Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley may have inadvertently inspired the Western Bulldogs to an AFL boilover win.

The Dogs upset Port Adelaide by 25 points on Saturday night, a week after falling to a nine-point loss to Buckley’s Magpies.

After that match, Buckley said it was “clearly the worst we have played for a long time” – a comment that surprised Beveridge.

“I didn’t think that Bucks actually would say what he said about their worst game, I felt like we sort of forced them to play like that,” Beveridge said after the away win against Port.

“The way I feel about that (comment) doesn’t really matter.

“But I think when you’re with a playing group evolving again and trying to re-establish where we are as a team, sometimes that can cut you a little bit, in that the opposition might think so little of you that they would say something like that.

“Whether or not the players felt that way, I’m not sure.

“But I obviously didn’t give any weight to it all because it just wasn’t true.”

The Dogs’ triumph in Adelaide lifts them to within a win of the top eight but Beveridge said he wasn’t thinking about reaching the finals.

“We’re going okay and we do believe we can be competitive against the better sides,” he said.

“But we’re not on that upper echelon yet and that is where we’re trying to get.”

The Bulldogs host ladder-leaders Geelong next Saturday night, though Beveridge ruled out stalwart Dale Morris from returning to AFL ranks.

Morris played a state league game on Saturday, just 106 days after having knee reconstruction surgery.

“It will definitely take him another one or two (state league games) before we consider him,” he said.

“There’s no absolute need to bring him in right at this point of time.

“We need him to really find his feet, feel good about it, be ready to come back up – we’re not going to rush that.

“But the great thing is he got through and hopefully he pulls up well.”