Lin Jong reveals he copped a Luke Beveridge spray after his infamous tour of Collingwood in 2016 

Former Western Bulldogs star Lin Jong has revealed he was on the receiving end of a Luke Beveridge tirade after being linked with a move to Collingwood.

Beveridge made headlines last week when he lost his temper in his press conference after the Bulldogs’ loss to Melbourne in Round 1 and tore into Fox Sports reporter Tom Morris.

The Bulldogs coach labelled Morris – who has since been sacked after a lewd WhatsApp chat about a female colleague came to light – a ‘gutter journalist’.

‘You’ve got the nerve to ask me a question and even be here,’ Beveridge told Morris.

‘You’ve been preying on us and causing turmoil within our football club by declaring our team well before it needs to be declared. Is that the gutter journalist you want to be?’ 

Beveridge eventually apologised to Morris, but he has developed a reputation for often taking a confrontational approach with journalists. 

Members of the media, however, aren’t the sole recipients of the 51-year-old’s ire, as Jong discussed on the TAB’s Inside 50 podcast alongside Shane Crawford and Nick Quinn.

Beveridge launched a furious rant at a Fox Sports reporter last week after Round 1

The Western Bulldogs coach saw red as he spoke to the press following the loss to the Dees

Back in 2016, Beveridge was far from impressed when it emerged Jong had visited Collingwood’s facilities as discussions over a new contract with the Bulldogs stalled. 

‘When I got caught touring the Collingwood facilities, he called me up and gave me a big old spray,’ he said.

‘Thank God it was over the phone or I would have ended in tears just like my end of season review spray.

‘I thought “this is end of the world stuff for me”.’

Beveridge has developed a reputation for being often confrontational to journalists 

And Jong felt the full force of his former coach’s ire when his visit to the Pies became public

Jong, who retired at the end of last season following a serious hamstring injury, added: ‘He [Beveridge] said: “I have just heard, this can’t be true, who would be so stupid to do it?” 

‘”How can I trust you to play with us if you are going to do this sort of thing? How can any of the players trust you?”’ 

At the time, then-Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley looked to defuse the situation, admitting he understood Beveridge’s fury but insisting the Pies were simply doing their due diligence by inviting Jong to visit their facilities.  

Jong eventually retired at the end of last season following a serious hamstring injury 

The fracture between Jong and Beverdige was eventually mended thanks to the intervention of then-Bulldogs list manager Jason McCartney, but not before Jong’s teammates had fun at his expenses.

‘He [Beveridge] played me the next week and the boys made a big joke of it. It was pretty awkward walking into the changerooms,’ he continued.

‘We had a big team meeting and they put a big picture up of me in a Collingwood guernsey with a sleeve tattoo and four teeth missing.’