everyone, and a lot of time, and it doesn't matter whether you're the best player or the timekeeper." Beasley said that people at his club had always hoped Beveridge would get his chance to coach in the AFL "but, once he's made his mark, it wouldn't surprise me if he moved on. A lot of what he says and does surprises me. In fact, the more I know him, the more he surprises me. He's the best mentor I've had. At the same time, he still rides a skateboard and goes surfing every opportunity he gets". Beveridge is also a big reader. When I ask him what he reads, he fixes on the question like it's a hole he's trying to drill through a wall. Eventually, he says he reads a lot of fantasy and crime thrillers, but he does tell me about two books in particular. The Terrible Hours is the story of Swede Momsen, the man who invented diving bells to rescue trapped submariners during World War 2. Every time Swede Momsen tested the diving bell he got the bends. He kept testing the bells. Gavin Brown put Beveridge on to that book when he was at Collingwood. Recently, he also read The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle. "It's about skill acquisition and neuroscience, about the way we learn." Beveridge thinks he was the last AFL player to hold down full-time employment while pursuing a football career. When he swung to coaching full-time in 2012, he resigned from Austrack, a financial intelligence agency whose responsibilities extend to organised crime and terrorism. Beveridge left St Bede's believing he could coach. "I'd seen my philosophies have a positive effect. I started to think I could take this further." Far from influencing him, most of his AFL coaches had disappointed him. "I just didn't think they had the full package." The one who did impact on him was John "Swooper" Northey during his time at Melbourne. "He recognised the importance of the emotional side of the game. We played for Swooper because we loved him. Some part of every player plays for the coach."

A two-year contract with Collingwood in player development meant he could observe Mick Malthouse. He respected Malthouse as an analyst. "He sees the game as well as anyone from the coaching box on match day." He also observed the bond of loyalty between Malthouse and his players. Malthouse talked to his players one-on-one. That meant Beveridge was not privy to those conversations – but he saw their effect. "He obviously struck a chord with them." He had taken two years leave without pay to be with Collingwood and was considering a return to Austrack when he started being rung by Alastair Clarkson. The Hawthorn coach was "trying to get his [coaching] panels right and canvassing the market". They talked defence. Beveridge said he thought Hawthorn's defensive system needed to change. Clarkson liked that; he's always seeking to change. Beveridge "took the leap" and became an assistant coach. I asked Beveridge what makes Alastair Clarkson so good. "He doesn't think he's got all the answers. His greatest strength is his ability to draw things from other people, players and coaches, that add value." He also believes Clarkson has "the right appetite for risk. He's got the right balance between offence and defence". He'd seen enough of the Dogs before he got to the club to know what he wanted from them. "Footy's a numbers game. To attack, we needed more players forward of the ball." The Dogs, he says, "had become one-on-one centric". Then came the appointment of Bob Murphy as captain. "He's the heartbeat of our football club. In footy clubs, people gravitate to the great characters and he's a great character." Beveridge says the nub of coaching is connection. "A footy team is almost like a nervous system." The biggest low he's had since joining the Dogs was the knee injury to 2014 best-and-fairest winner Tom Liberatore. "Tom's one of our spiritual leaders. We just hope he can find a way to still influence the place." The biggest high was last week's win in Sydney. "That was a moment in time. You can weave so much out of that."

On Saturday, against St Kilda, the Dogs start as favourites for the first time since Beveridge took over. "That's just something we have to block out," he says. "We have to continue on our journey with the way we want to play."