Just changed the plugs in my beetle and it had long reach plugs in it. The new ones I bought are short reach. Is this going to cause problems?

depends if it was meant to have long reach?

if short - the spark can be shrouded and not cause the right burn / explosion pattern

If they were too long in the first place i would have thought they would get banged up

They looked ok when I pulled them out, they are worn with a large gap thou.
The motor was a new crate motor bought from mick motors about 50,000km ago. This is the 2nd time I have changed plugs, thou last time one of the other mechanics at work did it and I would imagine just replaced what was in it.
Guess I better buy the same plugs to replace them.

Here is an example

oh mick motors :/

Thanks everyone. Off to get some long reach plugs today.