Luke Beveridge and Tom Morris haven’t spoken in three years.
But on Tuesday night, the pair sat down on Channel 9’s Footy Classified to finally address their bitter feud and that explosive press conference.
The press conference went down in footy folklore with the Bulldogs boss launching a stunning attack on Morris.
The Channel 9 reporter, who had been working for Fox back in 2022, had reported that Lachie Hunter was set to be dropped from Beveridge’s starting line-up ahead of their Round 1 clash against Melbourne.
But Beveridge took aim at Morris, issuing a stunning spray to the reporter in which he had branded him an ’embarrassment’.
The Bulldogs boss had appeared on Channel 9’s Footy Classified, to address all things such as Jamarra Ugle-Hagan’s current playing situation and the AFL’s rules on illicit drugs.
Tom Morris (left) and Luke Beveridge (right) have addressed their bitter feud live on Channel 9
Back in 2022 Beveridge (pictured) issued a furious spray towards Morris over his reporting of the Bulldogs
But during the programme, he briefly touched on the press conference, stating: ‘Tonight’s not about that detail, it’s the first time I’ve been on Channel 9 in probably since a couple of antagonists moved over to Channel 7.
‘I’ve come here tonight to definitely interact and hopefully provide something of value, but the detail in what happened doesn’t help me, it doesn’t help our footy club, I don’t think it really helps you Tom, and I just don’t think we should go there.’
‘It shouldn’t be aired tonight.’
Morris, who was sat next to Beveridge on the panel, stopped to ask the footy coach if they could mend their relationship but added that the pair were not best friends.
‘Bevo, can we move on?’ he asked, before clarifying: ‘Can you and I move on? We’re not best friends, clearly. But can we have a professional relationship so that I can come to your press conferences and report on the Western Bulldogs?’
Beveridge replied: ‘I know I tried to kick you out of that one but the important thing, as far as moving on goes for me, at the time you were the antagonist.
‘Because I hadn’t done anything at that press conference, apart from obviously fire up.’
But it appears the pair seemed to have squashed their beef, with Beveridge seeming to state that over time they could rebuild their relationship.
The Western Bulldogs boss stated that ‘time heals all wounds’ when asked if their professional relationship could be repaired
Their press conference spat is understood to have erupted over Beveridge’s decision to drop Lachie Hunter from the side ahead of a match in 2022
‘So letting you off for what led into that, you know, time heals all wounds.
‘But we’ve still got that time in the future.’
Earlier in the evening, Morris had appeared on Nine News where he was pressed on what he was expecting from Beveridge ahead of tonight’s episode of Footy Classified.
‘The short answer is I don’t know. It’s three years ago and I’m happy to move on, there’s certainly no angst from my side of things…’ Morris said.
He also revealed that he had not seen Beveridge or spoken to him over the past three years.
‘I go there fully expecting to have a good conversation with him and have a good show. As I’ve said I’ve got no angst from my end. Whether that extends to his end, we’ll wait and see.’
Beveridge apologised to Morris following the brutal press conference spray that took place back in 2022.
It came after the coach appeared to become incensed by the former Fox reporter’s presence after Morris had reported leaked team news in the media – something that Beveridge described as having a detrimental impact to the health and wellbeing of the game.
Prior to the show, Morris stated he had ‘no angst’ towards Beveridge adding that the pair had not spooken in three years
‘You’ve got the nerve to ask me a question and even be here,’ Beveridge responded to Morris’ who had asked a question on the pre-game saga around Hunter.
Beveridge and the Bulldogs donated $20,000 to charity as part of their apology.
‘So, you’ve been preying on us, you’ve barracked for Melbourne, Tom Morris. You’ve been opening us up, causing turmoil within our football club by declaring our team well before it needs to be declared.
‘Is that the way Fox wants you to operate? Is that the gutter journalist you want to be?’
He added: ‘This is why the health and wellbeing in the game is caught up in all this stuff because we’ve got things to concentrate on performance-wise, we’ve got to look after our own and then you cause all this muck-raking trash that happens behind the scenes and names get brought up into it.
He wrapped up his press conference, saying: ‘You’re an embarrassment to what you do, mate. You’re an embarrassment.’
Some footy fans took to social media to voice their opinions on the awkward exchange, with one writing: ‘Not sure if I’m watching a footy show or MAFS? Lol what is this.’
‘Excruciating viewing. Never make yourself the story,’ another wrote on X.
